When it comes to day trips out of the capital, Bucharest offers up a pretty woeful selection of sights. Were this a normal country of course places like Sinaia and the Bucegi mountains would be more than doable in a day, but given the poor roads (there is no motorway, yet) and awful traffic on weekends, they are not. So for those people looking for something to do in and around the capital you are limited to just two worthwhile places: Snagov, with its lake and monastery, and Mogosoia, famous for its splendid palace.

Snagov & Calduraşani

Lake Snagov, 40 km (25 miles) north of Bucharest is surprisingly big, and has a shoreline of more than 18 km (12 miles). Surrounded by forests (the last remaining parts of the Wallachian forests that once spread over the whole area) it is a popular destination at weekends, when sunbathers, barbeque freaks and water sports enthusiasts head out here to indulge their particular pleasure. Snagov Tur (tel. 322 59 87) can arrange all sorts of water sports on the lake, including speedboat trips. To the south of the lake is a small nature reserve, the Snagov Rezervat, home to deer, stag pheasants and owls. A number of birdwatching posts have recently been set up around the reserve.

The real attraction of Snagov however is the Monastery. It currently houses just three monks on a tiny island in the northern part of the lake, and to get there you need to hire a rowing boat from the jetty next to the Complex Astoria on the southern side. The monastery was founded by Mircea cel Batran in the 14th century (thereby pre-dating Bucharest itself), and later fortified by Vlad Tepeş (Vlad the Impaler), who is buried here. The oldest surviving building however is the 16th century church, built during the reign of Neagoe Basarab (1512-21). The frescoes inside are original. The presence of Vlad Tepeş’ body here was for a time the driving force behind an idea to make the monastery the centrepiece of a Dracula Theme Park. The notion of a Dracula Park hundreds of kilometres from Transylvania somewhat unsurprisingly put off investors, however.

There is another monastery of note situated on a peninsula 6 km south of the lake: Calduraşani. It was built in 1637 on the orders of Matei Basarab, then ruler of Wallachia, to give thanks for victory over Moldavian Prince Vasile Lupu at the Battle of Teleajan. Though the main structure of the monastery church is in fine shape, most of the frescoes inside have worn badly. Only those of Matei and his family – a miracle say locals – remain intact. The outer part of the monastery complex was built from 1775-8, and today includes a fine museum housing religious art, including icons painted by Romania’s greatest ever painter, Nicolae Grigorescu.

Note that while there are trains to Snagov from Gara de Nord, they are slow and dirty personals, so best hire a car. If you really do have to do it all on a budget then bus N°. 444 from Piaţa Presei Libere is a better option than the train.

Mogoşoaia

If the palace at Mogoşoaia is not Romania’s finest building, then there is a real treat we have yet to see. For this is Brancovenesque architecture at its finest, a glittering array of the Neo-Renaissance, the Baroque and the Byzantine. Constantin Brancoveanu was a Romanian renaissance man, at once prince, politician and humanist and a leading figure in the struggle for a Romanian national identity. Brancoveanu was Prince of Wallachia when he built himself this sumptuous residence in the 1680s, and in 1688 he had his entire court move here. A village grew around the palace, and a church was built. It is this charming church that most catches the eye of first time visitors, its six columned entrance in particular. Inside are well preserved frescoes of Brancoveanu and his family.

The palace is the central feature however, and is formed of three levels. Its Venetian loggia, on the south west side, is sublime. Much of the palace is open to visitors, and almost all of the furniture on display is original. Portraits of Brancoveanu abound. In the basement is a small lapidarium featuring an exhibition of Brancovenesque architecture: statues, funerary stones, capitals and portals. A lapidarium of a different kind can be found at the rear of the palace: rotting statues of communist heroes hastily brought here in the wake of the 1989 revolution and long forgotten.