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Ploiesti sits in the Prahova Valley at the southern foot of the Carpathians, and the city's fate has been largely determined by what lies beneath it. Romania struck commercial oil here in 1857, the first recorded commercial oil well in the world by some accounts, and Ploiesti rapidly became one of the most important petroleum centers in Europe. By World War II, the refineries around the city were supplying roughly a third of Germany's oil needs, which is why the Allies launched Operation Tidal Wave in August 1943 -- a massive low-level bombing raid that cost 54 aircraft and 660 American airmen in a single mission, one of the most costly air operations of the war.

The city today is a practical, working Romanian urban center with a clock tower in the central square that has told the time since 1868 and an Oil Museum that is perhaps the most specific and honest industrial history museum in the country.

Prahova County Museum holds a respectable art and natural history collection for a regional institution, and the nearby Prahova Valley resort towns of Sinaia, Busteni, and Predeal are easily reachable for anyone wanting mountain hiking or ski runs beyond the oil-shaped plains.