Discover Eco Romania 15 days

Day 1 Arrival in Bucharest

Arrival at Henri Coanda airport.

For self-guided tours, you're going to pick-up the car you rented from the airport. For guided tours, you're going to meet your guide at the airport.

Transfer to 4* hotel for check-in.

Day 2 Bucharest - Cozia - Sibiel

Morning walking tour in Bucharest after breakfast in order to discover this astounding metropolis standing at the crossroads between East and West, once known as Little Paris, nowadays struggling for a comeback after the communist aftermath.

Transfer to Sibiel, following the beautiful Olt Valley. On the way you can stop to visit Cozia monastery, with its main church dating 14th century and a wonderful blend of styles. Later in the afternoon you’ll arrive in Sibiel - a village surrounded by mountains and forest, and steeped in ancient Romanian tradition.

Dinner and accommodation in a family-run traditional guesthouse/homestay.

Day 3 Sibiel - Sibiu - Sibiel

Transfer to Sibiu city after breakfast, which in 2007 was the European capital of culture. The city is known to exist from the 12th century, rising in prominence to become an important trading town. Sibiu is packed full of fascinating sites to explore, from its ramparts and towers to its passageways linking the two parts of the town together.

Here you can take a stroll in the old centre following pedestrian streets that will guide you through a maze of ramparts, cathedrals, larger and smaller squares, corridors, towers, museums.

On your way back to your guesthouse in Sibiel, you’ll pass Carta hosting the ruins of the most eastern Cistercian Monastery.

Dinner and accommodation as previous night.

Day 4 Sibiel - Biertan - Sighisoara - Viscri

Transfer to Biertan in the morning - one of the first German settlements in Transylvania, the first attestation of its name being certified in 1283. As any other Transylvanian Saxon Community, it had an urban organization, being noticed the franconic style of the rows of houses around the central square overlooked by a grandiose fortress-church. It is the largest of the numerous fortified churches in this part of Romania. A visit to this monument will introduce us in the atmosphere of the 13th-14th century, when the Saxon settlers of central Transylvania were starting to fortify their churches as a result of the massive Mongol invasion of 1241 that swept through Europe, devastating the entire eastern and central part.

Leave Biertan and head to Sighisoara - a medieval citadel included in the UNESCO heritage list, inhabited continuously ever since its settlement in the 13th century by the German colonists.

Walking tour of the citadel including the house where Vlad Tepes - Vlad the Impaler (the Romanian ruler, also known as Dracula) was born.

Leave Sighisoara and head towards Viscri, a Saxon village included in the UNESCO heritage list and one of the villages in Romania where the Price of Wales owns a traditional house.

“Check-in” in peasant houses which will accommodate you with their traditional conditions.

Traditional dinner prepared by the locals, accompanied by homemade brandy and wine.

Day 5 Viscri

In the morning you’ll have a unique experience - a ride in horse pulled carriages around the village and the opportunity of seeing some local traditional craftsmen at work. During your ride you’ll also visit the fortified church, a medieval church built up to defend its village.

Lunch prepared by the locals, accompanied by homemade brandy and wine.

Free afternoon in the quiet athmosphere of the village.

Dinner and accommodation as previous night.

Day 6 Viscri - Targu Mures - Turda - Cluj-Napoca

Leave Viscri and continue Targu Mures. The historical center of Targu Mures is particularly rich: the Administrative Palace, the Theater, the Wooden Church, the Orthodox Synagogue, the Medieval Citadel and the Roses Square in the heart of the historical center.

Continue your tour by discovering the city of Turda, the town itself, featuring a pedestrianised square lined with Hapsburg facades.

Here you can visit one of the few salt mines in Europe where salt was extracted only by human power. The salt mine was recently rated as the “coolest underground place in the world” and also the 22nd place of the unbelievable travel destinations in the world.

End your day in Cluj-Napoca - the traditional capital of the Transylvania region, which today is considered one of Romania’s most important cultural, academic and commercial centres.

Accommodation in 3* hotel in the city centre.

Day 7 Cluj - Sighetu Marmatiei - Sapanta - Botiza

Short time to discover Cluj in the morning - a vibrant, cosmopolite city, also known as the “Treasure City” of Transylvania, from the roman times until today, capturing its evolution from the first rocks in the roman village Napoca, which can be found as a testimony in the Union Square.

