Cluj is Romania's student capital — 100,000 students keep prices low and pavements free. Climb Cetățuia at dawn for nothing, eat a full lunch for 25 lei, ride the whole city for 3 lei and swim in a salt mine for the price of a pizza.
Free 15-minute staircase climb from Elisabeta Bridge to the 1715 Austrian fortress plateau. Open 24/7, no gate, no ticket. Best panorama over the Gothic spires, Someș river and the tower blocks of Mănăștur.
Romania's largest Gothic hall church, built 1349–1487, entry to the nave is free outside Mass. The 87m neo-Gothic tower and the 1444 carved west portal cost nothing to photograph from the square's paving.
Cluj's 1827 public park along the Someș: free lakeside benches, rowing-boat pond, chess tables and the restored 1897 Casino building housing free-entry contemporary art shows in its ground-floor gallery.
The last standing chunk of Cluj's 15th-century defensive wall, restored in 2009. Courtyard and ramparts are free to enter until 22:00, and the medieval lane behind it is the quietest photo spot in the old town.
Cluj's biggest open food market, open 07:00–18:00. Transylvanian sheep cheese from 25 lei/kg, telemea, smoked bacon, forest berries in season and cheap flatbread langoș from the stalls on the north edge.
The Hașdeu student campus canteens serve soup, main course and bread for 20–28 lei, and they do not check student cards. Sarmale, ciorbă de burtă and papanași at a third of the Unirii Square price.
The student street below Hașdeu campus: espresso 6 lei, half-litre draught Ursus 8–10 lei, shots 5 lei. Terraces stay packed from mid-afternoon and it is the cheapest drinking in any Romanian city centre.
Chimney cake baked over charcoal for 12–18 lei, langoș with cheese and sour cream for 15 lei, and mici (grilled minced-meat rolls) at 5 lei apiece from the kiosks around the museum square.
Take the maxi-taxi from Autogara Beta to Turda, 30 km south, for about 25 lei return. Entry 60 lei gets an underground Ferris wheel, boating lake and amphitheatre 120m below ground at 12°C year-round.
The world's most-storied haunted forest sits 20 minutes from the centre and costs nothing to walk. Marked trails from the Sport Base entrance loop past the round clearing where trees refuse to grow.
Fourteen hectares founded in 1920: Japanese garden, Roman archaeology corner, greenhouses and a climbable observation tower. Entry 20 lei, students 10 lei — cheapest hour-per-lei in the city.
A 3 lei ticket from any yellow kiosk rides the full tram 101 loop past the Iulius Parc lake and the industrial east side, then walk the free riverside path back to Central Park at sunset.