Romania: Transylvania, Brasov, Sighisoara and Sibiu

1. Day 1: Arrive in Bucharest

   Bucharest Henri Coanda Airport to your hotel in central Bucharest

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Bucharest
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport (OTP) at Otopeni, about 17 km north of the city centre. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall whatever your flight time and takes you to our central hotel, 30 to 60 minutes depending on traffic. If you land early, walk down Calea Victoriei, the city's oldest grand avenue, past the domed Romanian Athenaeum concert hall and the former royal palace that now holds the National Museum of Art. In the evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the days ahead: where we stop, how long we drive, what to pack for the mountains and how the free afternoons work. Then we walk to a welcome dinner of Romanian food: sarmale cabbage rolls, grilled mici sausages, polenta with sour cream and cheese, and papanasi doughnuts if you have room. Plan to land by about 5 pm to make the briefing; later arrivals are still met and join us at dinner or at breakfast.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport (OTP)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 5 pm for the briefing.

2. Day 2: Bucharest: the old town and the Palace of Parliament

   Bucharest old town, Revolution Square and the Palace of Parliament

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Bucharest
   Day 2 details

   After breakfast a licensed local guide walks us through Bucharest's history in the order it happened. We start in the old town by the ruins of the Old Princely Court, where the princes of Wallachia kept a residence from the 15th century, and step inside Stavropoleos, a small 18th-century church with a carved stone porch and a quiet courtyard. Then we walk up Calea Victoriei to Revolution Square, where Ceausescu gave his last speech from the balcony of the Communist Party headquarters in December 1989, and on past the Athenaeum. After a sit-down lunch the van takes us to the Palace of Parliament, the vast civic building Ceausescu ordered in the 1980s, for a guided tour of about an hour and a half through its marble halls and the balcony view down the boulevard built to lead to it. Tours are booked ahead and need your passport, which we ask for when you book. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free.

   Included

   • Bucharest walk with a licensed local guide: the Old Princely Court, Stavropoleos Church, Calea Victoriei, Revolution Square and the Romanian Athenaeum (outside)
   • Sit-down lunch in Bucharest
   • Guided tour of the Palace of Parliament

   Optional experiences

   • The Village Museum, an open-air museum of farmhouses and wooden churches
   • A concert at the Romanian Athenaeum, when one is on

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot, mostly flat. Bring your passport for the Palace of Parliament.

3. Day 3: Peles Castle, Sinaia and on to Brasov

   Bucharest to Sinaia, then over the Predeal pass to Brasov

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Brasov
   Day 3 details

   We leave Bucharest at 8:30 am, after the worst of the morning traffic, and drive north across the Wallachian plain and up the Prahova valley into the Carpathians, about two and a half hours to Sinaia. Peles Castle was built from 1873 to 1914 as the summer residence of King Carol I, Romania's first king, and its neo-Renaissance rooms of carved wood, stained glass and arms are why people come. Our timed entry is booked for about 11:30, an hour after we expect to arrive, so DN1 traffic eats the slack, not the visit; we spend about an hour and a half inside with a castle guide. Afterwards we visit Sinaia Monastery, founded in 1695 and named after St Catherine's on Mount Sinai, then sit down to lunch in the town. The last hour of driving climbs over the Predeal pass, at about 1,000 m, and drops into Brasov. We check in to a hotel in or by the old town for three nights, and your guide takes a short orientation walk to the Council Square before a free evening.

   Included

   • Peles Castle with a castle guide, on a booked timed entry
   • Sinaia Monastery
   • Sit-down lunch in Sinaia
   • Orientation walk in Brasov to the Council Square

   Free time: Evening free in Brasov

   Activity: Peles entry is booked for about 11:30, leaving an hour of slack for traffic on the DN1. Start on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday: that keeps day 3 off Peles's Monday closure, day 4 off Bran's late Monday opening and day 8 off the Brukenthal Museum's closed day, which we expect to be Monday.

