The Alba Carolina fortress

Day 1: Travelers hitting Bucharest will find it almost inevitable not to visit the Palace of Parliament, also known as the People’s House.

Day 2: When traveling to Romania, make sure you don’t miss the Danube Delta, a natural reserve included on the Unesco world heritage site list Also named Europe’s Amazon.

Day 3: The Danube Delta

Day 4: You'll see the muddy volcanoes, a curious place where the ground seems to boil with large bubbles, just like a genuine sci-fi landscape. At the end of the day we arrive in Brasov, one of the key destinations of Romanian tourism.

Day 5: There are tourist attractions accessible to everyone and those that can be considered surprising, only for connoisseurs. Today we’ll do a mix of the two: the most visited tourist attraction in Romania, Bran Castle, for Dracula fans (this is the place where the count created by Bram Stoker lived) and the bear reserve in Zărnesti, a wildlife sanctuary in the Carpathian Mountains.

Day 6: The list of original destinations from your holiday in Romania continues. We’ll cross the Carpathian Mountains from south to north, on one of the most spectacular roads in the entire world: the Transfagarasan.

Day 7: Sibiu is quite famed for its German influence and the rich cultural life, manifested mainly through outdoor theater shows.

Day 8: The country of Haţeg has plenty of legends about dragons, prehistoric dinosaur footprints being often encountered by locals. At dusk we’ll delve into the Corvin Castle to visit the cold, awe-inspiring Gothic halls lit by torchlight.

Day 9: Alba Iulia fortress has the shape of a six-pointed star. Sighisoara, with its beautiful, winding streets of cobblestone is the only European citadel where people have been living uninterruptedly since the Middle Ages.

Day 10: What you’re about to see today will certainly raise a few questions: at an altitude of over two thousand meters, there’s a rock chiseled by time and natural phenomena, with the shape of a human face. It has the dimensions of the Egyptian Sphinx, the similarities being striking, but it is much older.

Day 11: Your amazing holiday in Romania comes to an end.

Day 1: One of the best Romania tours starts in the old historical center and continues with the former residential palace of Ceausescu, The House of the People, the second largest building in the world.

Day 2: We leave Bucharest and go up north, into the heart of Romania. Our first stop is legendary Curtea de Arges monastery, at the foot of the Carpathians. Afterwards we visit the pottery processing center in Horezu; here we’ll admire the vividly-painted pottery adorned with beautiful motifs. Nearby is Hurezi Monastery, built in the seventeenth century and part of the UNESCO heritage.

Day 3: Your vacation in Romania continues in Transylvania, whose fame will always be associated to Count Dracula’s legend. The first stop is Sibiu. We’ll continue by exploring one of the largest outdoor museums in Europe, the Astra Museum, hosting the largest ethnographic exhibit in the country.

Day 4: Today, we’ll reach the Corvin Castle: built in the fifteenth century in the Gothic style, it is connected to the destiny of the prince who went down in history as Dracula. We then head to Alba Carolina Fortress located in the center of Romania, an impressive star-shaped fortress surrounded by 12 km of walls.

Day 5: We visit two important monuments under UNESCO protection: the largest fortified church in Transylvania in Biertan, followed by Sighisoara whose medieval fortress has been constantly inhabited since the XIII century.

Day 6: From Sighisoara we set off to Targu Mures, a city recognized for its ethnic and cultural diversity. On our way to Turda salt mine with its spectacular galleries carved in salt, we’ll cross several rural areas in Transylvania. Our last destination is Cluj-Napoca.

Day 7: The next two days are devoted to Maramures, one of the most famously beautiful and unspoilt regions of rural Romania, inhabited by genuine, good-natured people. We’ll reminisce a heartrending moment in Romania’s history at the Memorial of the Victims of Communism, set up in a former prison. On a different note, the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta is one of the must-see places in this part of the country and certainly the most interesting cemetery in the world.

Day 8: Early in the morning we’ll take off on a trip with the mocanita, through fairy-tale like landscape of Maramures. On the way back we’ll visit two of the best preserved churches in Maramures, under the UNESCO World Heritage Site: the church of Ieud and Poienile Izei church.

Day 9: The journey continues with the Bukovina region, revealed after going across the incredible scenery of the Carpathians. We’ll visit Moldovita monastery.

Day 10: Sucevita welcomes us with its towering walls; in the past it used to be the summer residence of the royal Moldovan family. The most famous among Bukovina’ monasteries is Voroneţ, impressive with its unique shade of blue on the outer frescoes. Then, we will visit Neamţ fortress – an important military and historical objective that survived the siege of Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople.

Day 11: We return to Transylvania passing through amazing places; the Bicaz Gorge, a spectacular defile carved in stone and Lacu Rosu (the Red Lake), the largest alpine lake in Romania. We will visit the picturesque village of Viscri, a small community whose inhabitants are proud to be neighbors with the Prince of Wales.

Day 12: Today we’ll take a look at Brasov and its charming surroundings. Among the tourist attractions we’ll visit there’s Bran Castle.

Day 13: Saving the best for last, as the saying goes, towards the end of our holiday we’ll visit two gems of neoclassical architecture: the Peleş Castle and the Pelisor Castle. Both served as summer residence of the Romanian royal family in the late 19th early 20th century.

