Private Day Trip to Timisoara from Belgrade

Meet your driver at your accommodation in Belgrade and settle into your private vehicle for the 2.5-hour journey to Timisoara.

This walking tour of Timisoara starts with the downtown quarter of Cetate to see the essential image of Timisoara – many old buildings in the styles of Art Nouveau or Baroque, large pedestrianized squares touched by European history, as well as the multicultural character of the city and the Banat region.

We will start our sightseeing here. The cathedral was built in the late 1930s in the eclectic neo-Moldavian style, which combines Byzantine, Gothic, Ottoman, and Renaissance elements. Inside, notice the fragments of the 18th-century altar, executed in the Baroque style. The basement houses collections of religious objects, including rare books, icons, and paintings. Search for bullet marks on the steps in front of the cathedral, which are part of the story of the people's revolution that started in Timisoara.

We'll continue our tour with a visit to Victory Square, also known as Opera Square. Laid out in 1906, the square features several theaters, a museum, a monument to King Ferdinand, and a memorial to the victims of the 1989 revolution. You'll also find an old artesian well and the sculpture of a Capitoline she-wolf, a gift from the city of Rome. The ground floors of the 19th-century buildings house bookshops, art galleries, cafes, and restaurants.

Next is Liberty Square, which hosts the Old City Hall with the Turkish inscription and shows the mixture of cultures, religions, and civilizations. It's surrounded by important buildings, one of which is the oldest in the city, the Casino Military Museum, as well as the old town hall and the Foreign Ministry. The Sf Ioan Nepomuk Monument (the Catholic Patron in Banat) is in the middle. It was built with sandstone in 1756 by the Viennese sculptor Wasserburger Blim in honor of those who died during the 1738 plague epidemic.

Union Square is the oldest square in Timisoara, and its dominant architecture differentiates from that of the much younger Victory Square. It is flanked by imposing 18th and 19th Centuries buildings of St. George Roman-Catholic Cathedral and Serbian Orthodox Cathedral with a Bishop's Residence. It seems that these two “not-so-in-union” Christian churches (here facing each other in peace) gave the symbolic name to the square - Union. Till 1919 the square was known as “Lasonczy Market”, honoring the 16th-century commandant Stefan (Istvan) Lasonchy, who bravely defended the city from the Turks.

The Serbian Orthodox Cathedral (built between 1745 and 1748) represents the baroque style. The structure of the church beautifully contrasts with the façade of the Bishop’s Residence (Vicariate)standing next to it. Both structures give testimony to the strong Serbian presence in Banat (indeed, in the past, Timisoara was shortly under the control of the Serbian Kingdom, but even today, it is still located very close to the Serbian border).

Viennese architect Emanuel Fisher von Erlach designed the imposing Roman Catholic Cathedral similarly – it represents the baroque style. The construction works started in 1736 and lasted for 18 years. After the death of Fisher von Erlach in 1742, local architects from Timisoara - Theodor Kostka and Alexander Steinlein took the leading role in the project. The painting of St. George on the main altar is a work of Michelangelo Unterberger, while the organ was made by Austrian master - Carl Leopold Wegenstein.

We'll end our sightseeing here. It is an ideal venue to brush up on the December 1989 anti-communist revolution that began here in Timişoara. Displays include documentation, posters, and photography from those fateful days, capped by a graphic 20-minute video (not suitable for young children) with English subtitles. After the Museum, enjoy your free time wandering around the city independently or hitting the shops. For lunch (own expense), enjoy some traditional Romanian cuisine at a local restaurant that our guide will gladly recommend.

After free time, meet up with your guide for the return trip to Belgrade and finish your tour with a drop-off at your hotel.