Migrants are returning to this Romanian city. It's not difficult to see why

Telegraph

27-03-2025

Take a walk around Brasov's four layers of fortress walls, each two metres thick, and you're pulled back into the time of empires, invaders and legendary fighters. This fortified medieval town in Transylvania was one of Europe's key lines of defence against marauding Mongols and Ottomans. These days it welcomes visitors, and has been flung open to the world by a new airport opened in 2023. That's how I first experienced the city: not as a marauding invader, but swooping in on an aeroplane over the Carpathian mountains, still snow-covered in spring.
My seat row companion was Nicu, a Romanian who left Brasov 25 years ago and planned to move back. 'Airports in Romania used to be a way for us to get out, to migrate,' he said. 'Now they are doors for guests to come and see our beautiful country.'
Over the next few days, I met more Romanians like Nicu who moved abroad during the turbulent post-communist period of the Nineties (an estimated five million), but have since returned, each drawn by individual reasons. As a result, Brasov is bustling with new restaurants, wine bars and youthful energy. Being by mountains and lakes, it offers more variety than the urban sprawl of Bucharest, making it a perfect year-round getaway. A city built to keep people out is now a city of returns.
After landing at midday at Brasov-Ghimbav International, I set out to find lunch and discover what brings people back. Perhaps it was the clean mountain air that instantly revived me. Perhaps it was the baroque houses painted in cheery Habsburg pastels, the medieval watchtowers and gothic churches that dot the town's skyline. Down a cobbled street, I found one answer at La Ceaun restaurant.
This used to be a hole-in-the-wall serving local workers with big cauldrons of bubbling stews (cauldron is ceaun in Romanian). One of the co-owners, after several gruelling hospitality jobs abroad, saved enough money to go back home and expand La Ceaun into a proper restaurant with tasteful wooden interiors. My waiter, Serghei, told me this was a common story: 'We all fled abroad. Now we've seen hospitality in the UK, Spain and Italy, and we know what to do now – and how to do it better!'
The food, still cooked in cauldrons, reflects the diversity of this region which has been under multiple empires in the last 1,000 years: Austro-Hungarian goulashes and strudels; Romanian sour soups with meatballs, tarragon and polenta; Ottoman-style grilled meats; and side dishes that speak to the Eastern European penchant for pickling things. The foraged pickled mushrooms were particularly excellent, the bill was very reasonable and the house offered me a Romanian brandy, Brancoveanu, as a digestif.
Later, I witnessed the same local culinary pride in popular local spot Bistro de l'Arte, overseen by award-winning Brasov chef Oana Coanta for 25 years. The menu used to feature predominantly French fare but Oana now adds more Romanian dishes and wines, which are much appreciated by the clientele. I perused a list of unfamiliar, enticing wines: Băbească, Negru de Drăgășani, then savoured the dark berry and plummy notes of a Fetească neagră from Muntenia. I also sampled Papanași, a classic Transylvanian desert of soft cheese-filled dumplings rolled in cinnamon sugar.
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Another inspired combination of history and modernity was my hotel, Schuster House, in the old town centre. Built in 1914 in an Art Nouveau style by a wealthy Saxon merchant family, it's now a stylish boutique hotel with a cosy, woody ambience. It opened in 2021 after a three-year restoration by a Brasov entrepreneur who wanted to preserve the building's charm. The best part is the sunny roof terrace with 360-degree views across Brasov's higgledy-piggledy tiled roofs, and the mountains beyond which fuzz to purple in the evening light.
In the morning I took a free two-hour walking tour that runs daily from Piata Sfatului, an open-air market square lined by picturesque 16-19th century buildings and cafes. I spotted my first Dracula cafe and shuddered – Bran Castle, 25 kilometres southwest of Brasov, has long been marketed as the home of the title character in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Thankfully our guide, Alexey, told us a much more interesting story about Dracula's inspiration, Prince Vlad 'the Impaler' Tepes. Passing through Brasov in 1456, Vlad fell in love with a Saxon girl, Katharina Siegel, but as a Romanian, he was forbidden to marry her under strict lineage laws. He smuggled himself into the city through a network of underground tunnels. Eventually the authorities kicked him out, so he came back to take revenge in characteristic style: impaling his enemies and burning the town – Katarina subsequently ended up becoming a nun.
Prince Vlad's vengeance wasn't the last time the city was set on fire – it was burnt again in 1689, hence the blackened look of the Biserica Neagră gothic church. This 'black church', and the folklore surrounding Prince Vlad, have long given Brasov a dark, mysterious appeal.
However I found it to be a bright and cheerful place, full of cafes, bakeries and bars spilling over with young people. Where once there was a fortified moat, there's now a pleasant walkway with little wooden bridges, full of couples and families promenading under blossoms. The city's narrowest street (1.09 metres wide), Strada Sforii, is covered in colourful street art and lovers' graffiti.
The most colourful place I found was the shop of Cosmin Velican, another returnee who runs a small business selling pottery, rosehip jams and cordials from his family rose farm. His vibrant cups are used in hipster cafes across Brasov. Cosmin works the clay and his wife and mother paint the ceramics in exquisite designs. He lived several years in Wisconsin but said: 'I realised I was only ever going to be an employee and never the manager so I came back.'
His countryside grandfather taught him to work wood and clay when he was a boy, and as an adult he was drawn back to his rural roots. He also runs hiking tours in the Carpathians, seeks out mineral springs, and promotes sustainable tourism. 'People's symbiosis with nature here is amazing,' he said. 'There's a Romanian saying: you go to the forest to lose your mind and find your soul.'
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I took his advice, and the next day headed to Zăbala, a castle surrounded by forests just under an hour's drive from Brasov. This was much better than visiting the touristy Bran castle, because I could stay overnight – now a charming hotel, the castles brings Transylvania's lost golden era of Princes and Princesses to life. The surrounding mountains were beautiful as Cosmin promised – though smaller than the Alps, the Carpathians somehow feel more ancient, like they've grown wise on all the turbulent history they've seen.
I lingered all the next day at Zabola estate, sitting on the grand terrace with a book, then puttering about in a rowing boat on the lake. By the time I returned to Brasov it was nearly sunset, and I dashed to the Sub Tampa cable car station to catch the last ride up to Brasovs Tampa hilltop viewpoint. Supper at the Sub Tampa restaurant was goulash in a bowl made from bread; perfect post-hiking fare. I topped it off with pálinka, the local grappa made from apples or grapes – a drink perfect for ruminating on this town of defence, dangerous love liaisons and émigrés called back by the pull of home.
Essentials
Wizz Air flies from London Luton to Brasov from £18. Hotel Schuster boarding house has rooms from £113 per night. Zabola Estate has rooms from £99.