Transylvania Winter Walk & Snowshoe

A hidden gem of a European trip exploring the quiet and less visited Transylvanian Mountains complete with charming, local accommodation and delicious food to match!

A really interesting week's snowshoeing in beautiful mountians in an unspoilt part of the world

I'm just back from this trip, and had a great time. The trip was full, with 16 people, and everyone was lovely. Villa Hermani is a great small hotel, and the food is excellent. Katharine and Herman are lovely hosts, and their Romanian cook is excellent. Our walk leader was Leo, their son, and he was good fun and a very capable guide. He had to make some difficult decisions because of the dodgy and changeable weather, and the varying abilities in the group,which he handled very well. It was great to have Rares (Alex) along as a second guide, and we really needed him at times. Magura - like most of Europe - has had a strange winter, so there was only a dusting of snow when we arrived. But, with that and a couple of further dumps of snow during the week, we managed 2 walks with snowshoes and 1 with yaktrax, as well as ordinary walking in hiking boots. I liked the mix of walking and cultural visits - bears, Saxon history, Bran Castle. And I stayed for 2 days in Bucharest at the end to see a bit more of Romania. It was so different it seemed like a totally different country!

... and I've been to Canada, so that says a lot. Our group was extremely lucky with the weather. You basically walk up and down mountains every day, nothing interesting about that. It is the weather that controls what the views look like. I regret nothing.

This was my first snowshoeing holiday and despite being a bit apprehensive beforehand I absolutely loved it. Everything combined to make it a fantastic holiday - a get away location in the middle of the national park, a very homely hotel with superb food and hospitality, stunning scenery on each walk and a very interesting daytrip to some of the local places of interest. Add to that a really friendly group of fellow travellers and it truly was a week to remember.