Walking Tour in Brasov, Romania’s Old Town

If you’re staying in Brasov, be sure to do their Walkabout Free Tour. This walking tour is available daily at 10:30 AM and runs approximately 2-2.5 hours (ours was closer to 2 hours). You can also contact them to request private tours. They recommend private tours for groups larger than 10 people, so the normal walking tours don’t get too big. 

The tour is free, but most people tip the guide at the end. We tipped $10 USD each. 

The Brasov walking tour starts in the Main Square (Piata Sfatului), next to the fountain. Our guide carried a bright orange umbrella, so she was easy to spot. 

I think the sites you see on the tour are pretty consistent from day to day, but our guide did ask people what they were interested in. Shetried to provide some additional information on these things (e.g., history, architecture, local legends, restaurant recommendations, breweries).  

Brasov reminded us of some of our favorite towns in the region, Plovdiv and Novi Sad. It’s rich with history, has an old town with unique architecture, and is surrounded by gorgeous nature. Okay, so that might describe quite a few European towns, but if you like the vibe of either of those cities, you’ll love Brasov (and vice versa)!

What we saw during the tour: 

• Council Square
• Council House
• The Black Church
• Rope Street
• Ecaterina’s Gate
• The Citadel Wall
• Schei Quarter
• St. Nicholas Church
• The First Romanian School Museum 

The tour doesn’t take you into the churches/buildings, but if you’re interested you can tour those on your own after. 

Our guide also brought some Romanian snacks with her for us to try, Gusto Pufuleti and Rom. Gusto Pufuleti are corn puff snacks similar to Cheetos, but without the cheese flavor. Rom stands for Romania and rum and is a chocolate bar with rum filling.  

Council Square (Piata Sfatului)

The Counsel square has been a place for local markets since the 1300s. During Soviet rule, it was turned into a parking lot in an attempt to prevent group gatherings leading to an uprising…which didn’t work. In the square, you may notice that some of the building numbers have 3 languages, which is to reflect the three cultures living there: Romanian, German, and Hungarian. The current buildings surrounding the square date back to the 18th and 19th century and are in a gothic, baroque, and renaissance style. 

Council House (Casa Sfatului)

The Council Square houses one of the most important buildings in Brasov, Council House (Casa Sfatului). Plans for the building started in the 1400s and were completed in the 1500s. It was originally designed as a watch tower and used to be referred to as “trumpet tower,” since a guard would blow a trumpet every hour to mark the time. The building later became the town hall, as well as a prison. It is now the Brasov County Museum of History, where you can learn about the city’s cultural, economic, and military history, and see collections of weapons, ceramics, tools, and vintage furnishings. It also houses a library with approximately 15,000 books.

The Black Church

The Brasov walking tour continued to the Black Church. This 600+ year old gothic church got its name from a fire that broke out in 1689, scorching the walls and turning it black. On the roof of the church you’ll also notice the statue of a small child leaning over the edge. It seems there are multiple legends surrounding the origins of the statue. We were told two stories. One was that they used to send children on the roof to survey oncoming fires since they were lighter and wouldn’t fall through the roof. Another was that he was pushed off the roof after sharing plans for the church with Sibiu. But you can find other stories about the boy, as well. 

The Black Church was originally a Catholic church, The Church of Saint Mary, but was turned into a Lutheran church following efforts by Johannes Honterus during the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s. 

What makes this church more unique is that it has the largest mechanical organ in Romania and the largest collection of Turkish rugs outside Turkey. 

Tickets to enter the church are 15 lei for adults, 10 lei for retirees, 10 lei for high school students, 5 lei for students under 18 years, and free for children under 7 years and individuals with disabilities. Student ID or pension card are required for discounts. During summer months, the church also hosts organ concerts every Saturday from 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM for 20 lei/person. 

Rope Street (Strada Sforii)

Our Brasov Walking tour then took us to Rope Street. This street, which is the narrowest street in Brasov, was originally built in the 15th century. It served as a break between row homes to prevent the spread of fire from building to building. Firefighters also used it so they wouldn’t have to go all the way down to the end of a street to access an area. There used to be several streets like this throughout the old town. They have since gotten rid of most of them and now just have the one for its historical significance. Now, it’s a colorful graffiti lined passage that’s a favorite picture spot for tourists and Instagramers.  

Ecaterina’s Gate

The gate dates back to the 1500s and was part of the city walls surrounding the old town. It has 4 turrets and looks like something straight out of a medieval times fair and is the only remaining gate from that period. During Saxon rule, Romanians were forbidden from owning property in the city center and this was the only spot where they were allowed to enter to trade and sell goods, for a fee of course. Above the gate is the city’s coat of arms, a crown over the roots of an oak tree. The crown represents King Solomon and the roots represent the united surrounding villages. 

The Citadel Wall

Brasov’s old town is surrounded by a medieval wall. Construction of the wall spanned almost 3 centuries, starting in 1395 and continuing to 1641. It was originally built to protect the city from the Ottomans. At its peak, the walls were reportedly 12 meters high and 6 meters wide, with several towers and bastions for defense. Now most of the wall has been destroyed, but parts of it, along with some towers and bastions remain. Our Brasov walking tour took us partway along the wall. Then we moved on from the German part of town to the Romanian side.

Schei Quarter

The Schei (or Romanian) Quarter is on the southwest side of the city where Romanians settled during Saxon rule. Romanians weren’t allowed to own property inside the citadel. You’ll notice the houses are generally smaller in the Schei Quarter compared to the German style buildings around Council Square. The Schei Quarter houses St. Nicholas Church and The First Romanian School Museum, as well as a very popular ice cream shop, Gelato Mania, which always has a long line of eager customers. Schei Gate was built in 1827 after Ecaterina’s Gate became too small to accommodate the amount of traffic and the size of trading carts passing between the German and Romanian sides. The gate has three openings, a larger one for trading carts in the center and two smaller openings on either side for pedestrians.

St. Nicholas Church

St. Nicholas Church dates back to the 1200s and was rebuilt during the 15th and 16th centuries, giving it both gothic and baroque elements. Inside, the walls are covered with frescoes depicting scenes from Christ’s life. The church is free to enter, but you are not supposed to take pictures inside. So unfortunately, we don’t have any of those. In front of the church is a small courtyard with nicely manicured plants and flowers, and to the left of the church is the first Romanian school and a small cemetery where some important historical figures are buried. There is also a statue of Coresi, a 16th century printer responsible for some of the earliest printed Romanian books. 

The First Romanian School Museum 

Our Brasov walking tour ended here at this unexpectedly fun stop.

The school sits right next to St. Nicholas Church and dates back to the 15th century. It’s the first school that taught students using the Romanian language. Now it’s a small museum containing over 4,000 old books, bibles, hymns, religious robes, paintings, and most notably the first Romanian bible and the first Romanian printing press. The curator guided us from room to room sharing the history and importance of some pretty impressive artifacts. Those included books that were originally printed on the first Romanian printing press hundreds of years ago in that very building. The curator is pretty passionate about Romania and happy to share whatever you might be interested in learning.

The school is worth visiting for the impressive artifacts alone. But the (short) guided tour alone makes it absolutely worth your time. One of the rooms looks like an old classroom with wooden benches, where the curator will ask you to sign your name with an old fountain pen. Tickets are 20 lei/person or 10 lei for students. After we visited the museum, we ended up getting coffee and chatting with the museum curator for a bit.