Day 1: Bucharest Arrival
Arrive in Bucharest, Romania’s vibrant capital. Transfer to your hotel and enjoy a welcome drink with your tour leader. Afternoon orientation walk through the city center including Revolution Square, the Athenaeum concert hall, and the Old Town (Lipscani district) with its lively cafes and restaurants. Welcome dinner at a traditional Romanian restaurant featuring live folk music. Overnight in Bucharest.
Day 2: Bucharest to Sinaia & Brasov
Morning departure to Sinaia in the Prahova Valley. Visit the magnificent Peles Castle, King Carol I’s neo-Renaissance masterpiece. Explore 60 of the 160 lavishly decorated rooms including the Hall of Honor, the Moorish Salon, and the Turkish Chamber. Continue to Bran Castle, the iconic Dracula fortress, dramatically perched on its rocky outcrop. Wander the labyrinthine rooms and learn the truth behind the Dracula legend. Arrive in Brasov for the evening. Walk through Council Square to see the Gothic Black Church and the narrow Rope Street. Overnight in Brasov.
Day 3: Sighisoara Medieval Citadel
Drive through the Transylvanian plateau to Sighisoara, a perfectly preserved medieval citadel and UNESCO site. Climb the 175 steps of the covered Scholars’ Stairs to the Church on the Hill with its 500-year-old frescoes. Visit the Clock Tower Museum, explore the nine surviving defense towers, and stand at the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), the historical figure behind the Dracula legend. Free afternoon to wander the cobblestone lanes of this living medieval town. Overnight in Sighisoara.
Day 4: Targu Mures & Bistrita
Travel through the heart of Transylvania to Targu Mures, a multicultural city where Romanian, Hungarian, and Saxon heritage blend. Visit the Culture Palace with its stunning Secessionist architecture and the Hall of Mirrors. Continue to Bistrita, a Saxon town mentioned in Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. Explore the 13th-century Evangelical Church and the arcaded houses of the central square. Evening sampling of local wines and cheeses. Overnight in Bistrita.
Day 5: Bucovina — UNESCO Painted Monasteries
Enter the rolling hills of Bucovina, home to Romania’s legendary painted monasteries. Visit Voronet Monastery, nicknamed the Sistine Chapel of the East, with its world-famous Voronet Blue exterior fresco depicting the Last Judgment (1547). Continue to Moldovita Monastery, whose walls tell the story of the Siege of Constantinople (1453) in vivid golds, reds, and blues. Meet a local egg-painting artisan who continues the centuries-old Bucovina tradition. Overnight at a countryside guesthouse with home-cooked Bucovina specialties.
Day 6: Maramures — Wooden Churches & Merry Cemetery
Journey into Maramures, Romania’s most traditional region where horse-drawn carts are still everyday transport. Visit the UNESCO-listed Wooden Churches of Maramures — masterpieces of Gothic vernacular carpentry with towering spires built without a single nail. Continue to Sapanta to see the Merry Cemetery, where hand-carved oak crosses feature colorful naive paintings and humorous epitaphs describing the deceased’s life. Meet a woodcarver who continues this unique local tradition. Overnight in Sighetu Marmatiei.
Day 7: Maramures Village Life & Vaser Valley
Morning visit to a traditional Maramures village where households still practice subsistence farming. Ride the Mocanita, a steam-powered narrow-gauge forestry train through the wild Vaser Valley — one of the last working steam railways in Europe. Watch shepherds tending their flocks and loggers working the forests as the train chugs through dramatic Carpathian scenery. Afternoon drive south to Cluj-Napoca. Evening exploration of Cluj’s Austro-Hungarian architecture and vibrant cafe culture. Overnight in Cluj.
Day 8: Turda Salt Mine & Alba Iulia
Descend into the underground wonderland of Turda Salt Mine, a subterranean theme park built inside one of the world’s oldest salt mines, dating to Roman times. Ride the Ferris wheel deep underground, row a boat on the saline lake, and marvel at the cathedral-like chambers carved from salt. Continue to Alba Iulia, Romania’s spiritual capital. Walk the star-shaped Vauban fortress, visit the Coronation Cathedral where kings of Greater Romania were crowned, and stand at the Unification Hall. Overnight in Alba Iulia.
Day 9: Transfagarasan Highway & Sibiu
The day’s highlight: ascend the Transfagarasan Highway, called the best road in the world by Top Gear. Climb to 2,042 meters at Balea Lake, winding through dramatic switchbacks with views of glacial lakes and the Fagaras massif — Romania’s highest mountains. Stop at Poenari Castle, Vlad the Impaler’s actual fortress, perched on a cliff accessible by 1,480 steps (optional climb). Descend into Sibiu, European Capital of Culture 2007. Explore the Grand and Little Squares, cross the Liars’ Bridge, and admire the iconic attic eyes of Sibiu. Farewell dinner at a historic Saxon cellar. Overnight in Sibiu.
Day 10: Sibiu & Bucharest Departure
Morning visit to the Astra National Museum — Europe’s largest open-air ethnographic museum with over 400 traditional buildings across 96 hectares. See watermills, windmills, wine presses, and traditional homesteads from every corner of Romania. Afternoon transfer to Bucharest. Farewell at the airport. End of tour.