   

4. Day 4: Bran Castle at opening, Brasov with a local guide

   Brasov to Bran and back, then Brasov old town on foot

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Brasov
   Day 4 details

   We leave Brasov at 8:15 am to be at Bran Castle when it opens, about 40 minutes away, before the tour coaches arrive from Bucharest. The castle sits on a rock above the Bran pass, the old road between Transylvania and Wallachia, and was built by the Saxon townspeople of Brasov in the late 14th century as a border and toll fort. The Dracula link is borrowed: there is no firm evidence that Vlad the Impaler stayed here, and Bram Stoker never visited Romania. Its real story is Queen Marie, who made it her home in the 1920s, and your guide tells both in about an hour and a half at the castle. We are back in Brasov for lunch, then a licensed local guide walks us through the old town: the Council Square, the Gothic Black Church, named for the soot left by the great fire of 1689, Rope Street, a lane barely wider than your shoulders, and the Catherine's Gate in the old walls. The late afternoon is free.

   Included

   • Bran Castle at opening, with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Brasov
   • Brasov old town walk with a licensed local guide: the Council Square, Rope Street and the Catherine's Gate
   • The Black Church (entry included)

   Optional experiences

   • Cable car up Mount Tampa for the view over Brasov

   More active option: Walk up Mount Tampa on the marked forest path (about an hour of climbing) and ride the cable car down.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Bran Castle is all narrow stairs and small rooms, with an uphill walk from the gate; you can wait in the garden café below. Start on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday: that keeps day 3 off Peles's Monday closure, day 4 off Bran's late Monday opening and day 8 off the Brukenthal Museum's closed day, which we expect to be Monday.

   

5. Day 5: Prejmer and a free afternoon in Brasov

   Brasov to Prejmer and Harman, then back to Brasov

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Brasov
   Day 5 details

   A slower morning. At about 9 am we drive 20 minutes east to Prejmer, where the Saxon villagers ringed their 13th-century church with thick round walls, one of the Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania listed by UNESCO. Inside the walls, small storerooms, one for each family, rise in tiers on several floors, reached by wooden stairs and galleries; in a siege the whole village moved in. We give it about an hour. On the way back we stop at Harman, a smaller fortified church in the next village, on the days it is open. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Brasov, and then the afternoon is yours. Walk the path below the walls to the White and Black Towers for a view of the old town, ride the cable car up Mount Tampa, sit over coffee in the Council Square, or join the optional afternoon at the Libearty Bear Sanctuary near Zarnesti, where bears rescued from cages live in oak forest. Dinner is your choice.

   Included

   • Prejmer fortified church with your guide
   • Harman fortified church, on its opening days
   • Sit-down lunch in Brasov

   Optional experiences

   • Libearty Bear Sanctuary near Zarnesti (afternoon, booked ahead, price shown when you book)
   • Cable car up Mount Tampa

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Brasov

6. Day 6: Viscri and on to Sighisoara

   Brasov to Rupea and Viscri, then Sighisoara

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sighisoara
   Day 6 details

   We leave Brasov at 8:30 am and drive about two hours north through rolling farmland, past the basalt hill of Rupea fortress, then down a small country road to Viscri, a Saxon village of pastel farmhouses along one long street that the coach tours do not reach. Its fortified church, begun in the 12th century and walled in the centuries after, is part of the UNESCO listing; climb the wooden stairs of the tower for the view across roofs and hay meadows. We spend about three hours in the village, lunch included, with time to watch the blacksmith at work and see the wool socks and felt slippers that village women knit and sell, then sit down to lunch at a local family's table: soup, home-raised meat or vegetables, bread from the oven and plum brandy if you want it. In the afternoon it is under an hour to Sighisoara. We check in near the walled citadel, and your guide leads a short evening walk once the day visitors have gone.

   Included

   • Viscri fortified church and tower
   • Village walk in Viscri with a blacksmith demonstration
   • Lunch with a local family in Viscri
   • Evening walk in Sighisoara's citadel with your guide

   Easier option: Skip the tower stairs at Viscri and sit in the churchyard inside the walls.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Sighisoara

   Activity: The tower stairs at Viscri are steep wooden ladders in places.

   

7. Day 7: Sighisoara early, Biertan and on to Sibiu

   Sighisoara citadel on foot, then Biertan and Sibiu

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sibiu
   Day 7 details

   Sighisoara's citadel is a lived-in medieval town on a hill, listed by UNESCO in 1999, and at 8:30 am its lanes belong to the people who live there. In about two and a half hours with a licensed local guide we climb the Clock Tower, the 14th-century gate tower that now holds the town museum, for the view over roofs and the old guild towers, pass the house where Vlad the Impaler is said to have been born, and climb the covered wooden Scholars' Stair to the Church on the Hill and the old German cemetery under the trees. Late morning we drive about 40 minutes to Biertan, whose fortified church stands inside three rings of walls above the village, the seat of the Lutheran bishops of Transylvania for about three centuries. Look for the sacristy door with its many-bolted lock and the small room where quarrelling couples were reputedly shut in together. Lunch is in Biertan, then it is about two hours to Sibiu, arriving late afternoon.

