Sighisoara is a town in the region of Transylvania, an area full of real-life fairytale lands. In the center of the beautiful medieval town, lies a walled-in citadel. This old town is a UNESCO-protected area teeming with restaurants, hotels, and souvenir shops. But the charm of the colorfully painted buildings, restored towers, and cobblestone streets is still there. It is a delightful area to spend an afternoon exploring as a family.
*Family tip – If you have your own wheels, you can park in a public parking lot. We parked at a supermarket a few minutes’ walk away, which gave us access to lunch before heading into the citadel and a place to pick up a cold drink afterwards, which made the afternoon much more cost-effective.
Exploring the Citadel
Entrance
There are actually many entrances into the walled area. You must walk uphill before you can enter. If you want to walk along the walls, it is possible to do so and along these walkways, you will see where the entrances into the old town are located.
The main entrance (widest street from our perspective) into the citadel would be through the clock tower. You enter into a large open area that feels like a town square with set up street vendors, benches, and a water fountain.
Towers
Around the walls, you will find different towers built into the wall. Many of them are also entrances into the inner city. The four main towers to visit are: The bootmaker tower, the tailor’s tower, the tin smith tower, and the blacksmith tower. Several are closed off, but we were able to go into one and watch a man doing leather work. Above his demonstration area, was a small exhibition where we were able to learn more history.
Alleys
As we moved between towers, we were able to explore the different alleyways. The kids loved imagining the olden days on the cobblestones before cars and other modern conveniences. With lots of windy pathways that did not follow a pattern, we easily got lost and it was a fun adventure trying to follow our map through the streets to find each of the four towers.
Churches
There are a number of churches around the citadel that we enjoyed looking at. Each has its own personality and the name of the church with some information on the front.
Our Experience
We initially walked around the outside of about half of the citadel on the pathways that run adjacent to the city wall. We enjoyed the view looking out at the town beneath us. We then entered the walled-in citadel by bootmaker tower and began to take in the breathtaking view of what felt like walking into a fairytale land. As we had been exploring Romania for some time and had been visiting castles, my three boys had gotten very interested in knights. So, even though we were backpacking through Eastern Europe, we decided to splurge and buy them wooden swords and shields. Their imaginations went wild after this, and we had a wonderful time imagining what the town must have been like back in the days of Vlad Tepes (known today in folklore as Dracula) when he was fighting off the Turkish invasions.
After exploring churches, alleyways, and finding all four towers around the citadel, we ended our visit by the clock tower. We found a bench to sit on and enjoyed trying Langos, a fried dough flatbread. The Langos food truck had a variety of choices for sweet toppings. We also found a water fountain there to fill up our water bottles, which was wonderful after so much walking on a warm July afternoon.
Sighisoara is a well-kept secret of a fairytale town that is very worth a visit. Although there is a lot of walking involved for children, the magical feel and history of the place, makes for a great day of exploration. From the teenager, “It’s like walking into a Disney movie. You expect something magical to happen around every bend.”
