Study Trip - Transylvania’s Undying legend

Highlights:

Steam Train on Vaser Valley – discover an area devoid by human population

Snagov Monastery - where, according to the legend, Vlad the Impaler was buried after his assassination

Targoviste, former capital of Walachia County situated on the right bank of Ialomita River, home of Vlad Tepes old court.

The Medieval Saxon city of Brasov – it was here that Vlad led raids against the Saxon merchants

Bran Castle  - also known as Dracula’s Castle, a legendary Transylvanian fortress dating back to 1377.

Sighisoara Medieval Citadel - the best preserved and still inhabited medieval citadel in Eastern Europe with a UNESCO World Heritage status, Vlad the Impaler’s birth place

Dracula’s Castle in Borgo Pass – a hotel built uponBram Stoker’s story, on the border of Transylvania, Moldavia and Bucovina. Accommodation, candle lit dinner and a camp fire with all the right stories.

Poienari Fortress - Vlad’s old and faithful citadel perched high on a cliff, more than 1,000 stairs to climb.

Sibiu - one of Romania’s most beautiful medieval cities, the former European capital of Culture in 2007, and the place where Vlad’s son is buried

Romania’s  most wonderful caves : Pestera Valea Cetatii Cave ( The Valley of the Citadel cave), Meziad cave, Pestera Ursilor (Bear’s cave), Pestera Scarisoara (Scarisoara’s cave)

Babele and Sphinx – the most popular tourist destination from the country , can be reached by cable car. A lot of walking trails are available.

Ritual Killing of the Living Dead - performed according with old Transylvanian tradition, as was featured on Travel Channel

Day by day itinerary

Day 1, Bucharest – Snagov Island –Bucharest (81 km, 1h 35 min driving)

Connect with our tour guide at the airport

Highlights : Visit Snagov Monastery , Bucharest city tour by foot

Meals : Welcome dinner with Folk Show

Accommodation : 3* accommodation in vicinity of the old centre of Bucharest

*  Snagov Monastery where, according to the legend, Vlad was buried after his assassination. The monastic establishment is located on a small island of Snagov Lake. The architectural style of the monastery follows the architectural pattern that is characteristic to the monasteries on the Holy Mount Athos in Greece . Your first day in Romania ends with a welcome dinner in one of Bucharest ’s top traditional restaurants.

Day 2, Bucharest –Targoviste- Sinaia- Bran- Brasov- Bran (256 km, 5h 23 min driving)

Highlights : The ruins of Vlad Tepes old court, Peles Castle , Bran Castle, the medieval city of Brasov

Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch, Special Dinner – medieval menu in a Dracula Themed restaurant, 4*

Accommodation : 3* accommodation in Bran

Special Events : Dracula’s Wedding- is a show set on stage by a professional band of actors. This is a non verbal performance. It’s very easy to understand that Dracula did not need words to charm a girl. The first time they met he appeared as a respectable noble, the second meeting revealed his true dark nature… Find out if the story has a happy ending.

*Targoviste, former capital of Walachia County situated on the right bank of Ialomita River, home of Vlad Tepes old court.

*  Peles Castle . The edifice was built in 1873 and is an architectural mixture of the German School and neo-renaissance style. The castle has 160 rooms, all of them opulently decorated in leather and wood from the most valuable tree species. Peleş Castle is one of the best preserved and the most beautiful royal residences in Europe.

*Transylvania’s symbol, Bran Castle . The edifice owes its fame both to its unique charm and to the myth Bram Stoker created around Dracula. Documentary evidence of the castle dates back as far as 1377. Close to the castle there is a shrine set in the wall of a mountain which once sheltered the heart of Queen Maria of Romania .

