Travel Planner - Romania in 2012: from high mountain roads to rolling hills and camping by the lake

This year we discovered some unexpected sides of Romania. In our Travel Planner series, we went up to the heights of the Transfagarasan and to the rolling hills of Dobrogea. Here's a review of some cool areas of Romania to visit in 2013.

The Transfagarasan, Romania’s high altitude winding road through the spectacular Carpathian scenery was one of the highlights of this year. Unexpected peaks and beautiful vistas at the end of autumn made the Transgafarasan a must – do journey. It is closed during the winter, but come May, we'll be back on it again, to explore it better. Meanwhile, read about the trip and check out photos here.

Then we drove to Valea Doftanei, a beautiful, yet overlooked area of Romania and camped by Lake Paltinu, enjoying the perfect tranquility at sunset. The full story here. Sibiu was next on our travel list, with a walk down its medieval streets and the discovery of its stunning medieval squares, plus some driving around Marginimea Sibiului. Travel planner: Discovering Romania’s Sibiu area Travel planner: A walk down the historical centre of Sibiu Travel Planner: More of Sibiu – around the city and a bit of Marginimea Sibiului

We climbed up to the Rasnov citadel for the breathtaking view, and enjoyed a moment of silence in a pitch black cave. Travel planner: In the cradle of nature at Rasnov- breathtaking view from the peasant citadel and the one minute of darkness in the Fundata cave