Most cheap flights out of UK to Romania are scheduled for late evening. Consequently, we recommend booking a hotel near Otopeni International Airport. 

There are several hotels reasonably nearby although will have to get a taxi to get there (only a few £s).

Hotels can provide shuttles back to the airport free of charge so you can pick up your rental car the following morning. 

Assuming you got to bed late the night before, have a bit of a lie in before heading back to the airport to pick up a rental car. Provided you book far enough in advance, car rental in Romania is relatively cheap but we would recommend that you go through an established brand and check the insurance arrangements with the local office before you finalise the booking. In addition to the fees you pay online, some companies charge a hefty premium when you go to pick the car up for full insurance cover.

Once you've picked up your car take the 3 hour drive to Constanta on the Black Sea.

After breakfast, take a walk along the beach on the Black Sea towards the port. Enjoy a cold drink on the harbour and then continue walking around the headland passed the old derelict Casino on the front until you reach the Old Town and Ovid Square. There are lots of sites and buildings to see on the way, including the Lion House (former residence of an Armenian merchant) and the mosque.

There are plenty of places to have lunch off the square and activities (e.g. Escape Room). Head down to the port again for an early evening drink and have dinner at Barco Port looking out on to the harbour. Enjoy the atmospheric walk back through the deserted old town at night.

Have an earlyish start and drive to the impressive Old Fort (Cetatea Enisala) at Enisala. From there you can take in the view of Lake Babadag and the Babadag forest which gives you an idea of what you're heading into.

From the fort, continue towards the Egreta resort. To get there you will need to leave the car with what appears to be a dis-used car park (attended) in Murighiol by the water front. Let the resort know when you're 30 mins away from the car park so they can arrange for someone to pick you up for a short boat ride to the hotel. We suggest you use GPS to locate the car park as it's not that easy to find.

Take the boat to the resort with your luggage. The resort is fairly basic so we recommend that you bring some of your own provisions (as there is no shop). The hotel has a small restaurant which gets quite busy at the weekends as local fisherman sit around chatting about the catch of the day. We spoke to a couple of guys who told us all the best spots.

If you haven't tried fishing before, this is a very good place to learn. Most resorts can lend you a fishing rod, so head out onto the lakes for a few hours to try your luck and do a bit of bird watching. The scenery itself is enough in itself but hopefully you will be able to catch something! 

Look out for egrets, pelicans and the rare white tailed eagle.

Fun fact, the Danube runs through no less than 10 European countries and is 1,777km long.

Have an early breakfast and head out onto the water again. There are a number of day trips you can do but we opted for a two-leg trip - first stopping at Sfantu Gheorgie where the Danube Delta meets the Black Sea before heading along a backwater (that runs adjacent to the sea) to Salina for a late lunch. 

Have lunch at the Black Sea restaurant which offers simple but fast options. Then take an afternoon stroll through the town to the Salina Cemetery where you can find the only pirate grave in Europe. 

If you time it right you should be back on the boat to enjoy some truly incredible sunset action as you head back to the resort. Sunsets here are unlike any other in the world so make sure you bring a camera so you can take a few choice pictures. We set off at 9am and returned to the resort at 4.30pm just as it got dark (in October).

It's a long day of driving but lunch and dinner go someway to make up for that. 

First, head back to Murighiol to pick up the car before making your way to Galati (passing through Tulcea on the way). Note - you will need to get a car ferry as part of this journey to take you over the Danube and into the city. We didn't have to book ahead in October but in busier months you might want to ring ahead. Once in Galati, have lunch at the Blue Acqua (again, worth booking in advance to avoid disappointment). From there drive to Iasi (pronounced in the same way Sean Connery would say "yes"). 

We stayed at the Hotel International which was excellent - both in terms of location and the rooms.  There are plenty of restaurants within the confines of the Palace Gardens for dinner. 

Even though the museum exhibitions were fairly disappointing (and the art gallery was closed), the Palace of Culture is well worth having a look around. 

After the Palace, walk into town via the Metropolitan Cathedral and other local monuments on the Bulevardul Stefan cel Mare. Have lunch at Corso before walking on up the hill to the Botanical Gardens (c45 min walk). Spend the afternoon getting lost in the gardens (which are particularly stunning in autumn) before heading back to the Palace for an early evening cocktail in the Sky Bar (on the top floor of the Hotel International) and then dinner in one of the nearby restaurants. 

