Essential Romanian Countryside (4 days)

This morning, your Romanian guide will meet you in the lobby of the hotel to head out into the Romanian countryside.

Transfer north across the Carpathian Mountains and into the Transylvania region. En route, you will stop in the historic town of Curtea de Arges. Curtea de Arges is strategically situated on the right bank of the Arges River, where it flows through a valley through the lower Carpathian Mountains. The city was a princely seat in the 14th Century and the ruins of the Princely Court, which originally included a church and a palace, are still to be seen in the city’s Old Center. The beautifully preserved Princely Church was built in the 14th Century and its interiors were richly decorated with frescoes in the Byzantine tradition.

Later, you will reach the town of Sibiu which, together with Luxembourg, was voted the European Capital of Culture for the year 2007. Sibiu is one of Romania's cultural and tourism centers, attracting tourists due to its wonderful medieval charm, excellent views of the surrounding landscapes, great food, and stunning parkland.

This morning your guide will take you on an overview walking tour of Sibiu’s Old Town. Known also as Hermannstadt, the city has been the center of Romania's German minority since medieval times. Even today, it contains Romania's largest German community and the Germanic feel of the area has been well maintained.

During the 18th and 19th Centuries, Sibiu became the second and later the first most important city of Transylvania. After the Romanian Orthodox Church was granted independence from the Habsburg Empire in the 1860s, Sibiu became the Metropolitan seat. After the First World War, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved, Sibiu became part of Romania and the majority of its German population migrated to Germany.

You will have a walk around the Lower City and explore the rather wide medieval streets and the small, tucked-away squares. Sibiu’s architecture is rather rustic, consisting typically of two-story houses with tall roofs and gates opening passages to inner courtyards. In this part of town you will also see Sibiu’s oldest church, dating back to 1386.

You will also see the Council Tower, one of the city's symbols. This former fortification tower from the 14th Century was successively rebuilt over the years. Later today, you will also walk to the Small Square to see the first bridge in Romania to have been cast in iron in the 19th Century. It was nicknamed ‘the Liar's Bridge’ after the tricky merchants who met here to trade. Just to the right of the bridge is another symbol of the city - the House of the Arts, an arched building which once belonged to the Butchers' Guild. On the left side of the bridge is the Luxemburg House, a Baroque four-story building, the former seat of the Goldsmiths' Guild.

You will continue your tour with the exploration of the Large Square, which has been the city’s focal point since the 16th Century. On the corner of the square, you will visit the Brukenthal Palace, one of the most important Baroque monuments in Romania, built in the end of the 19th Century as the main residence for the Governor of Transylvania Samuel von Brukenthal. Nowadays it houses the main part of the National Brukenthal Museum, opened in 1817. Next to the palace is the Blue House - an 18th Century Baroque house bearing the old coat of arms of Sibiu on its façade.

Your driver and guide will also take you a couple of miles out of the city to the Dumbrava Forest, where the ASTRA National Museum Complex is located. This open-air museum incorporates the four ethnology and civilization museums in the city, as well as a series of laboratories for conservation and research, and a documentation center. Focusing on preserving the Romanian folk heritage, the museum features a variety of authentic rural buildings including water mills and wind mills, which have been brought in from all corners of the country to create an open-air ethnographic complex.

Later this afternoon, you will continue east and to Sighișoara - the birthplace of the infamous Vlad Tepes and one of the most charming and historic towns in the whole of Transylvania. Upon arrival, you will check-in at your hotel and enjoy the rest of the day at your leisure.

Today our guide will take you on a walking tour of Sighișoara’s Old Town which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Monument. This ancient town is still very much a functioning hub of the Transylvanian region. You will see the medieval Citadel with 9 surviving towers; the over 200 feet-tall Clock Tower – once the main entrance to the fortified city; and the Covered Stairway leading to the still-functioning School on the Hill, the Saxon Church on the Hill and the nearby Saxon cemetery.

You will later transfer south-east of Sighișoara and arrive in the village of Viscri, famous for its 12th – century one-room church, now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Today, but only if you are interested, you will also visit the Bran Castle. Commonly known as Dracula’s Castle, the Bran Castle was originally a stronghold built by the Teutonic Knights in the 12th Century. The building of the actual castle started in 1378 as a defense against the Turks and later became a customs post on the pass between Transylvania and Wallachia. The castle is famous because of the wide-spread myths that it was once the home of Vlad the Impaler, although there is no historic evidence that he ever lived here. Note – this is a huge tourist attraction and, in our opinion, has lost all of its charm and historical significance to the hordes of bus tours and Dracula-selling tourist stands right in the front.

In the afternoon, you will arrive into another former Saxon stronghold – Brașov. One of the most historic towns in the Transylvanian region, Brașov was founded in the 13th Century as a German merchant colony and soon became a major medieval trading center. The Saxons built ornate houses and churches, protected by a massive defensive wall parts of which still remain.

Upon arrival, you will continue with an overview tour of Brașov’s Old Town and see the Council House in the middle of the Old Town’s square. The building’s tower, called the Trumpeter’s Tower, was once a watchtower from which alarm was sounded in times of danger. After a great fire in 1689, the building was restored and completed as a Renaissance-style loggia dominated by a Baroque facade bearing the coat of arms of the town. The Counsel House was at that time the business and political decision-making center of the city. Today it houses the Brașov Historical Museum, which focuses on the history of the Saxon guilds. Brașov also has some wonderful examples of Renaissance, Baroque and Romanian 19th Century architecture.

You will also visit the famous Black Church, the largest Gothic Church in Romania and indeed, in the entire Balkan region. It was built in the 14th Century as a three-nave basilica by German architects and masons commissioned by the Saxon community of Brașov. The current structure was probably erected on top of an older church which was destroyed during the Mongol invasion in the 13th Century. Following the damage from the fire in 1689, which also blackened the building giving it its current name, the Black Church was rebuilt with the help of masons from Danzig (today Gdansk in Poland), in the Baroque style.

After checking-out from your hotel this morning, your guide will meet you for the transfer south toward Bucharest.

You will reach the mountain resort of Sinaia and what is considered by many one of the most beautiful castles in the whole of Europe. Sinaia was named after the 17th-century Sinaia Monastery located in the valley of the Prahova River. The monastery itself was built by a local prince after his pilgrimage to Mount Sinai and named after it.

Located in an idyllic setting near Sinaia, the Peles Castle is indeed a masterpiece of German new- Renaissance architecture. The former summer palace of King Carol, its architecture is resplendent with turrets, curlicues and painted frescoes on the walls.

Arrival in Bucharest and transfer to the airport for your onward flight.