Deva Things to Do

This is the major museum to go to for Dacian and Roman history in Romania. There are of course bigger museums in Bucharest as is expected, but this area was the centre of the Dacian kingdoms and the Roman provincial administration so there are some very good exhibits here. From Deva you can easily get to the Roman capital city of Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa and the Dacian capital of Sarmizegetusa Regia (in the Orastie Mountains) and other Roman and Dacian sites of interest. The museum also administrates the smaller site museum at Ulpia as well as several interesting historic buildings in the area such as Hunedoara castle and the Deva citadel. The museum has pamphlets in English, French, German, Romanian (and maybe other languages) about some major sites. Some of the pamphets and maps are available for free on the museum website. There is a natural science museum next to the history museum which has displays about geology, dinosaurs & local wildlife. Deva is located along one of the major train / road routes from Budapest (and western Europe) to Bucharest (and onwards to the Black Sea or Bulgaria) so Deva is a convenient place to stop off and check out for the day. Since the train station, citadel and museum are very close to each other (if you don't consider altitude) you can easily see both attractions and then head back to the train station or take a 30 minute bus ride to Hundeoara to see the castle there as well. And then continue on your journey.