Best Things to Do in Romania With Kids: Castles, Salt Mines & Water Parks
Discover things to do in Romania with kids, from castles and salt mines to thermal pools, scenic drives and family-tested attractions.
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12/22/202615 min read
If you're looking for the best things to do in Romania with kids, the good news is that there's much more here than castles and Dracula. Romania combines medieval cities, mountains, wildlife, unusual underground attractions, thermal water parks and some genuinely memorable places to stay.
We spent a week road-tripping around Romania with our 10-year-old son Joshua, so this guide combines the Romania attractions we actually tried with a few family experiences we'd seriously consider adding next time.
Our biggest advice is not to try to do everything. Romania is a large country, and attractions can be hours apart. Choose a few different types of experiences rather than simply collecting destinations.
This guide contains links to attractions, accommodation and tours we've personally used or would consider ourselves. Some may be affiliate links, meaning we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
What Romania Attractions You'll Find in This Guide
Rather than simply listing all the top attractions in Romania, we've grouped them by the type of family experience they offer, so you can choose what works best for your kids and itinerary.
Which Romanian castles are best with kids, including Bran, Peleș and Corvin
The best Romanian cities for families, including Bucharest and Brașov
Therme Bucharest with kids and why we'd include it on a family itinerary
Visiting a Romanian salt mine, including Salina Turda and alternatives closer to Bucharest
Halloween in Transylvania and why Bran Castle was our October highlight
Wildlife experiences, including the Libearty Bear Sanctuary
Unique places to stay, including our Transylvania treehouse
Outdoor adventures and scenery, from the Carpathians to the Iron Gates
Our picks for top attractions in Romania for families
Quick Answer: What Are the Best Things to Do in Romania With Kids?
For a first family trip, we'd try to include a mixture of:
A Romanian castle, with Bran and Peleș our top choices
A salt mine, such as Salina Turda or Slănic Prahova
Therme Bucharest for slides, pools and downtime
Brașov or another historic city
A wildlife experience, such as Libearty Bear Sanctuary
Something completely child-focused, such as Dino Parc Râșnov or Salina Turda also ticked this box for us
An unusual place to stay, rather than another standard hotel
Outdoor scenery, whether that's the Carpathians, Danube or countryside
Romania genuinely offers all of these types of experiences. Family travel options extend well beyond Dracula tourism, including medieval towns, Carpathian wildlife, rural communities, the Danube and unusual attractions such as salt mines.
For October half term, our favourites were Bran Castle at Halloween, Therme Bucharest and Brașov.
Why Romania Is Such a Good Family Destination
What surprised us most about Romania was the variety.
You can visit a royal palace in the morning, explore Dracula's Castle in the afternoon and finish the day eating outside in a medieval Old Town. Another day can involve water slides, underground caves or forest accommodation.
Romania also allowed us to create a family trip that didn't feel overly packaged.
We found:
Good-value accommodation
Reasonably priced eating out
Easy independent driving
Plenty of history and castles
Dramatic countryside
Unusual family attractions
A particularly memorable Halloween atmosphere in October
The challenge is balancing sightseeing with things children genuinely want to do.
Joshua enjoyed the castles, but seven consecutive days of historical buildings would have been a disaster. Therme, Salina Turda, the cable car and our treehouse stay provided the change of pace we needed.
→ Considering a visit? Read Is Romania Worth Visiting? Our Family Road Trip Review for our overall verdict.
→ For the route itself, see One Week Romania Family Road Trip Itinerary: Bucharest, Transylvania & The Iron Gates.
Grounds at Bran Castle at Halloween
Bran AKA Dracula's Castle at Halloween
Visit One of Romania's Castles
Castles are one of the obvious things to see in Romania, but you don't need to visit every one.
We'd choose according to what interests your family.
Bran Castle for Dracula and Halloween
Bran Castle was the best castle for Joshua.
We visited during Halloween, when the castle had actors, special effects and Dracula theming. This made it feel much more like an experience than simply walking around another historic property.
For an October trip, this would be our number-one castle.
→ Read Is Bran Castle Worth Visiting at Halloween? Our Honest Family Review of Dracula's Castle for ticket information, scares and everything we experienced.
→ Or if you want a deeper look at what Transylvania is like during Halloween, see Is Transylvania at Halloween Worth It? Our Honest Family Review With Kids.
Peleș Castle for the Fairytale Experience
Peleș Castle would be our choice for the most beautiful castle.
The exterior is spectacular, while inside you'll find ornate royal rooms, elaborate woodwork, weapons and armour.
With Joshua, we kept the interior visit deliberately short. The weapons and suits of armour held his attention much more than the furniture and paintings.
Peleș also fits naturally into a route from Bucharest towards Bran and Brașov, which makes it easier to include than some of Romania's more remote castles.
