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Old crafts and traditions of Romania’s rural Maramures region
April 13-24, 2023 with George
Please Note:
Our April tour will have a slightly altered schedule as we will spend 3 nights in Maramures region to experience the traditions and festivities of Orthodox Easter there.
This means we will only have 1 night in Bucharest but guests can extend their stay for additional night(s).
Easter Traditions and mass in Maramures
Have a desire to dig deeper into Europe and go off the beaten tourist path? Enjoy villages and cltural interactions with locals? We have the destination for you! Our Romania tour is ready to launch, and will take you to visit old-world Europe in leisurely paced, hands-on, small group experience.
Step back in time to this mysterious land. Travel around the country’s heartland of Maramures where local traditions live untouched and dinners turn into feasts. Traverse through villages frozen in time and experience the traditions of rural life, handicrafts and folk music. Visit the magnificent painted monasteries of Bucovina, known as the Sistine chapel of the East. Dine with the locals, distill Romanian brandy and learn the old recipes of the Romanian kitchen. Get a taste of the medieval in historic Transylvanian cities while hunting down clues to the real Dracula in castles and atmospheric citadels.
We have enjoyed our small groups so much that we will continue to keep numbers low and personal attention high. This tour will have a maximum of 12, likely fewer depending on the group make-up.
Tour leader will be George, our fantastic Romanian colleague.
Day One
Overnight: Cluj
Welcome to Romania
Transfer from airport to hotel. Walking tour around Cluj, a bustling university city that is also the capital of the Transylvania region. A sign of things to come, our ‘welcome dinner’ is more like a welcome feast. Hearty portions are the order of the day here in Romania!
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Day Two
Overnight: Maramures region
Rural Life in Maramures
Travel north to the rural fairytale that is the Maramures region. Maramures means “country of the wood” and you’ll marvel at the skilled craftsmanship of the towering wooden churches and elaborate carvings on gates and houses in all the small villages that we visit. Life here still gives glimpse to the past few centuries and you will see folks still dressed in traditional clothing. Visit the village of Surdesti with its impressive oak church with a spire that reaches a height of 72m – second highest wooden church in Europe. Visit to Merry Cemetery, that owes its name to the carved and decorated wooden gravestones with colorful and often humorous epitaphs.
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Day Three
Overnight: Maramures region
Cooking Traditions and Village Life
Visit to idyllic village of Breb for an outdoor cooking class where local ladies will teach you traditional recipes. There’s no shortage of food, wine, spirits and laughter. Afternoon to explore more off the beaten spots. See how locals use water pools as a washing machines, try some local honeys, check out the work of a wood carver and find out which villages have the most photogenic ‘Babas’. A lively dinner at a local’s home with music, song and dancing.
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Day Four
Overnight: Bucovina region
Convents and Monasteries
Visit impressive wooden convent in Maramures before heading to the Bucovina region over the Prislop Pass, a scenic road in the Northern Carpathians. Visit to one of the four ‘painted monasteries’ of this region, the Voroneț Monastery. Unlike normal monasteries and churches, these have their exterior walls adorned with traditional Orthodox frescoes painted in Byzantine style from the 16th century. Dinner at our pension.
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Day Five
Overnight: Bucovina region
Steam train ride and folk artist
Visit to the Modovita painted monastery before embarking on a steam train ride for a few hours around the bucolic Bucovina region with lunch included. Visit to artist who is renowned for her work making hand-painted and colourful Easter eggs.
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Day Six
Overnight: Sighisoara
Vlad The Impaler and Dracula stories
Travel from Bucovina into Transylvania. Check into hotel in Sighişoara, the only medieval citadel in the world that is still inhabited. Tour around its atmospheric and well-preserved walled old quarter. Tour includes the 210 foot high Clock Tower, the Venetian House, the Stag House and the Dracula house – the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler..
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Day Seven
Overnight: Sighisoara
Transylvanian wines and fortified churches
We start our day exploring a string of small Saxon towns with citadels and fortified churches such as Biertan and Richis, both UNESCO world heritage sites. Make sure to ask Alexandra, our Romanian guide, about the ‘marital prison’ which kept the divorce rate quite low here. Visit with a young Transylvanian couple and try their wines and enjoy a home cooked lunch.
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Day Eight
Overnight: Brasov
Introduction to Saxon city of Brasov
Depart Sighisoara and visit the impressive 13th century Rasnov fortress that withstood attacks by the invading Ottoman army. Check into Transylvania’s essential city of Brasov. City one of the best preserved historical centres in Romania. and became an important craft centre for the German Saxons in the 14th-18th centuries. Take a guided tour of the city takes us to the Council Square, Black Church, Rope St (narrowest street in Europe) and the Defense Walls.
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Day Nine
Overnight: Brasov
Shop & Chill in Brasov or Hiking in Carpathians
Full day at leisure in Brasov to explore, go to museum, hit the amazing jewellery stores or take the cable car up to Tâmpa mountain with its Hollywood-esque BRASOV sign. Optional excursion for a pretty nature walk in a deep and narrow limestone canyon called Zarnesti gorge where parts of the Nicole Kidman movie Cold Mountain were filmed.
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Day Ten
Overnight: Bucharest
Peles Castle and Romania’s Capital
Depart Brasov and travel to Bucharest. On the way we stop at in the town of Sinaia, nestled at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains. Visit to the stunning Peles Castle, a masterpiece of German new-Renaissance architecture built by King Charles I. Continue on to Bucharest, Romania’s capital. Orientation work followed by at leisure time for drinks and dinner.
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Day Eleven
Overnight: Bucharest
Bucharest at leisure
Full day to explore Bucharest as you wish. There will be an option morning tour of the city’s Palace of the Parliament (the world’s 2nd largest admin building only the Pentagon is larger). Group farewell dinner in the evening.
Tour Dates: April 13-24, 2023
Price: $3350 (Air not included). Single Supplement is $650. We welcome singles and can try to pair you with another single to room with, but the single supplement will be required if we can’t.
Tour price includes 11 nights’ accommodation, all breakfasts, 5 dinners, 4 lunches, wine tasting and other sights listed in itinerary, transportation within the tour, tips and taxes.
Tour begins at 4 pm in Cluj, Romania. Airport, Cluj (CLJ).
Tour ends in Bucharest, Romania. Airport, Bucharest (BUH). We can arrange transfers for an additional fee.