Piata Sfatului — Council Square — is the heart of medieval Brasov. The square is wide and irregular, lined with pastel-painted Saxon merchant houses and dominated by the squat Casa Sfatului, the old Council House, from which the town was run for four centuries. The trumpeter's tower on top blew the hours through to the 19th century.
The square fills up on summer evenings — buskers, families, terrace tables — and is the obvious place to start any walk. The Museum of Urban Civilization, in the Casa Sfatului, is worth half an hour for a quick run through Brasov's Saxon and guild history. In December, the square hosts one of Romania's best Christmas markets.