Sinaia

The upper Prahova Valley was uninhabited forest in the 17th century. Its first settlers were the monks of Sinaia Monastery, founded in 1695 by the boyar Mihail Cantacuzino after a pilgrimage to St Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, and designed to serve both as a monastery and as a fortified stronghold on the road from Brașov to Bucharest. A village grew around it, and the town took the monastery's name.

Everything changed after 5 August 1866, when the newly arrived Prince Carol I visited the monastery and fell for the mountain scenery. He had Peleș built from 1873, inaugurating it with a royal ball in 1883, and the royal family made Sinaia its summer residence; Carol II was born at the castle in 1893. Sinaia became a town in 1880, a railway arrived, and by the end of the 19th century the Romanian upper class had built villas, hotels and restaurants that turned it into the country's unofficial summer capital. A casino followed in 1912–13, opened with a piano recital by George Enescu, who later built his own villa in Cumpătu.

After King Michael I was forced to abdicate in 1947, the communist state seized the royal estate, and gambling at the casino ceased; the casino became a conference centre. Peleș was declared a museum in 1953, but Ceaușescu closed the whole estate from 1975 to 1990; reopened, it now receives between a quarter and almost half a million visitors a year, and Sinaia is a busy ski and weekend resort for Bucharest.

Sinaia's identity is royal and musical. Peleș, called by Carol I the "cradle of the dynasty, cradle of the nation", and Pelișor, the home of Queen Marie, keep the memory of the monarchy alive, and the town still trades on its belle-époque villas, more than sixty of them listed as local monuments alongside eleven national ones. George Enescu spent his summers at Luminiș, now a memorial house, and the casino's opening recital is part of local lore.

The monastery remains a living Orthodox community, holding a library with the earliest Romanian translation of the Bible, from 1668, and Cantacuzino family treasures. Its Great Church was the first church in Romania to be lit by electricity, thanks to Carol I — an echo of the castle above, the first in the world fully powered by its own electricity.

The mountains shape local life as much as the palaces. Sinaia has a long tradition in winter sport: its sports club has sections for bobsleigh, luge, skeleton, alpine skiing, snowboard, cross-country skiing and biathlon. On the first weekend of September the Sinaia Forever festival brings three days of parades, concerts and 1940s nostalgia.

The 2021 census counted about 9,100 people in Sinaia, down from about 10,400 in 2011 — a small town that fills with visitors at weekends. Tourism is the economy: castle visitors by day, hikers in summer, skiers in winter, and a steady flow of conferences, weddings and Bucharest families renting rooms.

The town lies between 767 and 860 metres along the Prahova river, at the foot of the Bucegi, with the DN1 and the main railway running through it. Bulevardul Carol I is the spine of daily life, with supermarkets, a small mall and cafés, while the quieter Zamora neighbourhood lies across the tracks and Cumpătu is the town's only suburb.

Living inside a natural park brings rules: trees may not be felled, alpine flowers may not be picked, and camping is allowed only at designated sites. Brown bears, wolves and red deer live in the surrounding Bucegi. Trains on the main line between Bucharest and Brașov stop at the station in the centre, and local buses run along the main street.

Sinaia eats like the rest of Muntenia: ciorbă sour soups, sarmale of minced meat and rice rolled in cabbage leaves, mămăligă cornmeal porridge with cheese and sour cream, and mici, small grilled sausages of minced beef, lamb and pork served with mustard. Mountain chalets serve the same hearty dishes to skiers and hikers.

The main street has most of the restaurants and cafés; craftsmen on Bulevardul Carol I sell handmade goods and local foods, and souvenir stalls line the walk up to Peleș. Prices in the centre are higher than elsewhere in town, and supermarkets on the main street serve visitors who prefer to cook for themselves.

The Dealu Mare wine area lies in Prahova and Buzău counties, on the southern slopes of the Istrița hills, and țuică, plum brandy, is traditionally offered before a meal. Papanași, fresh-cheese doughnuts topped with sour cream and fruit preserve, are a favourite Romanian dessert.