Tour Itinerary:
Bucharest Targoviste Fortress Curtea de Arges Monastery Transfagarasan Road (or Olt Gorges, depending on weather conditions and time of the year) Sibiu Biertan Fortified Church Sighisoara Remetea Village Turda Gorges - Cluj Napoca Gherla Town Nicula Monastery Surdesti Wooden Church Sighet / Barsana Baia Mare Huta Pass Sapanta Wooden Cemetery Sighetu Marmatiei Botiza, Barsana, Rozavlea and Ieud wooden churches Sighet / Barasana Prislop Pass Vatra Dornei Spa Moldovita Monastery Sucevita Monastery Marginea Village - Gura Humorului / Frasin Humor Monastery Voronet Monastery Suceava Gura Humorului / Frasin Neamt Fortress Neamt Monastery Secu and Sihastrie Monasteries Izvorul Muntelui Lake Bicaz Gorges Lacu Rosu / Tusnad Spa St. Ann Lake Prejmer Fortified Church Brasov Bran Castle Sianaia Peles and Pelisor Castles Sinaia Monastery Iulia Hasdeu Castle - Bucharest.
Day 1: Bucharest.
Welcome to Bucharest, capital of Romania, first mentioned a document dated September 20, 1459 and signed Prince Vlad Dracula.
- Arrival on Otopeni airport, transfer from the airport to the selected hotel
- Evening short tour of the city, peeking over at Curtea Veche Fortress built by Vlad the Impaler
- Optional: dinner in a typical restaurant (e.g. Vatra Restaurant or Terasa Doamnei Restaurant)
- Overnight at a 3* hotel
Day 2: Bucharest Targoviste Fortress Curtea de Arges Monastery - Transfagarasan Road in Fagaras Mountains / Olt Gorges (depending on weather and time of the year) - Sibiu.
You will leave Bucharest across the Danubian field and reach Targoviste, one of the places from where Vlad the Impaler ruled over Wallachia. You can visit the fortress and have a great view of the surroundings from the famous Tower of the Sunset. Later on you will reach Curtea de Arges Monastery, one of the most beautiful such settlements in the country, with impressive stone carved decorations and an interesting legend linked to its origins. Then you will take Romanias highest asphalted road that crosses the Transylvanian Alps (Fagaras Mountains) through a 2042 m.a.s.l. tunnel. The scenery is impressive, with glacial lakes, fir tree forests, extensive pastures and rocky cliffs. If weather does not permit this route or if you come here during the winter closure (mid October early July), the section between Curtea de Arges and Sibiu will be done along the scenic Olt Gorges. In the evening you will reach the city of Sibiu, Romanias largest medieval city. You will be accommodated in a 3* central hotel or in a Saxon guest house, both in Sibiu.
- Visit to Targoviste Fortress
- Visit to Curtea de Arges Monastery
- Optional traditional dinner in central Sibiu
- Accommodation in a 3* hotel or in a Saxon guest house in Sibiu
Day 3: Sibiu - Biertan Fortified Church - Sighisoara.
In the morning you will visit Astra Folk Technology Museum, hosted by a wide park near Sibiu and gathering an impressive amount of old traditional households and water mills from the area. Later on you will go across Transylvania to Sighisoara. On the way you will be able to visit a fortified church in the area: Biertan. These churches were built in the 13th 16th century and they were fortified later on because of the often Turkish invasions. In the evening you will reach Sighisoara, the place where Vlad the Impaler is supposed to have been born. You will have a tour of this beautiful still inhabited fortress and you will be accommodated in a hotel located in an 18th century building in the fortress.
- Visit to Astra Folk Technology Museum
- City tour in Sibiu, including the Evangelic Church, the Large Square, Bruckenthal Museum
- Visit to Biertan Fortified Church
- Tour of Sighisoara Fortress, including the Clock Tower, the Franciscan Church, the Church on the Hill
- Optional: traditional dinner in Casa Vlad Dracul, the place where Vlad the Impaler was born
- Overnight in Sighisoara, in a 3* hotel
Day 4: Sighisoara Remetea Village Turda Gorges - Cluj Napoca.
