All Romania Tour (12 days) (Cultural Tour , Wallachia,Transylvania,Moldavia,Bukovina,Maramures,Bucharest)

Travel to the North-West from Bucharest, across the Carpathian Mountains and into Medieval Transylvania. You’ll get a chance to taste some authentic Romanian cuisine as you visit picturesque mediaeval towns brimming with folklore and colourful peoples, set in timeless natural beauty. Then you will have a fine taste of the most unspoiled areas in the whole country. There is nothing like the painted monasteries in Bukovina or the wooden churches of Maramures. Add here the local traditions, the superb scenery and the very hospitable people, together with a relaxed stay on the seaside and you have an image of what a great holiday can be about.

1st Day - 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
• Recommended: evening short tour of the city, peeking over at Curtea Veche Fortress built by Vlad the Impaler
• Recommended: dinner in a typical restaurant (e.g. Vatra Restaurant or Terasa Doamnei Restaurant)
• Overnight at a 2 or 3* hotel, as opted for

2nd Day - BUCHAREST - Targoviste Fortress - Curtea de Arges Monastery - Transfagarasan Road in Fagaras Mountains / Olt Gorges (depending on weather and time of the year) - SIBIU

In the morning you will have the car delivered at your hotel and 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 Romania's 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, Romania's largest medieval city. You will be accommodated in a 3* central hotel (3* option) or in a Saxon guesthouse located 10 minutes from the center (2* option), both in Sibiu.

• Car delivery at the hotel
• Recommended: visit Targoviste Fortress
• Recommended: visit Curtea de Arges Monastery
• Recommended: traditional dinner in Ileana Cellar of central Sibiu
• Accommodation in a 3* hotel or in a Saxon guesthouse in Sibiu

3rd Day - SIBIU - Biertan Fortified Church - SIGHISOARA

In the morning you will be able to 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 (3* option) or in a 2* hotel just near the fortress walls.

• Recommended: visit to Astra Folk Technology Museum
• Recommended: city tour in Sibiu, including the Evangelic Church, the Large Square, Bruckenthal Museum
• Recommended: visit to Biertan Fortified Church
• Recommended: tour of Sighisoara Fortress, including the Clock Tower, the Franciscan Church, the Church on the Hill
• Recommended: traditional dinner in Casa Vlad Dracul, the place where Vlad the Impaler was born
• Overnight in Sighisoara, in a 2 or 3* hotel

4th Day - SIGHISOARA - Remetea Village - Turda Gorges - CLUJ NAPOCA

The tour continues across the very heart of Transylvania until we can reach Targu Mures, where we can have a pleasant walk in the old centre. Later on, making a detour from Turda, Remetea Village, we can visit a small place with impeccably preserved traditional Hungarian architecture. In the afternoon, we can go for an easy, but breath-taking trip through the scenic Turda Gorges. Eventually we shall reach Cluj, another fine medieval city with a fine Gothic church and a well-preserved old centre. We shall be accommodated here in a 2 or 3* hotel, as selected.

• Recommended: Tour of Targu Mures
• Recommended: visit to Remetea Village and to the local village museum
• Recommended: walk along Turda Gorges
• Recommended: traditional dinner in Rustic Restaurant just off the central old square
• Accommodation in a 3* or 2* hotel in Cluj Napoca

5th Day - NAPOCA - Gherla Town - Nicula Monastery - Surdesti Wooden Church - IZVOARE RESORT

In the morning we can 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, we shall 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, we shall go to the foothills of Gutai Mountains to be hosted for the night by Izvoare Resort.

• Recommended: city tour of Cluj Napoca
• Recommended: visit to Gherla Armenian Town
• Recommended: visit to Nicula Monastery
• Recommended: visit to Surdesti Wooden Church
• Recommended: dinner with Maramures specific in Raza Soarelui Restaurant
• Accommodation in a 3* hotel in Izvoare Resort

6th Day - IZVOARE RESORT - Baia Mare - Huta Pass - Sapanta Wooden Cemetery - Sighetu Marmatiei - Barsana, Botiza, Rozavlea and Ieud wooden churches - BORSA RESORT

After crossing the low wooden mountains here through Sambra Oilor Pass, we shall reach the Ukrainean border which we shall 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 coloured 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 we shall reach Elie Wiesel's birth town, Sighetu Marmatiei, a small picturesque town on the Ukrainean border that was once an important Jewish center. Then we can start visiting the wooden churches of Maramures, best showing the great wood carving skills of the local population. We can therefore enjoy a magnificent panorama to Barsana Village with its old church made of big logs on 1364. Next, we 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). In the evening we shall go towards the Bukovinean border, getting accommodated in Borsa Resort, at the foothills of Rodna Mountains, in a 3* hotel.