Day 3,  Bran (52km, 1h 12min)

Highlights : Valley of the Citadel cave ,  Rasnov citadel, from the outside : Bat’s cave, explore Bran area – great walking trails,

Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch, Homemade dinner

Accommodation : Pension or Guest house – very good quality accommodation

* Valley of the Citadel cave – one of the most beautiful cave of Europe , you can attend great clarinet concerts

* Rasnov Peasant Citadel - the largest peasant fortification ever built in Eastern Europe

*Bat’s cave – closed to the public, it is an impressive cave with numerous colonies of bats. We can visit just at the entrance

Day 4, Bran – Poienari (126 km, 2h 36 min)

Highlights : Poienari citadel, Curtea de Arges Monastery

Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch, traditional Romanian dinner

Accommodation : 4*hotel- pension Valley with fish – The former holiday house of Nicolae Ceausescu’ s son ( the Romanian dictator )

Your accommodation is located on Transfagarasan road- The most crooked and challenging of Europe's roads, loved by motorcyclists. Built between 1970 and 1974 as a military route, by comunist dictator Ceausescu (after the Soviet invasion of Cehoslovakia in 1968) it snakes up the

tallest peaks of the Carpathians. 

*Curtea de Arges Monastery. Curtea de Arges, one of the oldest Romanian cities, founded in the 14^th century by the Romanian ruler Neagoe Basarab. According to the legend, after building the monastery the mason, Manole was sacrificed by the Romanian Ruler, to make sure that there will be no other monastery built to challenge in beauty the one in Curte de Arges. The monastery is unbelievably beautiful.

*Poienari Citadel - Vlad’s old and faithful fortress. The fortress located close to Fagaras Mountains , on a canyon formed by Arges Rives isperched high on a cliff, in fact a steep precipice. To visit the impressive fortress and admire the unique and breathless view from the top you’ll need to climb over 1400 stairs.

Day 5, Poienari – Sibiu - Sibiel (122 km, 2h 31 min)

Highlights : Village Museum , stroll the street of the old village of Sibiel

Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch, Homemade dinner

Accommodation : Guesthoues – very good quality accommodation

* Village Museum  - the largest  open-air museum in Eastern Europe. It is famous all over Europe for its size and  especially for all the traditional old houses, built after customs from all  regions of the country ( Maramures, Moldavia, Valahia, Danube Delta – Dobrogea, Transylvania), each one with its characteristics.

Day 6, Sibiu – Sihisoara – Turda (214 km, 3h 36 min)

Highlights : The medieval citadel of Sighisoara – UNESCO World Heritage, The clock tower and Medieval Weapon Collection, Salt mine in Turda -  one of the biggest saline in Romania , it has impressive halls named after kings and queens

Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch, Vampire menu for  dinner

Accommodation : 4* Dracula themed boutique hotel

*Sighisoara Citadel : Stroll around the streets of the old citadel; admire the Clock Tower, concentrating Sighisoara’s history, the beautiful Church on the Hill and the unique Covered Stairs. You can even enjoy lunch in the very house where Vlad the Impaler was borne, turned today into a cosy restaurant “Casa Vlad Dracul” Restaurant. 

Special events : The Ritual of killing of a living dead in Apuseni Mountains followed by a Masquerade Party

* The Ritual of Killing of the Living Dead (performed according to the old burying rituals in Transylvania, this event is set on stage in Apuseni Mountains, after sunset, in an old traditional house and  is meant to reveal who was dwelling the magic realms of Transylvania before Bram Stoker created the vampire legend – the event was recently presented by Travel Channel in the Hunt for Dracula episode as we have assisted them on a documentary based on Transylvania’s darkest legends.

Day 7, Turda –Chiscau- Garda de Sus (Apuseni Mountains) (271 km, 4h 30 min driving)

Highlights : Bear’s Cave, Meziad Cave,

Scarisoara’s Cave - it hosts the largest underground glacier in the world

Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch, Homemade dinner

Accommodation : Guesthouse - very good quality accommodation

*Bear’s cave : is made out of 4 main galleries: Bones Gallery, Emil Racovita Gallery, Candles Gallery and Scientific Gallery. The access in the Scientific Gallery, located at the end of the Emil Racovita Gallery and accessible through a 30 m pit, is only opened for professional speleologists.

In the 3 main galleries of Bears’ Cave accessible to the public, you will be able to discover the remains of the bear cave, through a great number of fossils, which have also given the name of the cave, but also various impressive natural formations, as stalactites and stalagmites, some of which have been given names due to the characteristics they showcase, such as: the Enchanted

Castle, the Dwarfs House, the Water Lilly Lake, the Old Men’s Council and so on. 