The tour continues across the very heart of Transylvania until we can reach Targu Mures, where you can have a pleasant walk in the old center. Later on, making a detour from Turda, Remetea Village, you can visit a small place with impeccably preserved traditional Hungarian architecture. In the afternoon, you can go for an easy, but breath-taking trip through the scenic Turda Gorges. Eventually you will reach Cluj, another fine medieval city with a fine Gothic church and a well-preserved old center. You will be accommodated here in a 3* hotel.
- Tour of Targu Mures
- Visit to Remetea Village and to the local village museum (optional)
- Optional: Walk along Turda Gorges
- Optional: traditional dinner in Rustic Restaurant just off the central old square
- Accommodation in a 3* hotel in Cluj Napoca
Day 5: Cluj Napoca Gherla Town Nicula Monastery Surdesti Wooden Church Sighet / Barsana.
In the morning you will have a tour of Cluj Napoca and then we shall visit the Armenian city of Gherla (Armenopolis) and nearby Nicula Wooden Monastery. Gherla preserves some exquisite pieces of carved stone and a few very interesting Armenian churches, among which the central cathedral is particularly beautiful. Leaving Transylvania, you will venture into Maramures, one of the areas with the best preserved traditions in Romania. After visiting one of the UNESCO wooden churches in the area, you will go near the Ukrainean border, being lodged in Sighet or Barsana.
- City tour of Cluj Napoca
- Visit to Gherla Armenian Town
- Visit to Nicula Monastery
- Visit to Surdesti Wooden Church
- Accommodation in a 3* hotel or guesthouse in Sighet or Barsana
Day 6: Sighet / Barsana Baia Mare Huta Pass Sapanta Wooden Cemetery Sighetu Marmatiei Barsana, Botiza, Rozavlea and Ieud wooden churches Sighet / Barsana.
After crossing the low wooden mountains here through Sambra Oilor Pass, you will reach the Ukrainean border which you will follow Eastwards. There stands the village of Sapanta by Tisa riverbank. What made the fame of Sapanta is its original Merry Graveyard, founded by Ioan Stan Patras in 1935. It is a unique sight and it is called like that because the carved and colored crosses caricature the qualities and defects of the deceased, showing in a best way the local belief that death is nothing but a passage and the beginning of a new stage, being therefore welcomed by a cheer. Later on you will reach Elie Wiesels birth town, Sighetu Marmatiei, a small picturesque town on the Ukrainean border that was once an important Jewish center. Then you can start visiting the wooden churches of Maramures, best showing the great wood carving skills of the local population. You can therefore enjoy a magnificent panorama to Barsana Village with its old church made of big logs on 1364. Next, you can visit the wooden church of Rozavlea, built to evoke the battles against the Tartars on 1717. The trip continues to Ieud, where there is the oldest wooden church of Maramures (1364).
- Visit to the Merry Cemetery of Sapanta
- Tour of Sighetu Marmatiei
- Visit to the wooden churches of Botiza, Barsana, Rozavlea and Ieud
- Accommodation in a 3* hotel or guesthouse in Sighet or Barsana
Day 7: Sighet / Barsana Prislop Pass Moldovita Monastery Sucevita Monastery Marginea Village - Gura Humorului / Sucevita.
You will cross into Bukovina across Prislop Pass, in an area of a particular beauty, between Rodna, Suhard and Maramures Mountains. Then you can visit Moldovita Monastery and then Sucevita, built in 1586 and nicknamed A Poem in Green and Light. Surrounded by gentle mountain scenery, Sucevita appears like a strong stone citadel, with massive towers, buttresses and watch roads. It is the monument with the greatest number of images. The tour continues with Marginea Pottery Centre, one of the most famous such places in the country where artists still use ancestral methods to obtain their finite products. After that, you will reach Gura Humorului where we shall spend the night.
- Walk in Prislop Pass area
- Visit to Moldovita Monastery
- Visit to Sucevita Monastery
- Accommodation in a 3* hotel or guesthouse in Gura Humorului / Frasin
Day 8: Gura Humorului / Frasin Humor Monastery Voronet Monastery Suceava Gura Humorului / Frasin.
