Tourist Attractions in Oradea – 10 Places You Should Not Miss

Oradea, the county seat of Bihor, has quickly risen to the top of tourists’ preferences, as a result of the rehabilitation works carried out recently. The city’s cultural heritage is made up of numerous superb historic buildings, so Oradea’s historic centre is often compared with those of Vienna or Budapest.

A multicultural town, Oradea is a tourist and economic centre of great importance, also known as the Art Nouveau capital of Romania, given the architecture of its buildings.

You will fall in love with this beautiful city from your first visit. To make sure of that, you need to be sure you do not miss the following points of attraction.

• Piața Unirii (Unification Square), or the historic centre of the city, where you will find the greatest concentration of historic buildings worth admiring. Their beauty has been preserved, even after the rehabilitation they have undergone. You will discover numerous architectural styles as you visit the Palatul Vulturul Negru (Black Eagle Palace; it has an interior passage modelled on the famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan), the Oradea City Hall Palace, where you should not miss the view over the whole city from its tower (it was rebuilt after the fire of 1944, when it was consumed), Casa Kovacs (the Kovacs House) and Biserica cu Luna (the Moon Church), which is considered unique in Europe because of a mechanism made by the Viennese Georg Rueppe: a globe, half black and half gold, that shows the phases of the moon, located inside the church.
• Cetatea Oradea (Oradea Fortress), where the history of the city can be felt and seen best, was built in 1570–1618 by well-known Italian architects. It is pentagonal in shape, with wooden towers at the gate and a moat filled with water. Over time it withstood several sieges, but after 1660 the Turks captured it and blew up the two bastions. Oradea Fortress is one of the few fortresses still in use.
• Sinagoga neologă Sion (the Zion Neolog Synagogue), built on the bank of the Crișul Repede, is the third largest synagogue in Europe, quickly standing out for its strong and elegant structure.
• Băile Felix is the largest spa resort in Romania and is only a few minutes’ drive from the city. It offers the most accommodation after the seaside, as well as countless points of attraction and ways to spend your free time. The resort is known for its geothermal springs, with important health benefits. If you are in the area, I recommend that you do not miss “Lacul cu Nuferi” (the Water Lily Lake), where, thanks to a unique microclimate, rare species grow such as the White Water Lily, the Sacred Lotus, the Thermal Water Lily and the Swamp Cypress, or the water parks that attract more and more tourists: the Apollo outdoor pool, Aqua Park or Aquapark Nymphaea, which covers an area of 7 hectares and was the largest public investment of its kind in Romania.
• Lactobar. How about a journey back in time? The most sought-after restaurant in Oradea is Lactobar, where you can rediscover Romanian objects from the communist period. The centrepiece of the venue is a Dacia 1310 that has been turned into a… table.
• Teatrul de Stat din Oradea (the Oradea State Theatre) houses two theatre companies: Teatrul Regina Maria (the Queen Marie Theatre) and Teatrul Szigligeti (the Szigligeti Theatre). One of the most important heritage buildings in the city, it has 3 main halls: Sala Teatrului (the Theatre Hall), Sala Studio (the Studio Hall) and Sala Arcadia (the Arcadia Hall).