Location: Oradea
Top Things to do in Oradea
What to do and see in Oradea, Transylvania: The Best Things to do Good for a Rainy Day
The Baroque Palace of Oradea is simply epic. Now a museum, the 18th-century building is home to an outdoor bronze and marble statue park, Transylvanian folk art and a collection of animal remains that includes dinosaur fossils. You could spend days here, but try to make some time for other Oradea attractions, such as the beautiful Art Nouveau buildings of Str. Republicii, the astronomical clock of the Biserica cu Lună, and the Băile Felix thermal spa.
Restaurants in Oradea
1. Riserva Wine Spa
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 93 reviews
Riserva brings the Spa experience to a whole new level of sophistication, through vinotherapy. Carefully premeditated as the most intimate, soothing and refreshing experience, Riserva services indulge, along with vinotherapy, in a Finnish sauna, an infrared sauna, in a Himalayan salt relaxation room and a fitness room. The last touch of the retreat - Riserva terrace, located on the top floor - opens up to a delightful panorama of the historical center of the town, recommended to be tasted next to a glass of wine, of course, straight from our Jacuzzi. Feel welcome to rinse your daily stress through an original and exquisite experience, only at Riserva Wine Spa!
Reviewed By Vazerol - Lantsch/Lenz, Switzerland
Wonderful massage performed by two beautiful ladies for a couple in a beautiful room with wonderful ambience and soothing music. I can recommend this highly. Voyage Chianti is a purifying ritual in two phases: one for the back with matcha green tea and other for face with viniferina and organic grape oil, completed by a general energizing massage. At the beginning the participants are offered chocolates filled with wine liqueur. After cleaning the back with gel, the therapists apply a scrub that contains extract oil from matcha green tea and coconut, ensuring a gentle exfoliation with vegetable particles and sugar. The scrub melts on the skin and provides an ideal hydration level and smooth skin thanks to plant oils. Green tea deeply detoxifies because it contains tannin, a substance known for having lipolytic effects and eliminating toxins from the tissues. Other active ingredients are vitamins C and E, flavonoids, with intense antioxidant properties. They are found in young leaves of green tea matcha, having an anti-aging role by neutralizing free radicals. The precious effects of coconut oil nourish and protect the skin. Green tea and seaweed body wrapping is then applied. The used wrap is a fine powder of micronized plants, 100% natural, which becomes a fine paste by mixing with water. Seaweed contains trace elements, iodine and mineral salts that provide necessary ingredients to eliminate waste from the body. During the body wrapping, there is a gentle facial cleansing and moisturizing. First the face is cleaned and a gentle scrub is applied based on grape and green tea extract plus the glycyretic acid (licorice extract) to remove dead cells and stimulate cell regeneration to give luminosity to the skin. Secondly, a vitalizing mask is applied with lifting effect due to vitamins and ginseng. Then follows a delicate massage with a cream enriched with polyphenols and trace elements, vitamins A, E and B5, UV filter, seaweed extract and Shea oil. The procedure continues with an energizing body massage. This type of massage is deep and refreshing. It is recommended for back pain and muscle stiffness. Finally, the Spa signature perfume is applied – with one of the chosen Caudalie aromatic waters. At the end the participants drink a glass of red wine.
2. Ady Endre Memorial Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 13 reviews
Reviewed By Gab0rC - Kecskemet, Hungary
This is a very small museum dedicated to the life and art of Ady, probably the greatest modern Hungarian poet of the last century. The exhibits include objects used by the poet, like his desk or his hat. Objects related to the episodes of his love inspirations are also on show. The atmosphere of the small place brings you back one century, to the city of Nagyvárad (the name of Oradea at that time) the second largest city of Hungary at the beginning of the 20th century. Zoltán Imre, who was the keeper of the exhibition is a wonderful man. He made the objects live, and multiplied the impressions we got from the place itself. For example, to our question, what was the relation of Ady to the place where the museum is installed, he looked at his watch, and told us, at this time of the day, he would be sitting here, near this window, as this used to be a small confectionary, where he had written the draft of his articles... He told so many interesting episodes from the life of Ady...His knowledge was astonishing. I would love to read an Ady biography he authors which would include illustrations from the exihibits of the museum! He can make the explanation in Hungarian (the language of Ady's poetry) and Romanian for sure, I am unsure of other languages, but I strongly recommend this museum for art, literature, poetry and XXth century lovers.
