SaraFato

Hi,

My brother wants to go to Romania next June and, since he doesn't speak English, I'm going to help him out planning that trip translating his questions.

He counts on 10 nights and he wants to visit Brasov, Peles Castle, Bran Castle, Sighisoara, Sibiu and the Horezu monastery.

He's planned the following itinerary:

01 night in Bucharest,
03 nights in Brasov,
02 nights in Sighisoara,
03 nights in Sibiu,
01 night in Bucharest.

He's planning on visiting Peles Castle and Bran Castle as a day trip from Brasov. Is it possible in a day by hiring a taxi? Are there tour operators that offer such day trip?

However, he's also wondering whether or not it's possible to visit the Horezu Monastery as a day trip from Sibiu by hiring a taxi.

What do you think of the rest of the itinerary? Is he splitting the time correctly? He says he'd really like to spend the night in all three towns even though he's read that it's possible to visit Sibiu and Sighisoara as day trips from Brasov. He really wants to fit the Monastery at Horezu without having to spend the night either at Horezu town or Ramnicu Valcea.

He's been considering visiting Romania with a tour operator, but he says that all the tours he's checked seem hurried. He also wanted to visit Maramures and the Bucovina Monasteries but he says it looks a bit hard with just 10 nights and public transportation (train/bus).

He's mostly interested in visiting historical landmarks (churches, castles and historic towns). He doesn't care for museums

Thanks guys.

MilenaM

I'll try to address a couple of questions. I would not go directly to Brasov, that would mean I would have to turn back south to Sinaia. From Bucharest I would stop in Sinaia, visit Peles castle and the monastery, spend the night here. Next day I would go to Brasov and day trip from here to Bran. There are buses from Brasov to Bran, if you click on my name you'll get more links on the topic. Unless he plans to visit more sights around Brasov (Prejmer, Harman, Rasnov), I'd say 2 days are sufficient. Next stop should be Sibiu. From here he can go to Horezu (last time I checked there were buses that stop there), Sighisoara, and Biertan (closer to Medias, and even Carta. He might want to stay in Sighisoara one night, or return to Sibiu. Either way, the days will be long.

It is possible to hire a taxi for the day, but I suggest that they agree on the price first and specify the time involved, as the taxi driver might want to rush your brother from one church/castle to another. These trips are not as cheap as they used to be!

MilenaM

I see now that he wanted to spend some nights in Sighisoara, and I think that will cut the time spent hopping around.
You said he does not care much for museums, but Sibiu has a small art museum (in case it rains), and an outdoors village museum that he might enjoy.

SaraFato

Thanks Milena for your valuable advice!

He's given up on the idea of visiting Peles Palace and he says he'd rather visit Prejmer fortified church and the Horezu Monastery.

Taking that into account does this itinerary sound OK?

Bucarest, 02 nights: One day to stroll around Lipscani and Calea Victoriei.

Brasov, 02 nights: There's an 08.30-11.30 train from Bucharest so that'll give him half a day to stroll around the old town and day trip to Prejmer the following day.

Sighisoara, 02 nights: A day and a half to stroll around town.

Sibiu 03 nights: The bus/train connection between Sibiu and Sighisoara aren't that good, so he's allowed two full days in order to stroll around the old town and to day trip to Horezu. There's only one bus at 03PM between Sibiu and Horezu, so he says he'll have to arrange a taxi in order to visit the monastery.

Bucarest, 01 night.

He's even considered not visiting Brasov and do Bucharest-Sighisoara-Sibiu-Bucharest.

Is he making a mistake by not including Peles Palace, Bran Castle and Prejmer church or by thinking of dropping off Brasov entirely?

His main priorities are Sighisoara, Sibiu and the monastery at Horezu.

Thanks again!

MilenaM

Sara, I honestly think that if your brother is doing this for the first time and does not plan to return in the next two years to the same area in Romania, he should see both Peles and Bran. Bran might not be open then as it could bought and closed or reopened as something other than a museum.

I tried to come up with a minimal schedule, he could add an additional night anywhere in between.

1. Buc

2. Buc

3. Take train in the morning (make sure this is an IC train) and get off in Sinaia. If he does not have a lot of luggage he can walk to Peles, or tae a very short and cheap ride by taxi. If he has a phone he can call the taxi driver and he will come to pick him up from Peles and return him to the train station. Hop on a train to Brasov and spend the night.

4. Take taxi to Prejmer in the morning, stroll the old town of BV in the afternoon.

5. Take bus/taxi to Bran in the morning and the train to Sighisoara later in the day.

6. Take taxi to Biertan, and stroll the alleys of Sighisoara in the afternoon.

7. More Sighisoara (if he wants this) and then departure for Sibiu.

8. Take taxi to Horezu (what time is the bus back to Sibiu?) and returm to Sibiu later in the day.

9. Sibiu and some other site around Sibiu OR depart to Buc. (He could go directly to BV on day 3, and choose to stop in Sinaia as part of day 9. He could sleep the night in Sinaia and return to Buc. on day 10, or return late at night to Buc for the next (?) day flight.

