From Brașov to Sinaia: A Jewish Heritage Route Through Brașov and the Prahova Valley

Between Brașov and Sinaia lie some 50 km of road and rail across the Predeal Pass, which until 1918 marked the border between the Kingdom of Romania and Austria-Hungary. This is a one- or two-day route: Brașov’s still-active synagogue, its cemetery and old town, the resorts of the Prahova valley — and two detours to the vanished communities of Făgăraș and Sfântu Gheorghe.

Before You Set Out

Brașov has a small Jewish community, and its synagogue is the only one in the area where services are still held. Outside the city every Jewish site — cemeteries and one synagogue — is locked, and none has published opening hours. Arrange visits in advance through the community office at Strada Poarta Schei 27; according to the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania, the telephone number is +40 268 511 867. The community also oversees the small “obște” (affiliated community) of Sfântu Gheorghe. The Prahova valley falls under the community of Ploiești.

Distances and travel times in this article are estimates from Rome2Rio and similar sources. At weekends and in the ski season the Prahova valley road is heavily congested, and the train is often the faster option.

Brașov: A Synagogue Still in Use

Jewish merchants were coming to Brașov by the 15th century, supplying the city’s guilds with wool and dyes from the Ottoman Empire, but they were not allowed to live there permanently. According to the Leo Baeck Institute’s JBAT archive, only in 1826 did eleven families — 46 people — receive permission to form a community with its own statutes and elected leadership. According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, the community joined the Neolog movement in 1868, and a separate Orthodox community was founded in 1877. The two were reunited in 1949.

The Neolog synagogue at Strada Poarta Schei 29 was dedicated in 1901. The Federation’s website describes it as a neo-Gothic building with Moorish accents, covering 657 square metres, and it is a listed historic monument. It is the community’s working synagogue, known today as “Beth Israel.” The Federation’s list of synagogues also includes a second one, at Strada Castelului 64, dating from 1924 and no longer in use. The synagogue, the Orthodox community and the history of the community each have their own article.

The Old Town and the Cemetery

Strada Poarta Schei runs down to the Schei Gate at the edge of the old town, a short walk from Piața Sfatului. In 1930 Brașov had 2,594 Jews, according to the Encyclopaedia Judaica. Unlike Northern Transylvania, Brașov remained under Romanian rule in 1940–1944, and its Jews were not deported. Communal buildings and much Jewish property were confiscated, and Jewish men from across the region were drafted into local forced-labour battalions and survived the war. In 1956 the city had 1,759 Jews; by 2003, according to JBAT, about 270 remained.

Brașov has two Jewish cemeteries, on Strada Crișan and Strada Cloșca. Sources give different street numbers, so confirm the address and access with the community before you go. The cemeteries have their own article.

Predeal: The Border Town

Predeal sits on the watershed, at the highest point reached by Romanian trains — about 1,030 metres. For decades it was a border village between Romania and Austria-Hungary. An 1874 agreement between the two states set out how their railways would meet at the frontier. The Hungarians completed the Brașov–Predeal line in 1878, and the Romanians completed the Predeal–Ploiești line in 1879. From then on the train from Bucharest to Brașov took about six hours instead of three days by carriage, and Jewish merchants and holidaymakers from Bucharest made the journey too.

We found no verified source for a Jewish community, synagogue or cemetery in Predeal or Bușteni. The Federation’s list of synagogues includes none in the valley towns, and we could not confirm, from an authoritative source, the stories of interwar Jewish holidaymakers or of villas owned by Jewish families. We therefore do not tell them here.

Sinaia: The Locked Cemetery

Sinaia, the summer residence of the Romanian royal family, holds the only Jewish trace we found in the valley: a small cemetery at Strada București 1. According to a 2001 JewishGen survey, it was founded in the 19th century and covers about 70 by 80 metres. The last known burial was in 1948. Fewer than twenty stones remain visible, most toppled or broken, with inscriptions in Hebrew, German and Romanian. The site is walled with a locked gate, and in season the vegetation blocks access. The same survey records 23 Jews in Sinaia in 1899 and 88 in 1930. The land belongs to the national Jewish community; to visit, arrange with the Ploiești community (Strada Basarabilor 12, tel. +40 244 511 932, according to the Federation’s website).

Detours: Făgăraș and Sfântu Gheorghe

• Făgăraș, about 1 hour 10 minutes west: the community was founded in the 1820s and by the mid-19th century was the largest in southern Transylvania. Its synagogue stands at Strada Aron Pumnul 3. Sources disagree on when it was built, and in recent years it has been restored in stages. The cemetery, next to the Orthodox cemetery, has no one to maintain it.
• Sfântu Gheorghe, about 35 minutes north-east: in 1940–1944 the town was in Northern Transylvania, under Hungarian rule. In May 1944 its Jews were confined to a ghetto and sent via Reghin to Auschwitz. The 1895 synagogue was demolished in the early 1970s. A Holocaust memorial park was inaugurated in the Jewish cemetery in 2014, and in 2022 fifteen “stumbling stones” were set in the town’s pavements.

Both communities have their own article.

Suggested Itineraries

• One day from Bucharest: a morning train to Brașov (about 2.5–3 hours). Visit the synagogue and the old town, by prior arrangement. In the afternoon, head back south, stopping in Predeal (about 25 km) and Sinaia (about 20 km further) before returning to Bucharest.
• Two days: day one in Brașov and the cemetery, with an overnight stay in Brașov or Predeal. On day two, take a detour to Sfântu Gheorghe or Făgăraș, and stop in Sinaia on the way back.
• Shabbat: if you want to pray at the Brașov synagogue, check in advance with the community whether there will be a minyan.

Visiting

Trains on the Bucharest–Brașov line stop in Sinaia, Bușteni and Predeal, and local trains run frequently between the towns; Predeal to Sinaia takes about half an hour. The sites in Făgăraș and Sfântu Gheorghe are easier to reach by car. No opening hours or admission prices have been published for any of the Jewish sites on this route, so arrange every visit with the Brașov community or the Ploiești community. A kosher meal is available at the Moise House restaurant in Predeal, in the Ski & Sky Hotel.