   Included

   • Sighisoara citadel walk with a licensed local guide: the Clock Tower (entry included), the covered Scholars' Stair and the Church on the Hill
   • Biertan fortified church
   • Sit-down lunch in Biertan

   Easier option: Skip the covered stair and the Church on the Hill and wait in a café on the Citadel Square.

   Free time: Evening free in Sibiu

   Activity: Sighisoara's citadel is steep and cobbled, and the covered stair has about 175 steps.

8. Day 8: The Transfagarasan road and Sibiu

   Sibiu to Balea Lake on the Transfagarasan and back, then Sibiu on foot

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Sibiu
   Day 8 details

   From July to October, when the high road is open, we drive about an hour and a half from Sibiu to Balea Lake, across the plain to the Fagaras mountains and up the Transfagarasan, the road built in the early 1970s that switchbacks up the north face to Balea Lake, a glacial lake at about 2,034 m. We go up early, before the traffic, stop at the hairpin viewpoints and spend about two hours at the lake. Lunch is at the lake, and we are back in Sibiu by about 3 pm. In May and June, or on days snow shuts the road, we spend the morning at the ASTRA open-air museum, a forest park of farmhouses, mills and wooden churches moved from across Romania, and lunch in the village of Cisnadioara below its hilltop church. Late afternoon a local guide walks us through Sibiu's Large and Small Squares, over the cast-iron Bridge of Lies and into the Brukenthal Museum's European art gallery for about an hour. We end with a farewell dinner together.

   Included

   • The Transfagarasan to Balea Lake with your guide (July to October)
   • Out of season: the ASTRA open-air museum and Cisnadioara
   • Sit-down lunch at Balea Lake or in Cisnadioara
   • Sibiu walk with a licensed local guide: the Large and Small Squares and the Bridge of Lies
   • The Brukenthal Museum (entry included)
   • Farewell dinner in Sibiu

   Easier option: Stay in Sibiu for a free morning and join the group for the afternoon walk.

   More active option: At Balea Lake, walk up the marked path above the lake for the view back down the valley (about an hour up and back).

   Activity: Balea Lake is at about 2,034 m and can be cold even in summer; bring a warm layer. Start on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday: that keeps day 3 off Peles's Monday closure, day 4 off Bran's late Monday opening and day 8 off the Brukenthal Museum's closed day, which we expect to be Monday.

9. Day 9: The Olt valley to Bucharest and home

   Sibiu through the Olt valley to Cozia Monastery, then Bucharest Henri Coanda Airport

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 9 details

   The last drive is the longest, about 290 km and four and a half to five hours of driving, because most flights home leave from Bucharest. We leave Sibiu at 8 am and follow the Olt River where it cuts south through the Carpathians in a deep valley, the old road between Transylvania and Wallachia. After about an hour and a half we stop at Cozia Monastery, founded in 1388 by Prince Mircea the Elder, who is buried in its church; its striped brick and stone walls stand right by the river. Lunch is a sit-down stop near Pitesti, then the motorway takes us to Bucharest Henri Coanda Airport (OTP) by about 3 pm, or to a central Bucharest hotel if you are staying on. Book a flight leaving after about 6 pm. If your flight leaves from Sibiu International Airport (SBZ), about 15 minutes from the centre, the vehicle drops you there after breakfast at no extra cost and then leaves for Bucharest with the rest of the group.

   Included

   • Cozia Monastery
   • Sit-down lunch near Pitesti
   • Drop-off at Bucharest Henri Coanda Airport (OTP), a central Bucharest hotel or Sibiu Airport (SBZ)

   Activity: Book a flight from Bucharest leaving after about 6 pm, or fly from Sibiu (SBZ); check SBZ routes for your dates.

Wildlife and weather: May, June and September are mild and green; July and August are warm in the towns and busy at Bran and Peles, so we go early. The Transfagarasan high road opens around July and closes with the first heavy snow, often by late October. Brown bears live in the Carpathian forests and are sometimes seen by the mountain roads; we watch from the vehicle and never feed them.

• Bucharest2 nights
• Brasov3 nights
• Sighisoara1 night
• Sibiu2 nights