→ Read Is Peleș Castle in Romania Worth Visiting? Our Honest Family Review.
Corvin Castle for Medieval Atmosphere
Corvin Castle has the most dramatic medieval appearance of the three.
We stopped here as part of our route rather than making it a major sightseeing day. We didn't go inside the main castle, but explored the exterior and visited the small torture exhibition outside.
Slightly worryingly, the torture exhibition went down particularly well with Joshua.
Corvin is farther west near Hunedoara, so I'd only add it if your itinerary naturally takes you in that direction.
Our Castle Pick With Kids
For a short trip: Bran + Peleș would be our combination.
They offer completely different experiences and can be covered on the same day if you're driving from Bucharest towards Brașov.
I'd treat Corvin as an optional addition to a longer road trip.
Corvin Castle Romania
Peleș Castle in Romania
Spend a Few Hours at Therme Bucharest
Therme Bucharest deserves its own place on a Romania family itinerary.
After several days of castles, cities and driving, this was something we added largely for Joshua.
Galaxy is essentially a huge family water-park and thermal-pool experience, with slides, indoor and outdoor pools and children's areas. Therme is consistently listed among Romania's major family attractions.
It was also one of our best-value activities.
Joshua had the slides while we could still enjoy the warm pools, outdoor Jacuzzi areas and a little relaxation.
The downside? Crowds.
We arrived at opening and enjoyed perhaps 30 minutes of relative calm. By midday it was extremely busy.
For an October trip, however, it's brilliant because the weather outside doesn't really matter.
Our verdict: absolutely include it, preferably towards the end of the trip when children may be suffering from sightseeing fatigue.
→ Read Therme Bucharest Review: Is Therme Galaxy Worth It With Kids? for ticket advice, age restrictions, crowds and what we'd do differently.
Therme Bucharest Galaxy Waterslides
Therme Bucharest swim up pool bar
Explore Romania's Historic Cities
Some of the best family experiences we had weren't formal attractions at all.
Romania has several attractive historic cities and medieval centres where you can simply slow down, walk, eat and let children explore.
Brașov With Kids
Brașov was our favourite city in Transylvania and the base we'd prioritise with kids.
We enjoyed wandering around the Old Town, browsing the markets, eating outside and taking the Tâmpa cable car for views across the city. Joshua was surprisingly happy exploring the market stalls, particularly anything selling 3D-printed trinkets, ice cream or waffles.
Brașov also puts you within easy reach of several more child-focused attractions, including Dino Parc Râșnov.
Dino Parc Râșnov is around 15km, or 20–25 minutes, from Brașov and has more than 130 life-size dinosaur reconstructions across a four-hectare forest park. There are also playgrounds, interactive exhibits, a Forest Museum and additional activities. Most families spend around 2–4 hours there.
We didn't visit ourselves, but this is exactly the sort of attraction we'd add next time to balance out the castles, particularly with younger or primary-school-aged children.
→ Read Brașov With Kids: Things to Do, Day Trips, Castles & Family Travel Tips.
Bucharest With Kids
Bucharest works well as the start or end of a Romania road trip, but with kids I'd deliberately mix traditional sightseeing with something more interactive.
One option we'd consider is the Museum of Senses Bucharest, an interactive attraction built around optical illusions and sensory experiences. The museum offers family tickets and is designed as a hands-on experience rather than a traditional museum visit.
That makes it the sort of activity I'd use between more history-heavy days, particularly if the October weather turns wet.
And, of course, our biggest Bucharest family recommendation remains Therme Bucharest, but I'd keep that as its own dedicated section because it's a substantial experience rather than simply something to do while exploring the city.
→ Read Bucharest With Kids: Things to Do, Day Trips, Castles & Family Travel Tips.
Sibiu With Kids
Sibiu was attractive and easy to explore on foot, but I'd class it as nice rather than essential on a short family trip.
We mainly used it as an overnight road-trip stop.
If you have plenty of time, include it. With seven days, I'd personally give the additional night to Brașov rather than trying to visit every Romanian city.
→ See Sibiu With Kids: Things to Do, Day Trips, Castles & Family Travel Tips if it fits your route.
Cobble streets of Ronda
Exploring the streets of Ronda
Where To Stay in Romania With Kids
Short on time? These are our top family hotel picks from our Romania road trip, chosen for location, family space and how well they fitted our itinerary:
From our visit, our top picks were:
Casa Chitic Brașov – best for exploring Brașov and visiting Bran and Peleș Castle. We chose a family apartment in the Old Town, giving us plenty of space and easy access to restaurants and the main sights on foot.
Havens Treehouse – best for a memorable family stay in Transylvania. The woodland setting gave Joshua something completely different from the castles and city hotels and helped break up our road trip.
Continental Forum Sibiu – best for a convenient overnight stop in Sibiu, particularly if you're continuing west through Romania rather than making Sibiu the focus of your trip.
