Tour highlights:

• enjoy the services of a private, experienced guide, always available and ready to answer your questions and uncover Romania for you, and the flexibility that only a private tour can offer
• discover 2 of Romania’s UNESCO World Heritage sites (Sighisoara’s Old Town and the Biertan fortified church)

Day 1 - Arrival in Bucharest, transfer to the hotel, followed by city tour.

O/N in Bucharest, Hotel Berthelot**** (centrally located)

Day 2 - Start your Transylvania tour by leaving Bucharest in the morning, headed for Curtea de Arges. Visit the monastery there, dating back to the 1500′s, and then the Poienari Castle (the actual fortress built by Dracula). End the day in Sibiu.

O/N in Sibiu, Hotel Casa Luxemburg*** (located on the Old Town Square)

Day 3 - Guided walk of  Sibiu’s Old Town in the morning, then visit the Biertan fortified church (UNESCO World Heritage). Then continue your Transylvania tour with the town of  Sighisoara, where you will enjoy a guided visit of the Old Town (UNESCO World Heritage), including guided visits of the History Museum and the Church – on – the – Hill. Continue to Brasov.

O/N in Brasov, Hotel Casa Wagner***, located right on the Old Town Square.

Day 4 - Guided walk in Brasov’s Old Town in the morning, then continue to the highlight of your tour of Transylvania – the Bran Castle (Dracula’s Castle). Continue to Sinaia, where you will visit Peles Castle and the Sinaia Monastery. Arrive in Bucharest in the late afternoon.

O/N in Bucharest, Hotel Berthelot**** (centrally located)

Day 5 - Today is the day when your Transylvania tour comes to an end. Transfer to the airport for the flight home.

Day 1 – Bucharest, arrival. City tour

Palace of Parliament

Upon your arrival, you will be met by your private guide and start discovering the city right away. With a population of just over 2 million, Bucharest is the largest city between Berlin and Athens. Nicknamed “The little Paris” between the two World Wars, Bucharest is, nowadays, a city of contrasts. 45 years of Communist rule changed the aspect of the city dramatically, but still, traces of the old, bohemian times can be found, especially in the French architecture of the residential districts and the famous churches that still survive throughout the Romanian capital.
 

Atheneum Concert Hall

The city tour will give you the opportunity to admire some of the landmarks of Bucharest, such as the Arch of Triumph (inspired by the one in Paris), the Atheneum (Romania’s most famous concert hall), the Revolution Square (where the 1989 anti – Communist revolt went nationwide), the Romanian Patriarch’s Church and the Palace of Parliament (also known as the House of the People, the second largest building in the world, after the U.S. Pentagon)

O/N in Bucharest, Hotel Berthelot**** (centrally located)

Day 2 – Bucharest – Curtea de Arges – Sibiu

Start your tour of Transylvania with the great medieval city of Sibiu in Transylvania is your destination today, but you will also discover some important sights in Wallachia on the way.

Curtea de Arges Cathedral

First, you will stop at Curtea de Arges, where you will visit the monastery there. Built at the beginning of the 1500′s, its origins are surrounded by a famous legend in the area: the craftsmen who were building the church, led by a man called Manole, were working hard, but everything they built during the day would just crumble at night time. This went on for a while, and they were hardly able to make any progress until one night, Manole had a dream when he was told that the church needed a human sacrifice in order to be completed and, as such, the first woman bringing food the next morning should be buried inside the church wall. Sadly, the first woman to come in the morning was Manole’s wife, Ana, and she was the one sacrificed so that the church could be completed. The legend also says that after the church was completed, the King was so impressed with its beauty that he became worried that the craftsmen would build another similar church for somebody else, and since he wanted his church to be unique, he took away the scaffolding, leaving the craftsmen stranded on the roof. Following Manole’s idea, they built wings out of the left over wood and tried to fly down, but they crashed and perished, one by one.

This may be a legend, but just outside the church, there is a fountain which marks the supposed place where Manole fell, and in the church, the wall in which Ana was supposedly buried is also marked.

Poienari Fortress

Head north for a short drive towards the Carpathians and visit the Poienari fortress, the actual castle of Vlad the Impaler. It was built right after he made it to the throne, in 1456, and the legend has it that the people who worked here were none others than the nobles whom he had arrested under charges of treason. Not many of them survived to see it completed, since the work conditions were very harsh and besides, the fortress sits atop of a tall hill. Nowadays, it takes a climb of some 1500 steps to make it up to the ruins.

Arrival in Sibiu in the afternoon, check in at the hotel.

O/N in Sibiu, Hotel Casa Luxemburg*** (located on the Old Town Square)

Day 3 – Sibiu – Sighisoara – Brasov

Sibiu's Large Square

Start your day by enjoying a guided walk in Sibiu’s Old Town. In the Middle Ages, Sibiu was the most developed and fortified city of the seven that were founded and governed by the Saxons. This is where, for some time in its long history, the governors of Transylvania resided. At its heyday, Sibiu had no less than 7 concentric walls built around the city, as it was an important trading post and was often attacked by various migratory people, and later on by the Turks.

