Itinerary

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)

• Overnight at a 3* hotel

Day 2

NOT MON - 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 leave Bucharest across the Danubian field and reach Targoviste, one of the places from where Vlad the Impaler ruled over Wallachia. You will 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.

• Visit to Targoviste Fortress

• Visit to Curtea de Arges Monastery

• Optional: traditional dinner in Ileana Cellar of central Sibiu

• Accommodation in a 3* hotel or guesthouse

Day 3

NOT MON - 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

• 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 – Targu Mures – Bistrita – Tihuta Pass – GURA HUMORULUI / FRASIN

The tour continues through Transylvania and especially through an area inhabited by many ethnic Hungarians, which have very interesting traditions. You will have a tour of Targu Mures with its interesting old palace of justice and other fine buildings. In the afternoon you will visit the city of Bistrita and then you will once again cross the Carpathians into Bukovina via Tihuta Pass. Once in Bukovina, you will be hosted in Gura Humorului or Frasin.

• Tour of Targu Mures

• Short tour of Bistrita Town

• Optional: traditional lunch in Castelul Dracula Hotel

• Accommodation in a 3* hotel or guesthouse in Gura Humorului / Frasin

Day 5

GURA HUMORULUI / FRASIN – Moldovita Monastery – Sucevita Monastery – Marginea Village – Humor Monastery – Voronet Monastery – GURA HUMORULUI / FRASIN

Today 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 frescoes. 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. Then you 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.

• Visit to Moldovita Monastery

• Visit to Sucevita Monastery

• Visit to Humor Monastery

• Visit to Voronet Monastery

• Optional: traditional lunch in Moldova Restaurant of Gura Humorului

• Accommodation in a Gura Humorului / Frasin

Day 6

NOT MON - GURA HUMORULUI / FRASIN – Neamt Fortress – Neamt Monastery – Secu and Sihastrie Monasteries – Izvorul Muntelui Lake – Bicaz Gorges – LACU ROSU / TUSNAD SPA
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 a 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 in a 2* hotel. Alternatively, you will be lodged in a 3* hotel in Tusnad Spa.

• Visit to Neamt Fortress

• Visit to Secu and Sihastrie monasteries

• Car ride along Izvorul Muntelui Lake

• Car ride through the majestic Bicaz Gorges

• Optional: traditional Transylvanian dinner in Lacu Rosu Restaurant

• Accommodation in Lacu Rosu Hotel 2* / Tusnad Spa (3* hotel)

Day 7

NOT MON - 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 and just before reaching the city of Brasov, you will 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 will 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 Prejmer Fortified Church

• City tour in Brasov

• Visit to Bran Castle

• Optional: Balkanic dinner in Taverna Sarbului Restaurant of Sinaia

• Accommodation in a 3* hotel

Day 8

NOT MON, TUE - SINAIA – Peles and Pelisor Castles – Sinaia Monastery – Iulia Hasdeu Castle - BUCHAREST

In Sinaia - the summer residence of the old kings of Romania, you will 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 will travel 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* 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 9

BUCHAREST

• Transfer to the airport for the flight back home

Extra Information

Inclusions -

Accommodation

Exclusions -

Other visits than mentioned

Extras -

The price is PER PERSON, sharing a double room and for a group of minimum 4 persons. For other arrangements, kindly contact us.