Have a relaxing morning in Constanta before heading to Toujours for an early lunch (recommend c12pm). The restaurant is tucked away in a residential area and is not much to look at from the outside but the food is excellent and the owner is good value. 

Aim to be on the road by 2pm at the latest. From here, drive north west to Gura Humorului. There are a number of places you can stay in the town which acts as excellent base for visiting the painted monasteries of Bucovina. 

We chose Hilde's Residence as it is known to have the best restaurant in town and the staff are excellent. 

We recommend an early start as there is a lot to cram in and most of the sites are widely spread out. By the end of the day you will be completely blown away by some truly astonishing painted monasteries and be completely de-sensitised to images of saints being burnt, boiled, beheaded and stabbed. 

First head to Monastery Moldoveti and marvel at the impressive murals of the siege of Constantinople (a revisionist view) along the southern wall and the graphically detailed depiction of the Last Judgement in the open porch. Remember not to take any photos inside the monastery or prepare to face the wrath of the watching nuns.

Next, head to Manastirea Sucevita where you will immediately be greeted by the incredible "Ladder of Virtue" where angels assist the righteous to paradise while the less virtuous fall between the rungs of the ladder and into the arms of a grinning demon. This is the grandest of the monasteries so you probably need to factor in a bit more time to wander round the grounds to do it justice.

After Sucevita head into Radauti (about a 20 min drive away) for lunch at Restaurant Antique. As with many of the good things in Romania, from the outside the restaurant doesn't look all that appealing but it is definitely worth a detour to get here as the food is some of the best we had in Romania. 

After lunch, drive to the monastery at Arbore. This is far more run down that the others but there isn't an entrance fee and is often overlooked. Nevertheless it is worth a look on the way to the Salt Mine at Cacica. If you're not claustrophobic then this is well worth a visit. The former salt mine's tunnels descend 80m underground and house a number of atmospheric chambers including two chapels, a ballroom, an indoor football pitch and a lake! 

If you manage to escape the mine (we almost didn't) then head to the final monastery of the day at Voronet. Arguably this is the best monastery of the lot. It's incredible frescos have led to Voronet being called the "Oriental Sistene Chapel". To avoid the crush of tourists, try and aim to get to Voronet for late afternoon - if you can time it with sunset so much the better. 

After a relaxing morning, make the longish drive to Sighisoara via Bistrita. 

If it's open, it's worth stopping off for lunch (or at least a drink) at Castel Transilvania (which is en-route to Bistrita) which is supposed to be on the site of Dracula's actual castle. It is incredibly kitsch but that somehow adds to its charm. If you don't fancy the look of the menu head into Bistrita where there are a number of good restaurants to try (Crama Veche is worth a look).

Once you reach Sighisoara, take a walk around the town in the early evening, grabbing  a drink in the old town before dinner.

We highly recommend Fronius Residence to stay. Not only is it in an incredible location, the rooms are all spacious and atmospheric. If you get lucky you can even stow your car in the alleyway next to the hotel. The staff are all incredibly helpful and if you get a chance, grab a drink with the night porter Mr Ovidius who is vastly knowledgable and can recommend a number of home made spirits that will blow the cob webs away.  

After a long day travelling the day before, have a chilled out day in Sighisoara looking around the town.

In no particular order, the following are worth doing:

• Vlad Dracul's birthplace (where Vlad the Impaler was born in around 1431)
• Scholar's stairs (see picture above) and the Church on the Hill. If you do stay at the Fronius Residence, make sure to have a look at the scholars stairs at night, quite creepy.
• Climb the Citadel Tower for a view of the old town.
• The lower town (which has a number of good restaurants for lunch and is a good place for a relaxed afternoon waiting for the vampires to come out).

We recommend having dinner at Casa Georgius Krauss.

Get on the road reasonably early so you can see as many of the impressive old citadels as possible en-route to Sibiu.

Start your road trip by visiting Malancrav. I'm guessing by the reaction we got when we visited this village that they don't see a lot of tourists. Nevertheless if you can get hold of the key to the Lutheran Church that gives you access to the citadel it's worth a look. The key seems to be passed between members of the village so you are best off asking at the village shop whether they can give you the mobile number of whoever has it on that day to avoid chasing around the village looking for it. You will really feel like you have accomplished something if you do eventually get in!