Orhideea Residence & Spa Bucharest – our pick for Bucharest with kids. The apartment-style accommodation gave us more space, while the pool, spa and parking worked particularly well at the end of our road trip.
Casa 9 Villa & Spa – best for Danube views and relaxation at the Iron Gates, with family accommodation, spa access, free parking and meals available. 7 minutes drive from the Rock Sculpture of Decebalus.
Our overall pick? If you're planning a shorter Romania family holiday, I'd prioritise Bucharest and Brașov, then add one unusual countryside stay to break up the sightseeing.
→ Looking for accommodation? See Where to Stay in Transylvania With Kids: The Best Family-Friendly Places to Stay, where we go into more detail on our research and where we actually stayed.
Unique Things to Do in Romania With Kids
Some of the best things to do in Romania with kids are the experiences you simply won't find on a typical European family holiday.
Think playing ping pong in an underground salt mines, bears in the Carpathians, treehouse stays, Halloween in Transylvania and Danube boat trips to the Rock Sculpture of Decebalus. For us, these unusual experiences that kids would enjoy.
Visit a Romanian Salt Mine
One of the more unusual things to do in Romania with kids is exploring one of the country's enormous underground salt mines.
Several former mining sites have become visitor attractions, and some contain leisure and play facilities as well as the historic mine workings.
Salina Turda
We chose Salina Turda, which is the spectacular social-media version you've probably seen online.
You descend into huge underground chambers containing:
A boating lake
Mini golf
Table tennis
A Ferris wheel
Play areas
Viewing platforms
Was the underground amusement area slightly gimmicky? We thought so.
Did Joshua care? Absolutely not. He loved it.
Our reservation is location. Salina Turda became a sizeable detour on our itinerary.
Slănic Prahova Salt Mine
If you're staying closer to Bucharest, I'd consider Slănic Prahova Salt Mine instead.
You won't get the same futuristic underground-amusement-park photographs, but you can still experience Romania's extraordinary underground salt chambers without travelling all the way north-west to Turda.
Our advice: choose your salt mine based on your route rather than automatically travelling to the most famous one.
→ Read Is Salina Turda Salt Mine Worth Visiting? Our Extremely Honest Family Review for why we enjoyed it but wouldn't necessarily make the same detour again.
Looking into Salina Turda Salt Mine
Round of golf in Salina Turda salt mine
Experience Halloween in Transylvania
If your dates line up with October half term, Halloween in Transylvania deserves to become part of the trip rather than simply the time of year you're travelling.
The strongest Halloween experience is around Bran.
Don't expect every town in Transylvania to be covered in Halloween decorations. That isn't what we found.
Instead, you get autumn forests, medieval towns and Gothic castles, with the proper Halloween theatre concentrated around Bran Castle.
For Joshua, that was ideal.
The rest of Romania still felt authentic, while Bran gave him the full Dracula experience he'd been expecting.
→ Read Is Transylvania at Halloween Worth It? Our Honest Family Review With Kids for what the wider region was actually like during October half term.
Bran castle at Halloween
Bran at Halloween
See Romania's Wildlife
Romania gives families an opportunity to add a proper wildlife experience to an itinerary rather than concentrating entirely on castles and cities.
Libearty Bear Sanctuary
One of the best-known options near Brașov is Libearty Bear Sanctuary at Zărnești, where rescued brown bears live in a large forest environment.
We didn't visit, but if we returned and spent longer around Brașov, this would be high on our list. It would also give children something completely different from another castle or historical attraction.
Can You See Wild Bears in Romania?
Yes. You may hear about wild bears along the Transfăgărășan Highway, where some bears have become accustomed to approaching vehicles after being fed by tourists. I wouldn't build a family day around trying to find them. Feeding bears is illegal and potentially dangerous.
For families, I would stick to visiting the Libearty Bear Sanctuary or booking a properly organised wild bear-watching tour. Tours operate from Brașov into the Carpathians, typically using forest observation hides with specialist wildlife guides. Some have minimum ages, so check before booking with younger children.
Stay Somewhere Unique in Romania
One of our strongest recommendations is to make at least one night's accommodation part of the adventure.
We stayed in a treehouse in the Transylvanian countryside, which gave Joshua a completely different experience from another night in a city hotel.
He spent time outside building a wooden den and exploring rather than sitting in another hotel room.
You could apply the same principle elsewhere by choosing:
A woodland cabin
Treehouse
Rural guesthouse
Farm stay
Danube-view accommodation
Historic guesthouse
This worked particularly well on a road trip because the accommodation itself became the evening activity.
→ See our Havens Treehouse Review for what our family stay was really like.
Hateg Transylvania Log Cabin
Havens treehouse log cabin in Hateg
Take a Danube Cruise at the Iron Gates
If you have a longer Romania itinerary, the Iron Gates give you yet another completely different type of experience.