In the morning you can visit Humor Monastery just near Gura Humorului, and then Voronet, famous for its predominant blue frescoes, painted in a nuance whose formula hasnt yet been discovered. Then you can go to Suceava, the former Moldavian capital where one can visit the ruins of the local fortress. In the afternoon, you can visit the tall and imposing Dragomirna Monastery. In the evening you will return to Gura Humorului, where you will be accommodated in the same hotel unit.
- Visit to Humor Monastery
- Visit to Voronet Monastery
- City tour to Suceava
- Visit to Dragomirna Monastery
- Accommodation in a 3* hotel or guesthouse in Gura Humorului / Frasin
Day 9: Gura Humorului / Frasin Neamt Fortress Neamt Monastery Secu and Sihastrie Monasteries Izvorul Muntelui Lake Bicaz Gorges Lacu Rosu / Tusnad Spa.
Leaving Bukovina, after visiting the ruins of Neamt Fortress from where Moldavia used to be ruled, you can visit some of the monasteries which less tourists get to see, the ones in Targu Neamt area, built in the same period with the ones in Bukovina, but in totally different style: Neamt, Secu and Sihastria monasteries. Then you will take the road along Izvorul Muntelui Lake, offering a scenic route. After passing through the spectacular Bicaz Gorges, you will reach Rosu Lake, on the shore of which you will be accommodated; alternatively, accommodation can be provided in Tusnad Spa (according to availability and preference).
- Visit to Neamt Fortress
- Visit to Secu and Sihastrie monasteries
- Car ride along Izvorul Muntelui Lake
- Car ride through the majestic Bicaz Gorges
- Accommodation in Lacu Rosu Hotel 2* / Tusnad Spa 3* hotel
Day 10: Lacu Rosu / Tusnad spa St. Ann Lake Prejmer Fortified Church Brasov Bran Castle Sinaia.
Leaving Lacu Rosu, you will take the beautiful Olt Valley bordered by rocky mountains and endless forests. After crossing the small Tusnad Spa, you can abandon the main road and go up the mountain to St. Ann Lake, hosted by a volcano crater. Just before reaching the city of Brasov, you can make another detour to visit Prejmer Fortified Church, the largest such settlement in the country and also one of the best preserved ones. Then you can have a tour of Brasov City, with its Black Church, the elegant Council Square and St. Nicholas Orthodox Church. Later on you can visit Bran Castle, set up by the Saxons upon the Wallachian Transilvanian border of the time. Vlad the Impaler is said to have haunted this place once or twice. Then you will cross the Carpathians into Wallachia, reaching in the evening Sinaia Resort, at the foothills of Bucegi Range. In the evening you will be accommodated in a 3* hotel.
- Visit to St. Ann Lake
- Visit to Prejmer Fortified Church
- City tour in Brasov
- Visit to Bran Castle
- Optional: Balkanic dinner in Taverna Sarbului Restaurant
- Accommodation in a 3* hotel, as requested
Day 11: Sinaia Peles and Pelisor Castles Sinaia Monastery Iulia Hasdeu Castle - Bucharest.
In Sinaia - the summer residence of the old kings of Romania, you can visit the two castles, i.e. Peles and Pelisor castles, set up in different styles by the Romanian royal family. Then you can visit Sinaia Monastery around which the whole community developed. Later on you can make your way to Bucharest, with an optional stop in Campina Town, where one can visit the interesting castle raised by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu in the memory of his daughter Iulia Hasdeu, a promising poet of the early 20th century. In the evening you will reach Bucharest with plenty of stories to tell. You will be accommodated in a 3* centrally located hotel.
- Visit to Peles and Pelisor castles
- Visit to Sinaia Monastery
- Visit to Iulia Hasdeu Castle
- Optional: Dinner in traditional restaurant in Bucharest (e.g. Bistro Atheneum or Burebista Vanatoresc)
- Overnight at a 3* hotel in Bucharest
Day 12: Bucharest.
- Transfer to the airport for the flight back home.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
The price is Per Person, sharing a double room and for a group of minimum 4 persons.
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