Clifton

MilenaM has great suggestions. Sibiu, Sighisoara, etc are all at the top of the list sites.

Unfortunately, I don't know Horezu.

To add a few possibilities:

I might suggest, since he is thinking of visiting Prejmer, to see the walled church at Harmann along the way. While not quite as unique as the hexagon shaped Prejmer, Harmann was a memorable stop for being well maintained, a nice quiet atmosphere with no one there but caretakers (who had interesting stories of the local Saxon history, but of course, I can not promise the same to happen with others.)

Beirtan is beautiful of course, the best and biggest of the churches and should not be missed.

And I totally agree about the monastery in Sinaia. Well worth the time and not a difficult walk from the train station.

Although it would be hard to explain why exactly, we actually enjoyed a stop and a walk around the old center of Medias, which is on the main road and train line between Sibiu and Sighisoara. It never gets mentioned, there's no specific sights, and it's not fixed up as much as it's neighbors, but the buildings have unrestored beauty we appreciated, as well as the totally untouristy nature of the place.

MilenaM

I agree with Clifton about Medias. We drove from Brasov to Tg. Mures and stopped to have lunch on a terrace surrounded by ancient walls. It was charming.

Medias, along with Harman,Rasnov and the citadel at Fagaras do not get mentioned or visited a lot, and it does become hard to see so many sights in 10 days without a car.

SaraFato

Thanks Milena and Clifton.

Considering your advice, he'll keep Peles Palace and Bran Castle. The reason why he'd given up on the idea of visiting Bran Castle was because he'd read that it'd become a bit of a tourist trap.

Between Prejmer and Biertan fortified churches, which one would you choose? He says that Biertan (both the town and the church) certainly looks beautiful, but that he'd read somewhere that Prejmer was the biggest one in Romania.

There's only one Sibiu-Horezu-Sibiu bus schedule:

Sibiu-Horezu, leaving at 02PM and arriving at 05.20PM
Horezu-Sibiu, leaving at 07AM and arriving at 10.20AM

However, he could take the train from Sibiu down to Ramnicu Valcea and then a bus or taxi to Horezu and viceversa. He already checked both train and bus schedules (www.mersultrenurilorcfr.ro and www.autogari.ro) and it looks feasible although a bit of a long day (03 hours). The train website shows Rimnicu Vilcea and the bus website Ramnicu Valcea. Tt's the same city, right?

Thanks again.

Clifton

Ok, I hesitate to say something about Bran Castle... I've had people vehemently disagree with me and they loved it. But I only thought it was just ok, and wasn't a big fan of how crowded it was (in October) or of the booths and tents selling souvenirs and scary rubber masks in the parking lot. Nothing like that on top the hill or on the castle though, so... Anyway, I thought it was a small lovely castle, but ... I guess it depends on how many small lovely castles you've seen before.

On the other hand, we really did like Rasnov... a walled abandoned town on top of a big hill not very far from Bran. On the same road. But at the time, it was under restoration and was cool to see. People have said it's gotten kind of schlocky inside since they finished the restore. I can't speak to that, but am a bit sad about it. Also, Rasnov, being on the hill like that, I could see being quite a hike to get up there from a bus stop in town. We drove up the hill.

You know, the wall itself at Prejmer might be bigger around, and the church inside the wall at Biertan may be bigger. Beirtan (a UN Heritage Site, btw) is definitely in a more impressive spot. A covered staircase leading up a hill right in the center of the village, towering over town. Sometimes there's students up there who will show you the "vault", where the town kept it's valuables in case of attack, and the intricate lock on the old wooden door.

Prejmer is in the center of town with roads wrapped around it. Very flat - park, walk across street, etc. But interesting inside and all. Of the two Biertan wins, just on location alone IMO.

By the way, they're not near each other (probably known already, but just in case). Beirtan's best visited from Sighisoara, but Prejmer is east of Brasov.

SaraFato

Hi again,

Considering the above, this seems to be his final itinerary:

day 01: Arrival at Bucharest.
day 02: Stroll around Lipscani and Calea Victoriei.
day 03: Train to Brasov and visit old quarter.
day 04: Bus to Bran Castle.
day 05: Train to Sighisoara and visit the old quarter.
day 06: Taxi to Biertan.
day 07: Bus to Sibiu.
day 08: Visit the old quarter.
day 09: Train to Ramnicu Valcea and then taxi or bus to Horezu Monastery.
day 10: Train to Bucharest and departure home the following day.

He says he'll try to fit in Peles Palace (on route from Bucharest to Brasov) depending on how the trip delevopes.

All he has to do now is start looking for hotels.

Thanks Milena and Clifton.

By the way, www.romaniatourism.com is an excellent website to plan a trip to Romania.