Perched atop a single hill overlooking the city of Deva, Romania, stands what’s left of Deva Citadel. Once an imposing sight, nowadays ruins which can be visited, still providing amazing views of the area.

How to get to Deva Citadel

Deva is served by a train station so it’s easy to get there from any part of Romania. And is on the direct train link between Budapest and Bucharest.

Once in the city, follow the signs to the citadel (not that I saw too many). Still, it’s on a hill standing at 317 m so you cannot exactly miss it.

Once at the bottom of Citadel Hill you have two choices: walk up or take the cable car. The latter costs 10 lei / 2.2 euros RT or 6 lei / 1.5 euros one way. The walk takes 30-40 min . The signed path starts after walking 113 steps. I’d suggest to take the right path as it goes through a tunnel and two gates dating from the hey days. The walk is really easy and scenic.

Best time to visit

I certainly suggest avoiding summer to visit Deva Citadel. And especially walking up there at noon. Choose mornings or evenings. I love the wildflowers in March so I bet April would be even better. Therefore, Spring and fall are also awesome choices. By the way: it’s windy up there!

The Citadel dates from the XIIIth century and was built on the remains of a Dacian fortress. It was deserted for centuries and in 1848 it was taken over by Austrian soldiers. Also in 1848, the ammunition chamber blew up , destroying the citadel.

The remains are impressive, though. It’s free to visit the citadel but there isn’t much info (just one panel with basic info on the citadel). And there are only some parts of the citadel available to the public.

Still, the view towards Deva and further to the Carpathians is amazing! And so worth the climb. We went up on lousy weather and even got rained on but still loved it.

I’ve always been fascinated by fortresses, citadels, and castles , so I loved visiting this one, too. Especially since the one close to it on the road to Arad – Soimos Citadel – hasn’t survived that well.

During this weekend trip it downed on me how many beautiful places we have in Romania and how stupid we are to let them fall apart. Close to Petrosani there should be the remains of the Dacian Fortress of Baita. The problem though is that the stone which survived the centuries was used to build the railroad between Petrosani and Simeria. HOW can you do that to your own history?! Other peoples would be so happy to still have remains of their ancestors’ castles and fortresses and we deliberately destroy them.

Our rating:

All photos by Alex P. and Cristina P.