Day 1: Welcome to Bucharest, a city first certified in documents contemporary with Vlad Țepeș, the prince whose personality and deeds inspired the legends of Dracula.

Day 2: We step into the heart of Romania, heading to Târgoviște, the capital of the region We’ll discover his ancestors, and later on we climb the 1480 steps up to Poenari Castle, also known as the Vlad Țepeș Castle. For locals this is the real Dracula castle.called Walachia in the Middle Ages.

Day 3: Today we’ll continue our experience in the Poenari Castle area and see places where the beauty of the landscapes chases away any thoughts associated to vampire stories. A carriage drive through Astra Museum, one of the greatest open-air museums in Europe is the perfect opportunity to see local customs and architecture.

Day 4: The life of the Romanian Prince Vlad Tepes was all adventure and drama. Today we shall visit the Corvin Castle. We’ll then visit another monument, closely related to Romania’s medieval history, the best preserved defense fortress in Romania: Alba Carolina Fortress.

Day 5: We experience such feelings when facing the fortified Church of Biertan, for instance, encircled by three rounds of walls, dominating the surroundings from afar. We then reach Sighișoara, whence the origins of Dracula emerged.

Day 6: Today’s sightseeing objective: Bran Castle, which has entered the top of the world’s spookiest places as The Dracula Castle.

Day 7: We then reach a unique place, Iulia Hașdeu’s Castle, a true esoteric centre, built according to directions received during spiritism sessions by Hașdeu, from his prematurely deceased daughter.

Day 8: Having acquired more truths and fewer questions, we leave behind Romania and its amazing history.

Day 1: Arrival – Cluj Napoca City Tour

Day 2: Today you’ll get an overview on the cultural mixture of Transylvania, shaped by over a thousand years of common history. Today’s agenda includes a visit to Banffy Castle where you’ll learn the sad story of the largest castle in Transylvania.

Day 3: The tour of Transylvania continues with a history lesson in the heart of Sighisoara fortress – monument included on the UNESCO world heritage list. We’ll visit Saschiz and Viscri, two small settlements, structured around the hundred-year-old churches. The two villages are often visited by Prince Charles.

Day 4: The tour of Transylvania continues with a visit to Prejmer, a church-fortress surrounded by white, 12-metre-tall walls, sheltering the church and the siege buildings. Brasov, one of the most beautiful Romanian cities is only 30 minutes away.

Day 5: Your holiday in Romania is completed with a tour of the most famous and …infamous castle in Europe, Dracula’s Castle, whose legend has been a relentless inspiration for Hollywood. The same medieval atmosphere is recreated by Rasnov fortress, dominating the surroundings from an altitude of more than 600 metres. The way to Fagaras fortress reveals, once more, the unspoilt beauty of Romania. Next in your holidays in Transylvania, we reach the feudal castle surrounded by moats and on our way to Sibiu we’ll stop to admire the old Cistercian monastery in Carta.

Day 6: This day continue with Sibiu, the elected European cultural capital in 2007.

Day 7: Today we discover a newly-added monument to the Unesco world heritage sites, Calnic fortress. Closely related to the European history is also Hunedoara Castle. The evening is reserved to visiting Alba Carolina Citadel, surrounded by 12 kilometers of sturdy walls enclosing more than 2000 years of Romanian history.

Day 8: Your holidays in Transylvania ends with a visit to a spectacular and quite unique site, due to its strange form: a huge subterranean cave carved in salt, a former salt-mine turned into a tourist attraction (Turda Salt mine).

Day 1: Welcome to Transylvania! Soon after your arrival at the airport you’ll be transferred to the rural area of Sibiel, a delightful place at the foot of the Carpathian mountains. After reaching your accommodation – a boarding house in the center of the village - we will visit the Museum of Painted Glass Icons, the largest of its kind in Romania.

Day 2: On our second day, we’ll delve into the medieval history of Transylvania. First we’ll visit the fortified church of Biertan, a place of worship, refuge and prison all at once. Then we’ll take a stroll on the winding cobblestone streets of the picturesque Sighişoara, up to the Clock Tower.

Day 3: Hiking in Mărginimea Sibiului, one of the most beautiful rural areas in Europe. Our beautiful journey will take us through the Carpathian forests and we’ll pause for a picnic in a meadow offering a panoramic view on the surrounding villages. All products served are organic, the result of a natural process that has remained largely unaltered for decades.

Day 4: We leave the busy morning atmosphere behind and head to the Alba Carolina Fortress, the largest fortress in Romania, whose history begins with the Roman Empire and continues to this day. Our next tourist sight is Câlnic Castle, a monument listed under the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, an ancient noble’s dungeon turned into a defense fortress.

Day 5: For a truly authentic local experience, your vacation in Transylvania should include some demonstrations of the local artisans.Your morning begins with a glass painting workshop, according to special techniques perfected over the years by craftsmen in the area. In the afternoon we’re invited to a traditional Romanian wedding.

Day 6: A few minutes away from Sibiel we enter the city of Sibiu – one of the absolute must-see places in Romania!

Day 7: Saying good-bye to the unique atmosphere of Transylvanian villages, we leave for the airport.