Travel across the border from Belgrade through the heart of Transylvania to Bucharest on this 11-day Premium adventure. From medieval fortresses and fairytale castles to vampiric lore and cobbled Old Towns, this journey will reveal Romania’s top sights and lesser-known charms. Travel through endless mountain scenery, visit multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites, descend into an otherworldly salt mine, tour a winery known for its sparkling rose, wander through Transylvanian Saxon villages and spend a night in the Szekler Mansion.
Discover the beauty and history of the Balkans on this 18-day tour that travels from Dubrovnik in Croatia through Bosnia and Herzegovina and onto the lively nightlife of Belgrade in Serbia, through the heart of Transylvania and on to Bucharest. Along the way you’ll sample excellent wines, learn about the war years, stop by the famed Old Bridge of Mostar, discover Tara National Park’s spectacular scenery, and traverse medieval fortresses and fairytale castles. This tour combines battle zones, mountain scenery, bunkers and bars and melds the past with the present to create an adventure that ticks all the boxes.
Unlock the cultural treasure chest of the Balkans on an in-depth Premium adventure from Split to Bucharest. Amazing beaches and sunshine give way to medieval towns and castles as lesser known National Parks provide an incredible mountianous backdrop. Get away from the modern world and in with the locals, soak up ancient riches of Transylvania, and discover Tara National Park’s spectacular scenery on foot and riding the rails on a historic steam train. Bursting with culinary delights and cultural wonders - the Balkans has it all.
Our tour leader Radvan Moldovan was well organised, thorough, considerate and humorous. He provided an interesting and well-informed background to the area and the culture. The guest house and hut staff were also very helpful and the accommodation was good. The first two days of the walk provided a warm up to days 3 and 4 which were challenging, but satisfying, for me. The ridge walk was somewhat strenuous but absolutely spectacular- making all the other efforts more than worthwhile. I can thoroughly recommend this trip for anyone who is physically fairly fit and without knee or ankle problems (there is a lot of steep downhill). I had not used walking poles before but found them very helpful on this trip.
'Every known superstition in the world is gathered into the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool.' So says the narrator of Dracula, the late 19th century English novel of Victorian superstitions that used this area of Romania to represent something on the edge of civilisation.
A trip to this part of the world is to enter a maelstrom of natural sensation. There is everywhere a bewildering mass of flora and fauna. Profusions of trees and flowers and grasses are barely touched by agricultural exploitation. Be alert, however, for roe deer and chamois and hedgehogs and rodents, plus the sight and sound of the area's 190 bird species. Transylvania is a region full of beauty of every kind, sometimes little towns or castles on the top of steep hills.
This trek rises daily through Carpathian lower reaches, a green land full of forests and woods, with here steep hills crowned with clumps of trees, and there villages newly built in a riot of colour and style. Smile and say Boo Naa (Hello) and you'll meet open-faced strangers who say all the country people show 'hospitality, flexibility, honesty'. The message is that tourists are welcome.
This was a tough but thoroughly enjoyable trip in a very beautiful part of the world. The challenging grade is about right; be prepared for a lot of rocky steep ascent and descent including a fair amount of scrambling and using fixed cables/chains. Some parts (particularly the ascent to La Om on Day 4 and the ridge along the top) are pretty exposed. There is a good mix of tougher and somewhat easier days to break things up with some nice forest and meadow sections. The reward is some amazing scenery in a relatively unspoilt part of the world. The whole trip was very well organised and accommodation at Villa Hermani was very clean and comfortable, with friendly hosts and great food. The mountain huts were a good experience but be prepared for very basic toilet and sanitary facilities.