3. Panic Room Oradea
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 125 reviews
A reality adventure game where a team of players (2 to 6 people) has to escape a locked room by solving different puzzles and mysteries using the clues found in the room in 60 minutes. To succeed, the team needs to have good communication between its members. Our game designs are specifically based on certain discoveries in the area of psychology, the goal is to achieve a high level of player immersion in the game so that the participants may reach the so-called FLOW state. ”That certain mental state, when people are so absorbed by an activity that nothing else seems to bother them; that experience itself is so pleasant that the people will try to repeat it no matter what, just for the sake of the doing it” - Mihály Csikszentmihályi researcher in the field of psychology, who first defined the FLOW concept
Reviewed By andra_olah
It was a really interesting experience, maybe a bit too difficult for us (it was the first time for all of us in a place like this - we were a group of 5 friends); but the host was super nice and he helped us when needed. I would highly recommend it for everyone who wants to do something a bit more challenging, but also relaxing at the same time.
4. Museum of Jewish History in Oradea
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 9 reviews
Reviewed By ilieadrianp - Otopeni, Romania
Words are not enough to describe this place. Pure emotion, or the saddest museum seen in Romania so far and yet a stark reminder of what hate could bring and why such horrible past must never repeat. A must for anyone willing to understand better that dark period. Very well organized and run.
5. Moon Church (Biserica cu Luna)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 120 reviews
This name derives from the mechanism installed in the church tower in 1793. The clock and the moon are the work of George Rueppe, an innovative mechanic from Oradea. The mechanism rotating the moon is designed to make a full rotation on its axis in 28 days, thus indicating the moon phases, depending on the daily cycle marked by the clock mechanism. Inside the Moon Church you can visit a representative museum, with particularly beautiful Orthodox church-related objects.
Reviewed By Vladimiramirela - Mississauga, Canada
The rotating moon installed in the church tower in 1793 gives this religious sanctuary its name and reputation. The mechanism is still working, enabling people to admire the diferent phases of the moon from accross the square. The church is also known as the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and it is a Christian-Orthodox church with intricate interiors.
6. Oradea State Theater (Teatrul de Stat Oradea)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 96 reviews
Reviewed By Vladimiramirela - Mississauga, Canada
The State Theater dominates Ferdinand Square with its great façade. The construction, completed in 1900, presents a style apart from most other palaces in Oradea. An art connoisseur may notice neoclassical and neo-Renaissance decorative elements, as well as a Greek temple look of its splendid main entrance, with its peaked frontispiece, supported by Corinthian columns.
7. The Roman-Catholic Cathedral
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 69 reviews
Reviewed By florentinadriang - Arad, Romania
Built in Baroque style, between 1751-1779, the Roman Catholic Cathedral is located on Şirul Canonicilor Street, inside the Park of the Baroque Complex, a space that also houses the Roman Catholic Episcopal Palace. Being in a very good state of preservation, both inside and outside, the building is distinguished by its exterior monumentality and by an intelligent exploitation of the interior space. All those who step on its doorstep and enter it will feel dominated by a deep state of mystical elevation, largely due to the play of light, shadow and color, but also the special effect of the altar. The pipe organ, still functional, was donated by Empress Maria Theresa. Adorable!
8. Moszkva Cafe
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 9 reviews
9. Black Hawk (Vulturul Negru) Palace Arcade
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 223 reviews
This ensemble of buildings is one of the monumental architectural works in Oradea and Transylvania, typical for the secession style. The architects Komor Marcell and Jakab Dezső won the contest for the construction of this complex. Two Jewish lawyers, Dr. Kurlander Ede and Dr. Emil Adorjan, decided to finance, using their own resources, the construction of a noteworthy building in Oradea. The work started in 1907, under the supervision of the civil engineer Sztarill Ferenc, and in December 1908 the building was completed. Consisting of two unequal and asymmetrical buildings, connected to a third one, placed in the middle and more isolated, the complex housed a theatre, ballrooms, a casino and offices. The Y-shaped gallery (passage) has three entrances. The Vittorio Emanuele Gallery in Milan inspired the glass-covered interior. The gallery or the Passage, as the local people know it, concentrates the most popular bars, coffee houses and pubs in the city, being the entertainment high spot of the city.
Reviewed By florentinadriang - Arad, Romania
The whole square is very well renovated, and the Black Eagle is the "jewel in the crown". Too bad a lot of space inside the palace is not rented - the costs are probably too high. Otherwise, everything is wonderful. The decorative elements, in Art-Nouveau style, have been carefully reconditioned, and the three stained glass windows, with the eagle symbol, look impeccable. Recently, a public parking lot was inaugurated on the left side of the "Black Eagle". This area must be visited step by step.
10. The Neolog Synagogue Zion
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 61 reviews
In 1878, the Jewish community builds, on the bank of Crișul Repede river, a monumental synagogue with 1000 places, dominated by a huge central dome. The project was designed by Busch David in a neo-Moorish style and executed by Rimanoczy Kalman (the father). The interior fresco belongs to the Kosice painter Horovitz Mor. The interior and exterior decorations are of Moorish inspiration.
Reviewed By stefaniai992 - Bucharest, Romania
Nice place to visit in Oradea, i liked the paintings in the sinagogue ( which are for sale) . The prices are 5 lei for adults and 3 lei for children/students.