Our private boat trip through the Danube Gorge took us past the enormous Decebalus Rock Sculpture, caves and dramatic waterside scenery.
Joshua loved the boat. We loved the scenery.
The issue was getting there. The Iron Gates added significant driving to our seven-day itinerary, and October was firmly off-season, with several restaurants and seasonal facilities closed.
Our advice: include the Iron Gates on a 10–14-day road trip, particularly during warmer months. Don't automatically force them into a seven-day Transylvania holiday.
→ Read Iron Gates Romania: Is a Danube River Cruise Worth It? for our complete family verdict.
Iron Gates Natural Park
Iron Gates boat trip in southwest Romania
Which Romania Activities Are Best for Different Ages?
Romania can work with children of almost any age, but the attractions we'd prioritise change quite a lot depending on how old your kids are. Based on travelling with Joshua at 10, we think primary-school age is particularly good because children are old enough for the castles and road trips but still young enough to get completely caught up in Dracula, dinosaurs and unusual experiences.
Best Things to Do in Romania With Toddlers and Younger Kids
With younger children, I'd keep driving days short and prioritise attractions where they can move around rather than expecting them to appreciate historic interiors.
Good options include:
Therme Bucharest for warm pools and children's water areas
Dino Parc Râșnov for dinosaurs, playgrounds and interactive exhibits
Parks and playgrounds in Bucharest
Brașov Old Town for an easy wander
A short cable-car ride
A Romanian salt mine if your child is comfortable underground
A countryside or treehouse stay
I'd be more selective with castles. One memorable castle is probably better than trying to take a toddler around several.
Best Things to Do in Romania With Primary-School Kids
For us, this is probably Romania's sweet spot. Joshua was 10 and could cope with sightseeing and longer journeys while still getting genuinely excited by the more theatrical experiences.
Our picks would be:
Bran Castle, especially at Halloween
Peleș Castle
Dino Parc Râșnov
Therme Bucharest
A Romanian salt mine
Tâmpa cable car in Basov
Treehouse or unusual accommodation
Libearty Bear Sanctuary or
An organised bear-watching experience for children old enough to meet the tour's age restrictions
This age gives you the flexibility to mix history with genuinely child-focused attractions, which is exactly what made our trip work.
Best Things to Do in Romania With Tweens and Teenagers
With older children, I'd make the itinerary slightly more adventurous.
Consider:
Bran Castle and the darker Halloween experiences
Corvin Castle
Salina Turda
Wild bear watching with a specialist guide
Hiking in the Carpathians
Adventure parks
Iron Gates Danube cruise
The Transfăgărășan Highway when open
Museum of Senses Bucharest
Longer castle tours and more historical attractions
Teenagers are also more likely to appreciate the scenery, photography and slightly unusual nature of Romania rather than needing every stop to have a playground or children's activity.
Don't Underestimate the Treat Stops
One of the easiest ways we kept city sightseeing interesting for Joshua was building in the occasional treat stop.
In Bucharest, Joshua loved discovering ROSHEN, where browsing the huge choice of chocolates and sweets became an attraction in itself.
Brașov was even better for this. Around the Old Town we found plenty of ice cream, waffle and sweet shops, which gave us an easy incentive to keep exploring after a day of castles and sightseeing.
It sounds simple, but these little stops mattered. Not every memorable thing to do in Romania with kids needs to be a major attraction, and Joshua probably remembers choosing sweets and enormous waffles almost as clearly as some of the historical sights.
ROSHEN chocolates in Bucharest
Sampling a waffle cone in Basov
Final Verdict: What Are the Best Things to Do in Romania With Kids?
For us, the best things to do in Romania with kids weren't necessarily the biggest tourist attractions. They were the experiences that gave the trip variety.
Bran Castle gave Joshua Dracula and Halloween.
Peleș Castle gave us the spectacular fairytale castle.
Brașov gave us markets, food and a cable car.
Salina Turda gave us something completely bizarre underground.
Therme Bucharest gave Joshua his water slides.
Our treehouse gave us something memorable without sightseeing at all.
That's the way I'd plan Romania with children.
Don't ask how many Romanian attractions you can fit into the week. Ask how many different types of experiences you can comfortably enjoy without spending half the holiday in the car.
That's ultimately what turned Romania from an interesting sightseeing trip into a genuinely brilliant family road trip.
plan your TRIP TO Romania
If you’re planning your family trip to the Transylvania region of Romania, these guides will help you pull everything together:
About Plan Family Escapes
We’re a UK-based family sharing real, experience-led travel guides based on trips we’ve taken with our school-age son Joshua across destinations like Lapland, Turkey and India.
Everything we share is based on what we’ve personally experienced — with honest advice on what actually works when travelling with kids, focusing on making family travel easier, more comfortable and genuinely enjoyable.
