Hello Marvelous Fodorites,

I'm seriously considering Romania as our next destination for a travel group of 18 participants. As we are from Switzerland, I've heard parts of Romania is much like the way Switzerland used to be. I'm interested in putting together an itinerary with highlights from Romania for a seven-day trip. I would like to use a German-speaking guide and organise a bus for our group. My interests are a variety of everything: rural, castles, churches, town villages and some gorgeous scenery. Even a few hours of a recommended walking tour of the area would be helpful.

I've done a bit of research and have found some intriguing itineraries: (some are in German)

http://www.encyclopediatours.com/abe...d-siebenb-rgen
http://www.touringromania.com/tours/...ur-8-days.html
http://www.cntours.eu/wanderurlaub_siebenbuergen.htm
http://www.cntours.eu/en/holiday_romania.htm

How would you tackle this project? My group knows each other well and most are quite fit. They like adventure and are pretty open-minded. I just need to avoid shabby places to spend the night.

Thanks for all your feedback.

Here's a map offering a loop tour through Romania:

http://www.terryhappytours.de/14-buk...chte9tage.html

And here's one offering a taste of Romania's countryside and traditions as well as including town highlights. I'm leaning towards something like this and adding a few days but it might be an overkill?

http://www.hallorumaenien.com/laendlichen-reise.html

I'd aim for Transylvania, and Moldova, really very pleasant and the locals are more the hard working type that the swiss might bond with.

Thanks BB. Moldova is too far away for such a short time but I'm certainly keen on Transylvania.

I would suggest Maramures and Bukovina. But the area did not have castles.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca...7623001926246/

BB: I thought you meant Moldova the country, but you meant Moldova, the Romanian region. Sorry!

kleeblatt, yep

I'd not set foot in Moldova the country if you paid me, the corruption there is off the scale and is actually split into two mini states...

kleebatt,

Not sure if you've booked what you're doing already, but in case you haven't...

Our driving loop around (mostly) Transylvania (coming from and ending in Budapest) was roughly: Timisoara, Hunedoara (Corvin castle, roman ruins embedded in quirky little church nearby) Sibiu/Fagaras, Sinaia, Brasov/Rasnov/Bran area, Sighisoara, Bucovina, Maramures.

Most areas had so much around the base... usually well preserved little villages and such... that it was worth staying a little longer at each. For instance, we saw old German church fortresses at Harmann, Prejmer, Beirtan and a bunch of less well known ones just circling smaller roads out from Sighisoara and Sibiu. Nearby cities such as Medias, which don't rank on to-do lists are easy to reach and have interesting, if not well restored, city centres.