Ffestiniog Travel
Rural Romania – Where Time Stands Still
12 daysfrom $4,888
Ffestiniog Travel · Escorted tour
Rural Romania
Relive a bygone age when rural life meant working fields with horses, stacking hay in haystacks and preparing meals from home grown produce.
Day by day
- Day 1overnight: Cluj-Napoca
Flight to Cluj Napoca
Afternoon flight from London for a late evening arrival in Cluj. Overnight hotel stay.
- Day 2railovernight: Veseud
Mediaş & Veseud
Morning train to Mediaş arriving in time for lunch (included). We stay for 2 nights in guest house accommodation in the village of Veseud, specially converted for tourist use with en-suite facilities. Dinner at the accommodation.
- Day 3overnight: Veseud
Saxon Villages
We explore Saxon villages with their fortified churches and have lunch with a village family.
- Day 4overnight: Praid
Sighişoara Medieval Fortress
Visit the fortified citadel of Sighișoara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, then continue into Eastern Transylvania. Accommodation with dinner for 2 nights at a homestay in Praid.
- Day 5overnight: Praid
Hungarian Villages
Drive to Corund, famous for its ceramics, then through a remote area with small Hungarian villages, stopping for lunch with a village family.
- Day 6overnight: Hoteni
Maramureş
We drive north, pausing at the Liliac Winery for wine tasting and a picnic lunch, crossing the Carpathians into Maramureş where life has remained almost unchanged for centuries. We stay for 2 nights in Hoteni.
- Day 7overnight: Hoteni
Village Life
Exploring local villages, we find old wooden churches, domestic industry, machines powered by water and fields worked by hand or horses. We also visit the Merry Cemetery, painted by local artists.
- Day 8overnight: Vişeu de Sus
Vişeu de Sus
Visit more remote villages, lunch with a village family, and continue to Vişeu de Sus, centre of the logging industry, for a 1-night stay.
- Day 9railovernight: Moldovita
The Last Forestry Railway in Europe
We take a ride along the 20km route behind steam in the Vaser Valley, where there is no road access and timber is removed by train. BBQ lunch provided at the upper terminus. We continue over the Prislop Pass into Bucovina to Moldovita for a 2-night stay.
- Day 10railovernight: Moldovita
Painted Monasteries
We visit the Painted Monasteries at Sucevita and Moldovita and take a trip on another former forestry railway. Lunch included and dinner at our accommodation.
- Day 11railovernight: Cluj-Napoca
Return to Cluj
Visit the Voronet Monastery before lunch in Gura Humorului and catching the early afternoon train across the mountains to Cluj, arriving mid-evening.
- Day 12
Cluj to London
Transfer to airport for afternoon flight to London, arriving late afternoon.
Included
- Flights in Economy Class by scheduled airline
- Rail travel as specified
- Other travel by private mini-coach
- Hotel accommodation in Cluj and Vişeu de Sus
- Other accommodation in good quality guest house or family “homestay” with en-suite facilities
- All breakfasts, 8 lunches and 8 evening meals
- Admissions to monasteries, fortified churches and Merry Cemetery
- Airport and other transfers
- All local taxes/fees
- Services of a tour leader from London and throughout the tour plus local professional Romanian Guide
