Detailed tour description
Day 1
Transfer from Sibiu International Airport to Brukenthal Palace Avrig, located in the heart of a magnificent Baroque park, former summer residence of the Governor of Transylvania, Baron Samuel von Brukenthal. Here we’ll present to you the schedule for the following days.
Depending on your arrival time, we can then visit the city and its surroundings, where you can become familiar with the traditional saxon transylvanian arhitectural style of the region, which has marked the rural households and crafts workshops of the folk art creators.
Day 2
If you’ve ever wondered where you could find the already famous character Dracula, you will find out that you have just arrived in the heart of Transylvania! The route that you will follow in the second day of the trip will reveal you a wild beauty, full of light and color. Every season has its own charm here, but the snow turns the whole land in a fairyland!
We’ll climb to the heights of the most fascinating massive in the Carpathians – Fagaras Mountains -, and on the way we will stop first at the Memorial House of Badea Cartan, at Cârţişoara, a settlement where it seems like the time has stopped, for no one knows how many centuries, so that everything here can reveal to the visitors of Transylvania today a place looking exactly as it is described in the ancient stories.
Badea Cartan’s story became legend when the people of Rome had found “a real dacian man” sleeping next to the famous Traian’s Column – at least they believed so… He was a shepherd, a fighter for human rights, freedom and culture who went away from his village, reaching Rome and Vienna, Paris and other european capitals, becoming a cultural ambassador in the context of romanian’s emancipation.
Here you’ll see how romanian peasants lived two centuries ago in Transylvania, because there are still his clothes and sandals, even traditional bride and groom outfits and many other household items.
Then we’ll continue our trip on Transfagarasan road which „straps” across the Carpathians through a tunnel at 2,000 m altitude, then goes the other side of the mountain, following the contour of the high terraces of the two peaks. It is considered an engineering masterpiece that drew attention to Top Gear team which classified it in the top of the masterpieces of its kind in the world.
We will stop at Bâlea Waterfall, because in this season we cannot run on Transfăgărăşan, the snow being very heavy. We’ll climb up in 10 minutes by the cable car, from 1,234 meters to Cabana Bâlea Lake, located at an altitude of 2,034 meters. The cottage is located on a small peninsula, surrounded by a glacial lake which covers an area of over 4 hectares, completely frozen in winter. The mountanmen believe that this is the most emblematic winter landscape in the Carpathian Mountains.
Here you will install in the Ice Hotel for the night. After lunch, you will have the opportunity to take a walk on the terraces under the high ridges loaded by a white crown and a robe of snow. You can visit the Ice Church, with its bas-reliefs and statues made totally by cold and white ice, you’ll see the igloos and you can spend your time in the Winter Park which is available with its facilities for recreation.
Day 3
On the third day we’ll descend from Bâlea Lake and go to Brukenthal Palace Avrig, the former summer residence of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal famous two centuries ago for its magnificent gardens designed in the Baroque style of the era. The style had been preserved intact until today. From here we’ll go to the city of Sibiu, Transylvania’s old borough founded by the german settlers in 1191. The original name of the city was Hermannstadt, developing on the site of the old Roman settlement Cedonia.
The walk through history and culture will start here with the main street. We’ll enter into the central park area, where you can admire the old walls for defense which are housing the Sibiu Philharmonic Orhestra and attract thousands of visitors. Here we go under the old arches, in the Market Square, where you’ll see the majestic Tower Hall. Then you can admire the Catholic Cathedral, and the imposing building of the current municipalities and of course, the famous Brukenthal Palace, which houses one of the most important museums in South-East Europe, holding unique art collections.
Then we get in the Small Square, where we’ll go downstairs to the „Lower City”. You can admire there the splendid architecture of the Liars’Bridge and the Evangelical Church, which housed the old town hall. You can take the best photos in this area.
The nature lovers and the admirers of the traditional folklore will have the opportunity to visit the largest and the most important open-air museum in the Eastern Europe: Astra Museum. On an area of 96 hectares, in the woods, lying on the banks of two lakes are exposed hundreds of copies of the authentic traditional houses, households and technical installations old of centuries, transported and preserved here from the entire Romanian territory, forming a magnificent heritage village.
After you enjoy the most successful photographs taken in the monumental city of Sibiu, you can choose a dinner in the old center of the town, choosing one of the dozens of restaurants that daily receive hundreds of visitors from all over the world, or we can go back for dinner next to the fireplace, at Brukenthal Palace Avrig.
Day 4
After such a trip that combines natural beauty with unequaled cultural values and unique experiences in the core of Transylvania, in the fourth day we can share our impressions, while taking breakfast at Brukenthal Palace Avrig.
Then we’ll take the luggages and we’ll go to Sibiu Airport. If the plane departure’s time allows us, we can use some of your free time to visit the city.