• Recommended: visit to the Merry Cemetery of Sapanta
• Recommended: tour of Sighetu Marmatiei
• Recommended: visit to the wooden churches of Botiza, Barsana, Rozavlea and Ieud
• Accommodation in a 3* hotel in Borsa Resort

7th Day - BORSA RESORT - Prislop Pass - Vatra Dornei Spa - Moldovita Monastery - Sucevita Monastery - Marginea Village - GURA HUMORULUI / SUCEVITA

We shall cross into Bukovina across Prislop Pass, in an area of a particular beauty, between Rodna, Suhard and Maramures Mountains. We shall then be able to go to Vatra Dornei, a beautiful spa with an interesting spa park. Then we 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, we shall reach Gura Humorului where we shall spend the night (3* option). For the 2* option, we shall have accommodation in a traditional guesthouse in Sucevita area.

• Recommended: walk in Prislop Pass area
• Recommended: visit to Vatra Dornei Spa
• Recommended: visit to Moldovita Monastery
• Recommended: visit to Sucevita Monastery
• Recommended: traditional dinner in Moldova Restaurant of Gura Humorului
• Accommodation in a 3* hotel in Gura Humorului or, as selected, in a 2* guesthouse in Sucevita

8th Day - GURA HUMORULUI / SUCEVITA - Humor Monastery - Voronet Monastery - Suceava - GURA HUMORULUI / SUCEVITA

In the morning we can visit Humor Monastery just near Gura Humorului, and then Voronet, famous for its predominant blue frescoes, painted in a nuance whose formula hasn't yet been discovered. Then we can go to Suceava, the former Moldavian capital where one can visit the ruins of the local fortress. In the afternoon, we can visit the tall and imposing Dragomirna Monastery. In the evening we can return to Gura Humorului or Sucevita, where we shall be accommodated in the same hotel unit, as requested.

• Recommended: visit to Humor Monastery
• Recommended: visit to Voronet Monastery
• Recommended: city tour to Suceava
• Recommended: visit to Dragomirna Monastery
• Recommended: traditional dinner in Moldova Restaurant, Gura Humorului
• Accommodation in Gura Humorului, 3* hotel / Sucevita, 2* guesthouse

9th Day - GURA HUMORULUI / SUCEVITA - Neamt Fortress - Neamt Monastery - Secu and Sihastrie Monasteries - Izvorul Muntelui Lake - Bicaz Gorges - LACU ROSU

Leaving Bukovina, after visiting the ruins of Neamt Fortress from where Moldavia used to be ruled, we 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 we shall take the road along Izvorul Muntelui Lake, offering a scenic route. After passing through the spectacular Bicaz Gorges, we shall reach Rosu Lake, on the shore of which we shall be accommodated in a 2* hotel.

• Recommended: visit to Neamt Fortress
• Recommended: visit to Secu and Sihastrie monasteries
• Car ride along Izvorul Muntelui Lake
• Car ride through the majestic Bicaz Gorges
• Recommended: traditional Transylvanian dinner in Lacu Rosu Restaurant
• Accommodation in Lacu Rosu Hotel 2*

10th Day - LACU ROSU - Tusnad Spa - St. Ann Lake - Prejmer Fortified Church - Brasov - Bran Castle - SINAIA

Leaving Lacu Rosu, we shall take the beautiful Olt Valley bordered by rocky mountains and endless forests. After crossing the small Tusnad Spa, we 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, we 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 we can have a tour of Brasov City, with its Black Church, the elegant Council Square and St. Nicholas Orthodox Church. Later on we 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 we shall cross the Carpathians into Wallachia, reaching in the evening Sinaia Resort, at the foothills of Bucegi Range. In the evening we shall be accommodated in a 2 or 3* hotel, as selected.

• Recommended: visit to St. Ann Lake
• Recommended: visit to Prejmer Fortified Church
• Recommended: city tour in Brasov
• Recommended: visit to Bran Castle
• Recommended: Balkanic dinner in Taverna Sarbului Restaurant,br> - Accommodation in a 2 or 3* hotel, as requested

11th Day - 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 return the car and will be accommodated in a 3* centrally located hotel or in a 2* central unit, as required.

• Recommended: visit to Peles and Pelisor castles
• Recommended: visit to Sinaia Monastery
• Recommended: visit to Iulia Hasdeu Castle
• Recommended: Dinner in traditional restaurant in Bucharest (e.g. Bistro Atheneum or Burebista Vanatoresc)
• Car returning
• Overnight at a 3* or 2* hotel in Bucharest

12th Day - BUCHAREST

• Transfer to the airport for the flight back home