Head along the road to Biertan (aim to get there by 11ish as the fortified church shuts between 1pm and 2pm. In addition to the impressive covered stairway and the church itself, we particularly enjoyed the replica of a room where couples wishing to divorce would have to spend 3 weeks with just one set of cutlery between them. Apparently that was enough of a deterrent to keep divorce rates down to just 1 for over 300 years. There aren't many options for lunch in the town so we recommend packing a picnic before you leave Sighisoara - otherwise you can try the Juggler Restaurant which serves medieval themed food to seemingly endless numbers of coach tours (so book ahead). 

After lunch continue on your way to Sibiu and unpack before making your way up to the impressive old town square for dinner. We can recommend the Nobless Boutique Hotel which is a short walk from all the sites and the staff are excellent and speak excellent English.

After breakfast go into Sibiu and have a look around the town. Highlights include:

• Piata Mare surrounded by 16 and 17th century merchant houses
• Piata Mica and the Liars Bridge (if you tell a lie on the bridge then legend says it will collapse - worth a go I suppose). 
• Evangelical Cathedral (where Dracula's son is buried)
• Brukenthal Palace and Brukenthal Museum.
• Climb the Turnuful Sfatului for great views of Sibiu.
• Strada Movilei - picturesque street adorned with medieval windows and turrets

Either grab a quick bite to eat or a picnic for the car before heading out in the early afternoon to Corvin Castle (1.5 hours drive away). Spend the afternoon wandering around the incredibly well preserved castle (rebuilt in 15th century), making sure you take in the Knights Hall, Matyas Wing and the spooky Neboisa Tower. Despite its surrounds (a derelict industrial estate) this was our favourite castle in Romania and has much to recommend it.

One regret is that we didn't have time to visit the citadel at Alba Iulia on the way back to Sibiu. If you do get a chance to build this in to your itinerary we're told it is well worth it. 

We enjoyed our best meal at restaurant at La Cuptor (meaning oven in Romanian) which is located just outside the old town. 

Although this day requires a fair bit of driving, it is very interesting driving.

After breakfast drive to what we can only describe is a sort of hobbit castle at Castelul de Lut. It's a good place to go if you have got children but you can't go inside it. As it's on the way to the Transfargarasan Highway it's worth a look but I wouldn't make a dedicated trip. I'm not sure how you classify a building as a castle but this seems to be pushing the definition quite far.

Then head straight to the Transfargarasan Highway for the epic drive up to Lake Balea. If you get a clear day the views down the valley are utterly breathtaking and the lake itself is with the journey. Each bend you drive round on the way up seems to offer a better view. There is a cafe at the top where you can enjoy a hot chocolate overlooking the lake and mountains. 

Drive on to Brasov stopping off for lunch along the way (or preferably pick up another picnic from Sibiu before you leave). 

Depending on where you chose to stay, the centre of Brasov has a number of good restaurants for dinner. We can recommend the Bistro del Arte.

This is a day of great castles. Aim to get to Castle Bran for mid-morning. It takes between 1 - 2 hours to walk round it properly. The 15th century castle has ties with Vlad the Impaler but it's not clear that he spent that much time after laying siege to it in 1460. Probably almost as well know as being the summer residence of Queen Marie of Romania.

Although there are some ok restaurants in Bran, there are a number of perfectly good bakeries near the castle gates where you can pick up a pasty for next to nothing.

After Bran, jump in the car and drive to Castle Peles. Before you turn up the hill to the car park, make sure you pick up a ticket from the man guarding the booth at the bottom of the hill. It's a 15 minute walk from the car park to the Castle entrance. Once you get to the ticket hall make sure you buy a ticket for both 1st and 2nd floors to avoid disappointment. It would seem you need to be part of a tour guide to view the inside of the castle so make sure you pick an English speaking tour or it could get a bit confusing. The interior of the castle is breathtaking and the guides are very informative and knowledgable.

Spent your final day on a walking tour of Brasov. We would recommend the following:

• Start in the Piata Sfatului, Council Square
• Biserica Neagra (Black Church)
• Catherine's Gate
• Rope Street (aka the narrowest street in Europe)
• St Nicholas's Church
• Weaver's Bastion
• Take cable car up to Tampa Mountain