Continue to Sighetu Marmatiei where you can visit The Communist Memorial and then continue your journey to the village of Sapanta, home to one of Romania’s most remarkable sights, the unique ‘Merry Cemetery’ of Ion Stan Patras. Patras was a local artist and poet who, during the 1930s, began carving a series of decorative crosses and tombstones that depicted in words and pictures the lives of the deceased. These colourful grave markers were covered in pictures and amusing anecdotes, instilling in the place a sense of celebration rather than sadness, a tradition that has been carried on to this day by Patras’s students.

At the end of the day the road will take you to the sleepy village of Botiza, one of the prettiest in all of Maramures and site of the some of the region’s best homestays.

Dinner and accommodation in a guesthouse.

Day 8 Botiza - Barsana - Ieud - Poienile Izei - Botiza

Heading to the Monastery of Barsana after breakfast. The monastery is one of the most popular places of pilgrimage. The term "Barsan" denotes a shepherd keeps his sheep in wool rich and long, the word became a name in medieval times.

Then head for the village of Ieud, one of the oldest in the Maramures and home to the country’s second oldest church.

From Ieud, all roads lead to Poienile Izei (Iza Meadows), a true piece of heaven, where you have the opportunity to experience country life in the purest way possible. Here the UNESCO church on the hill preserves fantastic interior paintings depicting heaven and hell.

From here you’ll be heading back towards Botiza, for a second night.

Dinner and accommodation as previous night.

Day 9 Botiza - Moldovita - Sucevita

Today you continue your route through the Carpathians and heading to Moldovita to visit the village’s Eastern Orthodox monastery, a wonderful 16th century building that blends Byzantine and Gothic influences and which holds the distinction of being one of the few churches.

Your next visit is to the workshops of Glicheria Hretiuc, one of the most skilful exponents left in Romania of the traditional art of egg painting. Following a tradition that is meant to date back to the crucifixion, painted eggs are believed to bring luck and keep away unholy spirits, with each intricate colour and pattern dispelling a different form of evil.

After a demonstration of her skill and a chance to see some samples of Glicheria’s work, transfer to the small village Sucevita for your accommodation.

Accommodation in a 4* hotel and dinner.

Day 10 Sucevita - Voronet - Sucevita

In the morning you’ll start the day with a visit to a local monastery, the last and the largest ever covered in exterior frescoes. Close to Sucevita is also the black pottery workshop of Marginea.

Continue then to Voronet Monastery - with exterior frescoes dating from the 15th century, considered the Sistine Chapel of the East.

In the afternoon, transfer back to Sucevita.

Dinner and accommodation as previous night.

Day 11 Sucevita - Agapia - Piatra-Neamt - Focsani

After breakfast, transfer to Agapia Monastery, with paintings of the most famous Romanian painter, Nicolae Grigorescu.

Then transfer to Piatra Neamt town. Thanks to its architectural and natural beauty, the city earned the nickname "The Moldavian Perl’". You’ll end your day in Focsani town, known in many writings as "City of the Milcov" - one of the most popular wine-producing regions in Romania.

Accommodation in 3* hotel.

Day 12 Focsani - Tulcea - Murighiol - Uzlina

Quit Focsani and continue via Siret Valley to Galati city, on the ancient commercial road that connected the Orient, through Constantinople and the Black Sea, through the middle of Moldavia then Poland, to the wealthy cities of the Hanseatic League on the shores of the Baltic Sea.

Here you’ll pass the Danube by ferry towards Tulcea, the gate to the Danube Delta. After a short stop in Tulcea, you continue towards Murighiol from where you are transferred by private boat to your guesthouse for the following nights.

Dinner and accommodation in 4* guesthouse in Uzlina.

Day 13 Danube Delta

Today you have two rides by small boat on the winding channels of the Danube Delta. About 3-4 h in the morning and 2 or 3 h in the afternoon, depending on the weather. It all depends on the weather and water level.

Lunch will be served at the guesthouse.

In the afternoon, return to your guests for dinner and accommodation.

Day 14 Danube Delta

Today you’ll have all day out with no driving, with two possibilities: Letea village and virgin forest or Sulina city with the Black Sea. Picnic in Letea or Sulina and then return to your guesthouse for dinner and accommodation.

Day 15 Uzlina - Murighiol - Tulcea - Bucharest

Early in the morning you are transferred by boat back to Murighiol. From here you’ll start the transfer back to Bucharest.

Transfer towards the airport in Bucharest for the flight home.