After spending a holiday in Romania, it takes a tourist only one hour by plane to reach the capitals of the former Hapsburg Empire (Prague, Vienna, Budapest), the bimillenary metropolises of the Balkan region (Athens, Istanbul) or of the Slav one (Kiev, Cracow, Zagreb). The Romanians' hospitality and open nature turn even a short holiday into an unforgettable experience of human warmth.

Here are a short presentation of the tourism historic attractions, an overview of the geographical configuration and of the main touristical sites and the tourist and road map of Romania.

The main tourist spots in Romania are: the Capital (Bucharest), the Black Sea coast with its belt of resorts (Mamaia, Eforie Nord, Neptun etc.), the Danube Delta, the Carpati Mountains, specially the Prahova Valley and Poiana Brasov (the most frequented mountain zone), Bucovina (in the north of Moldavia) with the famous monasteries and churches with outer frescoes dating back to the 16th century and declared UNESCO patrimony, Maramures, the Southern part of Transylvania, including the Hateg land and the surrounding zone (the cradle of the Dacian kingdom, and later on of the Roman province of Dacia) and Nothern Oltenia.

Besides these well-defined tourist areas, in Romania there are many other tourist centres, towns and spas. They include Iasi (the former capital of Moldavia), Cluj-Napoca (the main town of mediaeval Transylvania), Timisoara (the multiethnic and multicultural metropolis of the Banat), Târgoviste (the princely residence of Wallachia, before Bucharest replaced it), Brasov, Sibiu, Sighisoara etc.
The Danube riverside with the Iron Gates Straits, the Fagaras Massif (with the most spectacular alpine relief in Romania) or the Retezat National Park in the Southern Carpathians amaze visitors by their matchless beauty.

Some historical sites and their natural environments proved to be very attractive for foreign tourists by the popular legends related to them (e.g. Dracula legend).

The tourist accommodation network today includes around 3,000 accommodation units with a total 290,000 accommodation places. Among them are 900 hotels and motels with around 170,000 places. The privatisation of tourism facilities is in progress; only one-sixth of the units and one-tenth of the accommodation places havel been privatised so far. The number of tourists who are given accommodation every year is around 6.5 million, the tourist accommodation capacity having been used in a degree of 40-45% in the past few years. In 1996 Romania was visited by 5.2 million foreigners, and 5.7 million Romanians travelled abroad, but most of these travels were part of the traffic with the neighbouring countries.