Experience the best of Miercurea-Ciuc

Miercurea Ciuc lies in the Ciuc basin of eastern Transylvania, a high, cold valley ringed by the Harghita and Ciuc mountains, in the heartland of the Székely people. Most of the population is Hungarian-speaking, and the Hungarian name of the town is Csíkszereda. The seventeenth-century Mikó Castle, a low fortress with corner bastions, holds the Székely Museum of Ciuc, and the town has a long ice hockey tradition.

Șumuleu Ciuc, a hill on the edge of town, has a Franciscan monastery and a basilica. Each Pentecost it is the destination of a very large Catholic pilgrimage. Saint Anna Lake, a round crater lake with a peat bog beside it, lies in the Ciomatu Mare volcano to the south, near Băile Tușnad, and Borsec, a spa town known for mineral water, is to the north.

Chimney cake, a sweet spiral of dough baked over embers and coated in sugar, has its roots in the Székely lands, where stuffed cabbage and thick meat stews are also on the table. Winters here are among the coldest in Romania, with deep snow and clear skies. Summer is cool and green, and hay fields scent the air in July.