An excellent example of German Gothic architecture, Sibiu was appointed as European Cultural Capital for 2007. It is also the place where the first museum in Romania was open (The Brukenthal Museum) in 1817, only seven years after the National Gallery in London.

Your guided stroll will include sights such as the Large Square, Small Square, the Catholic Church, Liars’ Bridge and the magnificent Evangelical Church.

Then, head east, for the town of Sighisoara, one of the best preserved medieval cities in Eastern Europe, and one of the most interesting stops on your tour of Transylvania.

Biertan fortified church

On the way, discover one more of Transylvania’s architecture gems, by visiting the Biertan fortified church (UNESCO World Heritage Site). The Saxons are the ones who used this style of architecture extensively in the Transylvanian villages between the 13th and 15th centuries, as a way to protect themselves against the invasions that occurred often. This type of churches is also known as the “peasant fortified churches”, as they were built and maintained by locals. The Biertan curch is the last one to be built according to this pattern, in the early 16th century. For about 200 years after it was built it served as the seat of the Transylvanian Archbishop, thus becoming one of the most important churches in the region. The church has been beautifully restored recently, and the fortification systems are largely intact. A most interesting addition is the room used for married couples whose marriage did not go very smoothly: they would be locked in there for a while with just one spoon, one fork and one plate, and they would have no choice but to share everything and also talk their problems through.

Sighisoara's Old Town

After the visit of the Biertan church, continue to Sighisoara. Sighisoara is, like Brasov and Sibiu, one of the seven cities founded by the Saxons. It stands out, however, due to the fact that the fortification system of the upper town are still largely intact, and this makes Sighisoara the only inhabited citadel in Europe. Upon arrival, you will enjoy a guided walk through the Old Town (UNESCO World Heritage Site), and visit the History Museum (located inside the 800 years old Clock Tower, from the top of which you can enjoy a magnificent view over the whole old town and the Arms Museum. Then you will make your way up the hill using a wooden, covered staircase built in the 1600′s to facilitate access to the Church – on – the Hill, a beautiful example of Gothic architecture of the 14th century.

Vlad the Impaler Dracula

Sighisoara is also famous for being the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, the source of inspiration for the main character of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Born here in 1431, he became famous as a king of Wallachia in the 1450′s. At the end of your walking tour, you will enjoy a coffee break in the very house where the legendary king was born, and have a look at the only remaining fresco of his father, also a Wallachian king.

In the afternoon, drive to Brasov.

O/N in Brasov, Hotel Casa Wagner***, located right on the Old Town Square.

Day 4 – Brasov – Bran Castle – Peles Castle – Bucharest

Black Church in Brasov

Start the day by joining your guide for a walk in Brasov’s Old Town, which has a distinct Central European feel to it. You will admire sights such as the Black Church (the largest Gothic cathedral in southeastern Europe), the Old Town Square, the old city walls and the St. Nicholas Church, the main church of the Romanian community in the Middle Ages, next to which we also find the very first Romanian language school in the country.
 
 
 

Bran Castle

Then you will depart Brasov and visit one of the most famous sights in Romania, the Bran Castle (also known as Dracula’s Castle). For many travelers, this is the highlight of their tour of Transylvania. The castle was built as a military fortress by the merchants of Brasov, so that it could help them overlook and defend the trade route that connected the provinces of Wallachia and Transylvania. At the beginning of the 20th century the city of Brasov donated the castle to the Romanian Royal family, and it became the summer residence of the second queen of the Romanians, Maria. She is the one who renovated the castle extensively in the 1920′s, transforming it from an austere military fortress into a comfortable, yet simple residence.

After the visit, you will have some time to explore the souvenir vendors around the castle, or maybe taste some of the traditional cheeses and palinkas (plum or pear brandy) sold by the locals.

Peles Castle

Then you will continue your Transylvania tour by driving to Sinaia, a little town which has always been linked to the Romanian Royal family. Here we visit Peles Castle, an astounding Royal residence, built by Carol I, Romania’s first king, at the end of the 19th century. The King chose the location himself, and the construction took 39 years until the residence was completed. At the time of its building, the castle was one of the most modern buildings in Europe, with electricity, a central vacuum cleaning system and central heating. No expenses were spared in building it, and some of the most famous craftsmen and architects of Europe were employed by the King. The interior decorations are exquisite, with Carrara marble, Murano chandeliers and Venetian mirrors, and some 40 wood types were used for the wood carvings on the walls.

Sinaia monastery

After the visit of the Castle, you will also visit the Sinaia Monastery. The old church was built by a member of the Cantacuzino noble family at the end of the 17th century. Upon returning to his country after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he decided to build a monastery that would remind people of Mount Sinai, hence the name Sinaia. The old monastery was the first building in the area (and gave the town its name) and a new church was added to the monastery complex later on, in the 1840′s.

Arrival in Bucharest in the later afternoon.

O/N in Bucharest, Hotel Berthelot**** (centrally located)

Day 5 – Bucharest, departure

Today, you will say good bye to Romania and the friends you made here. Your guide will escort you to the airport for your flight home.