Cultural tours to Transylvania, Romania

Planet and people

These Transylvania tours offers you a well rounded Transylvanian experience, introducing you to Transylvania’s finest scenery and folklore and providing you with the possibility of getting in contact with the genuine peasant culture by exploring rural areas, the work shops of famous artists and craftsmen, visiting museums or landscapes made famous in the Romanian literature. Besides the economic aspect – we’re using only local suppliers; your visit is of great importance for the artist, craftsmen, museums, castles or the small rural communities you’ll visit as it provides them with the a motivation, a reason to carry on the traditions. You’ll be able to purchase locally goods starting with food and ending with souvenirs, handicrafts.

Being small group tour, these trips not only minimise the negative impact on the environment but also allow you to interact more easily with the locals, giving you the possibility to learn about culture, traditions straight from the source. Our trips take you to the workshop of a skilled wood crafts, Grogore Tulean, from Maramures, to the workshop of a skilled artist, unique in the world, the only one using spider web for his paintings, and to the windswept “Dogarilor Tower” in Bistriata Citadel to meet the honourable Misiuga, the 83 years old Baron of Dracula who will present his puppet exposition, made entirely from disposed materials and objects (everything from an old button to a broken lighter will be turned into good account and become a puppet!)

To give you a full taste of the local culture you’ll delight yourself with a monastic lunch in Barsana, home to one of the highest wood monasteries in Romania, enjoy a traditional Saxon home cooked dinner in a guest house in Transylvania or a “motzesc” picnic lunch in a breathtaking natural scenery, at the mouth of Poarta lui Ionele Cave. The Romanian guide will also advise you on local customs as well as help you to break down language barriers.

To make sure the money stays where needed we’re only using local suppliers and where the itinerary allows us we’re also using small family run business, for example in Ieud, a beautiful traditional village located in the magical Maramures, and in Lazarea, a typical Szekler village, and in Sibiel, a beautiful traditional Saxon village located in Transylvania, where you’ll accommodate in guest houses or even under the same roof with your hosts. Further more you’ll enjoy a home cooked traditional dinner. This is actually an ideal opportunity to spend more time with the locals but also ensure that the financial benefits of your visit reach the people of the area and not some large companies based outside the region.

The entry fees will help maintain and even restore the precious tourist attractions visited through out the tour. We’re also making financial contributions for every persons who books one of our tours, in the amount of £1 per person to support Saint Daniel’s Foundation programme entitled 'A grand father for a nephew – A nephew for a grandfather', helping elderly and orphans, people most in need.

We encourage our guests do a little reading before coming to find out more about their host communities and the environment so that they would connect better with the locals. We provide suggestion on how best to support the local economies and communities, as well as the surrounding environment. Guests will receive a pre-trip information pack via e-mail, to minimise the use of paper, which will inform them about issues relating to the place they will travel, some language tips and general advice. Furthermore, our tour guides are well-educated multilingual people who can offer guests their skills as an interpreter and offer insights on current national and regional issues.