Bynliv i Transylvanian Karpaterna - 8 dagar

We had THE BEST time. I was looking for a tour based in Romania, using local guest houses, walking on trails, paths, forest roads, small roads through villages, and breathtaking scenery. And that's what we got. And every meal was provided. Hiking meals were simple but breakfast and dinner were wonderful, everything so fresh. They limit tours to 10. We were only two which made it our own private tour. Last but not least, our guide was a lifelong Romanian, extremely knowledgeable about the country! We learned so much. Thank you, Active Travel.

Wonderfull journey, wonderful experience, very honest, very professional. Highly recommend!

The afternoon before, we found conflicts with Google’s directions and Dan gave us useful feedback via WhatsApp showing us how to find the exact place…. Google ‘forgot’ to tell us to cross the road. Dan (plus one other tour member) was at the meeting place earlier than arranged, so no commencement time was wasted. There appeared to be an unexpected roadblock which Dan by-passed without any problem and we made reasonable progress to our planned meeting point with the final two tour members near Bran Castle. Dan compared the legends and the facts about Bran Castle and gave any one of us the opportunity to veto the suggestion that we by-pass Bran. We all agreed to go directly to Piatra Craiului Park – part of the incentive to ‘skip’ Bran, was that the ‘time saved’ would allow us a less strenuous hike. Only when we started our hike, were we told that some of the party insisted on the ‘shorter’ hike, as that included the ‘Bat Cave’. It was pointless to argue. Dan kindly ‘introduced’ me to Nordic Hiking Sticks – which really helped me. Along the route, we passed fields, paddocks with farm animals, birds, individual homes, a few local people, a number of building sites and many, many beautiful natural scenes, including the gift of freshly covered snow-peaked mountains and most amazing – the Autumn colours. Dan gave us occasional information – usually as answers to our questions. Beyond his ‘call to duty’, Dan (and some of the others) insisted on helping both of us’ by carrying our jackets, when the air heated up. At no time did I feel that we slowed the pace. If anything, my camera kept me behind many times and I more than made up by hurrying forward. When we reached the area of the Bat Cave, we opted to stay out and enjoyed the lovely scenery and chomping sound of tramping over the fallen leaves. We all returned to our starting point for lunch, which was vegetarian (at least 2 of the 5 tour members are vegetarians) and included a couple of local cheeses. Dan gave a brief explanation about what we ate, then we returned to our points of departure. Using his family structure as an example, Dan told us of the challenges young Romanians have in facing the realities of daily life. Dan was very open to answering personal questions, which added to our understanding.

This trip was exactly as described and expected. Hiking through remote villages with stunning views, lots of animals, and delicious local dinners and palinka at night. I had an incredible time with my guide Alina. She is incredibly passionate about Romania, I learned so much! I recommend this for any nature/travel lover who wants to explore Romania.

I would strongly recommend this trip for a real insight into Romania. Active Travel's brilliant Tour Guide, Charlie Andras, drove us 1,800 kms round Transylvania - highlights were 10 kms walk through rural villages of Magura and Pestera, visiting Biertan, Rimetea, Sighisoara and Sibiu. So many extraordinary images from storks nesting on top of telegraph poles, horses and carts, forested hills, wildflowers and of course spectacular medieval castles.

We had an absolute amazing vacation! Our guide Zsolt was wonderful- he had a great knowledge of the history of Romania and the areas we hiked. The tour of Bran Castle was great fun. The mountains were beatiful and the food was awesome. I would definitely go back!

What an amazing experience! A wonderful trek through Transylvania with our awesome guide Zsolt. Great food, great views, great hiking, and wonderful people to share it with. I cannot recommend this trip highly enough!

This is an awesome trip. The people, the scenery, just wonderful. My guide was great, I am not the most physically active person. Mihai was patience and I made it. He was also very knowledgeable and some of the stories and facts about the places we went very interesting. Hope to go on more tours with Active Travel

loved this day tour just me and my husband, and tour guide George from active travel. George really made this day for us nothing was too much trouble for him. about a 2 hour trek which was at an easy pace with out standing scenery on route. was lovely to see the local village and how they live . also stopped at a inn for some lunch which was included in trip very tasty! so glad we done this trip it was highlight of our holiday, and George you absolutely made it a memorable day for and especially the bat cave 😆😂