Things to do in

Maramureș

On the first day, you will be driven over the Carpathian Mountains to arrive in the region of Maramures. Here, we visit the tallest wooden church in Surdesti, before visiting a popular artist from the area. You will be served a traditional lunch consisting of local dishes from the area, and in the afternoon you will visit the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta. Your day will conclude with an overnight stay in a 3-star guesthouse in the countryside. On the second day you will embark on a breathtaking tour on a steam train. You will wind along the secluded, meandering Vaser Valley. At the final destination, you will be invited to a grill lunch. In the afternoon you will visit the wooden church of Bogdan Voda, before being driven back to Cluj.

It’s the best way to understand Romania and the Romanians by spending 2 nights in a Guest House in Maramures and then driving to the Republic of Moldova for 2 nights (plus Transnistria) to see the old Romanian territory plus the Danube Delta – Private Tours 15 Days – Complete Romania & Moldova! Total Duration: 15 days Day 1: Bucharest City Tour 8 hours - Overnight in Bucharest Itinerary steps: 5 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 2: 1. Curtea de Arges Monastery 2. Poienari Castle 3. Transfagarasan Highway - Overnight in Sibiu Itinerary steps: 4 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 3: 1. Corvin Castle 2. Densus Church 3. Sarmisegetusa Regia - Overnight in Sibiu Itinerary steps: 3 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 4: 1. Brasov City Tour (Black Church) 2. Bran Castle / Dracula's Castle 3. Peles Castle - Overnight stay in Brasov Itinerary steps: 3 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 5: 1. Viscri Village 2. Rupea Fortress 3. Sighisoara City Tour - Overnight stay in Sighisoara Itinerary steps: 3 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 6: 1. Turda Salt mine 2. Cluj Napoca City Tour (Botanic Garden) 3. Surdesti Wooden Church - Overnight in Sighetul Marmatiei Itinerary steps: 3 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 7: 1. Explore Maramures all day(local market) 2. Merry Cemetery 3. Sighet Memorial Museum - Overnight in Sighetul Marmatiei Itinerary steps: 2 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 8: 1. Barsana Monastery 2. Borgo Pass Road 3. Ciocanesti village - Overnight in Gura Humorului Itinerary steps: 3 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 9: 1. Voronet Monastery 2. Humor Monastery 3. Sucevita Monastery 4. Moldovita Monastery - Overnight in Gura Humorului Itinerary steps: 4 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 10: 1. Driving to Chisinau (Republic of Moldova) 2. Nicolae Popa Museum 3. Lunch in Iasi - Overnight in Chisinau Itinerary steps: 2 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 11: Visit Tiraspol (Transnistria) - Overnight in Chisinau (Republic of Moldova) Itinerary steps: 2 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 12: Chisinau City Tour with Cricova Wine Cellar & Milestii Mici - Overnight in Chisinau (Republic of Moldova) Itinerary steps: 3 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 13: 1. Start driving crossing the Republic of Moldavia for Danube Delta 2. Cross the Danube at Braila - Overnight in Tulcea Itinerary steps: 1 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 14: Danube Delta Tour – we explore by boat the beautiful nature of the Danube Delta - Overnight in Tulcea Itinerary steps: 1 Meals not included Accommodation not included Day 15: 1. Constanta Old Town 2. Carol I Mosque 2. Mamaia Beach - Back to Bucharest (End of Tour) Itinerary steps: 3 Meals not included Accommodation not included

Meet the people who wear their handmade traditional costumes with pride, enter their homes and get to know the culture of this region through its traditions, delicious food and simplicity. This tour has been created for nature lovers, people who love tradition, architecture, history and religion. This trip will start from Cluj. Your tour guide will pick you up from your hotel and you will drive north in order to reach Maramures, the land that was first mentioned in documents in 1199. Your last destination of the day will be Breb village, where you will enter through a beautiful handmade carved door, whose details have an important cultural significance, and then you will have a traditional lunch. Overnight in a beautiful, traditional house. When it comes to understanding traditions in Maramures, the most interesting experience is to enter the homes of the locals. Their home is the basis around which family, customs and traditions revolve. On this tour, you will have the opportunity to visit a traditional house, meet the locals, have a traditional lunch made with the freshest products and admire the simplicity of people’s lives. Witness several crafting activities such as wood carvings and have a taste of palinka while discussing with the locals. Besides hospitality, the people of Maramures are also known for their sense of humor, and they never cease to amazed with their funny epitaphs that you will see in one of the main attractions from this tour, the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta. Then, meet the spiritual side of the locals in Maramures, and visit some of the most interesting monasteries and churches in the region, including a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and admire the well-known wooden churches, manually carved by local craftsmen. Walk through the villages where locals keep crafting traditions alive, visit local craftsmen and admire their beautiful work, witness demonstrations and see the most ingenious natural washing machines that women used to wash their woolen rugs with the whirlpools in Maramures. To complete your experience and to make this tour more pleasant, some sightseeing have been prepared to make you feel like you are in a Lord of the Rings setting. Climb heights to admire the beautiful hill villages and fields where haycocks lie in the sun. The virgin forests in Maramures are some of the last ones in Europe that are still untouched by humans and it is the place where trees die because they are old, they fall and the wood feeds the earth for the next generations. In these woods, live trees of all ages, from hundreds of years old to just sprouted seeds, and under their branches live over 10,000 species of animals, including brown bears, wolves and deer.

On the first day you will have a city tour of Bucharest, where Western and Eastern cultures merge beautifully. After an overnight stay in the city, you will leave the next day for the beautiful Transylvania region. You will stop at an important religious landmark, Curtea de Arges Monastery (replace in the summertime with a road trip to Trasnfăgărășan). You then head to Sibiu, named the European Capital of Culture in 2007. On day three, visit Sibiel – a quaint Transylvanian village praised as one of the most authentic and well-preserved rural areas in Europe. After a short walk in the village, your tour continues with a short trip to Alba Iulia, before visiting the Turda Salt Mine. The next morning will be devoted to a city tour of Cluj-Napoca. From Cluj, you will be heading to the northwestern part of Romania, Maramureș, a region resembling a fascinating open-air museum. You end the day with a Romanian dinner and folklore show. The next day you will visit two ancient wooden churches that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Poienile Izei (Iza Meadows) and Barsana. Next up is Biertan, the largest fortified church in Transylvania, built by the Saxons in the sixteenth century and nowadays listed as a UNESCO monument. An important highlight of the Classic Romania Tour is Sighișoara, the only inhabited medieval fortress included in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Eventually you will reach Brasov, a city founded by the Teutonic Knights, located at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. After an overnight stay, you will take a walking tour of Brașov before visiting the famous Bran Castle. Here, you will learn about the legend of Dracula. On the last day you will return to Bucharest.