*Meziad Cave : The Meziad Cave is one of the longest caves in Romania, with a length of nearly five kilometres and having more underground levels. Meziad is also one of the first arranged and electrified caves in our country for tourists’ access.

Day 8, Garda de Sus – Borgo Pass (257 km, 4 h 53min driving)

Highlights : Huda lui Papara Cave- one of the most spectacular caves from Apuseni Mountains,

, Dracula’s Castle from Borgo Pass – built according to Bram Stocker’s imagination, fire camp.

Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch, Candle lit dinner and fire camp

Accommodation : 3* hotel, Dracula themed Hotel

Day 9, Borgo Pass – Sacel (119 km, 2h 5 min driving)

Highlights : Woodcraftsman – you can learn in Grigore’s workshop how to make the perfect wooden stake!, Wonderful 

Optional : Merry Cemetery – find out how a cemetery can be merry

* Merry Cemetery – unique in the world, the Merry Cemetery owes its name to the wood-carved memorial crosses, decorated in vivid colours depicting the deceased in a cartoon like manner, the epitaphs candidly recite biographies of the deceased using limerick-style poetry.

Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch, Maramuresean dinner

Accommodation : 3* Pension in Sacel

Day 10, Sacel – Viseul de Sus – Sacel (42km, 53 min driving)

Highlights : Steam Train on Vaser Valley  ( Mocanita)

 Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch, Maramuresean dinner

Accommodation : 3* Pension in Sacel

* 50 km travel with Steam Train on Vaser Valley will be definitely a journey into the past. Maramures county is known not only for it best preserved traditions but also for its stoning natural scenery: narrow, rock lined canyons; the colourful wildlife of the mixed forests. You will emerge into aland devoid of human population, accessible only by railway.

Day 11, Sacel – Cluj Napoca  (147km, 2h 17min driving)

Meals : Breakfast, Packed Lunch

Accommodation : not included

Venue : Departure from Bucharest. Our tour guide connects with you at the airport. The tour will be ending in Cluj Napoca.

* This itinerary can be costumized in order to meet your group needs.

Please have in mind that activitygift.ro will issue only a presentation Gift Voucher. Your Travel Voucher will be issued within 48 hours ( working days) by Transylvania Live Expert in Transylvania, tour-operator.

You can reach Transylvania Live Expert as follows:

visit-transylvania.eu , visit-transylvania.us, visit-transylvania.co.uk

office@visit-transylvania.us  

phone/fax: +40 364 411 666, US Toll-free: 866 376 6183, 

                   UK Free-line: 0 808 101 6781 

How long this activity takes: 11 days

Minimum number of people required: 15

Minimum age required: 15 years old child

More Info:

 Price:

* Price is based on two people sharing a double room.

Price includes:

The services of a professional English speaking guide.

Transportation: all transfers inside the tour by microbus or coach, with private driver,  depending on the number of the travellers.

Accommodation:10 nights:

 2 night in a 4* Hotel, 3 nights in 3* Hotels, 2 nights in 39 Pension and 3 nights in guest houses – very good quality accommodaton.

Meals: 10 breakfasts and 10 dinners (2 special dinners: dinner with Vampire menu, candle light dinner and camp fire in Borgo Pass) and 10 packed lunches.

Entry fees to: Snagov Monastery, the Ruins of Tirgoviste Citadel, Bran Castle, Black Church, Clock Tower, Medieval Weapon Collection and Torture Room in Sighisoara, Dracula's Coffin in Borgo Pass, Woodcraftsmen in Sacel, the Village Museum in Sibiu, Evangelic Church in Sibiu, Icons on Glass Museum in Sibiel, Ruins of Poienari Citadel, Pestera Valea Cetatii Cave ( The Valley of the Citadel cave), Meziad cave, Pestera Ursilor (Bear’s cave), Pestera Scarisoara (Scarisoara’s cave)

 Special events included:

The Ritual of Killing of a living Dead

Dracula’s wedding

 One place free of charge (single occupancy) for tour conductor.

This tour is running on request for a minimum group of 15 persons.