8 Day Guided Transylvania Cycling Tour in Romania

Arrival and departure

• Day 1 - Group meeting at 17:00 at Brasov train station and private transfer from Brasov to the first guesthouse (approximately 30 minutes)
• Day 8 - The standard program includes departure from the guesthouse at 08:00, with an exterior visit of Bran Castle and Peles Castle in Sinaia. Arrival in Bucharest will be at around 15:00. The possible flight shall be a minimum of three hours later. An extra night in Brasov is recommended.

Daily itinerary

Day 1: Arrival in Bucharest

You will be starting in Bucharest, where you will be welcomed by your guide at 17:00. From there, you will be transferred to a small and peaceful town named Vulcan on the outskirts of Transylvania, in Brasov’s County. This transfer will be roughly three hours long, but Romania Active will manage it just fine with the help of a few breaks on the way. Your night will be spent in the village’s cozy Parochial Home.

• Meals: Dinner

Day 2: First day of cycling to Fagaras

After breakfast, you’ll be all ready and set up to begin your ride on an easy and flat stretch of road, overlooking the spectacular panorama with snowy summits of the Bucegi Mountains, as you cross through the little mountain town of Zarnesti. At lunch, stop for a visit at the still-working oldest flour mill in Transylvania, powered by the clear river that runs just next to it.

Also, there is where you will learn the tumultuous story of the owner’s life and his mill’s hardships during the rough communist times. After a well-deserved refreshing lemonade and a tasty piece of cake, continue your adventure, heading to a lovely little village where you’ll spend the night, just at the foot of the grand Fagaras mountain range.

If the group is lucky and the weather is on their side, they will lengthen the journey by just a little bit, enough to allow participants to discover an ancient and mystical worshipping cave, home to Zalmoxis, the supreme deity of the Dacian people, who ruled these lands 2000 years ago. Night will be spent at a charming family guesthouse.

• Distance: 55 kilometers / 35 miles
• Elevation: +250 meters / +821 feet and -400 meters / -1313 feet
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Day 3: Cycling through the Transylvanian plateau

On this day, the Fagaras mountains ridges will follow and charm you all day long as if to prove their grandeur, being the highest Romanian Mountains. In the morning, after you have had your copious breakfast, you will begin the day's adventure by heading to the quaint small village of Lisa, where an over 100-year-old, still functional machine that tailors woolen blankets, covers, and clothes is waiting for you to hear its turbulent story.

So, you will stop there and listen to the owner’s tales and see for yourself the old and intricate ways of producing perfect woolen produce.

When you are done, you will retake your ride through the once successful industrial town, nowadays lying barely asleep, surrounded by the ruins of its old communist machinery and majestic mountaintops. You will then head to your lunch, to a local artisan, who will amaze you with homemade, tasty local products and also show you his craft.

Your home for this night will be just next door to a stunning ruined Cistercian Monastery, where you can still sense the spirits of its old monks working and praying. There, you will have the opportunity to meet the current pastor, who’s a natural storyteller, and who is going to enchant you with the place’s rich history and funny legends.

There will be a possible detour to the spiritual Sambata de Sus (Higher Saturday) Monastery (an additional 10 kilometers). Night will be spent at a comfortable guest house, on the grounds of Carta’s watermill. Please note that depending on the seasonal period, the accommodation on this day is possibly either in Carta or Cartisoara. As a consequence, on some departures, you may visit the Monastery in Carta on Day 4.

• Distance: 65 kilometers / 41 miles
• Elevation: +300 meters / +985 feet and -450 meters / -1477 feet
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Day 4: Pastoral landscape

Soon after you have filled your breakfast appetite, begin with a thrilling bridge crossing of the river Olt. You will then continue your journey onto picturesque country roads where you might see locals at work, either carrying fresh produce by horse carts, plowing the fields in the old-fashioned ways, or simply working their home garden and being thrilled to see and meet new visitors.

But, you must resist the temptation and continue advancing through these pristine pastoral landscapes and past the 15th-century fortified church of Richis as you reach to enter a once thriving town.

As you enter it, you will be able to see its enormous fortified church piercing the sky with its spiking towers and marking the grounds with its grand ring walls. There will be free time for those who wish to discover its fascinating interiors. Since 1993, this church has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and for good reason, since it is undoubtedly a magical site to experience. Night will be spent at a lovely guesthouse by the fortified church.

• Distance: 68 kilometers / 43 miles
• Elevation: +600 meters / +1969 feet and -650 meters / -2133 feet
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Day 5: Sighisoara

In store for today, you will have the most beautiful ride through authentic Transylvanian villages. You will then catch up with the Tarnava Mare River, and you will also pass the nearby hop fields. Your evening will be in one of the best of Romanian cities, Sighisoara. This is one of the last remaining and still inhabited European medieval citadels and is also part of UNESCO’s Heritage Sites.

Once you get there, you will have the rest of the afternoon entirely for yourself. You will have plenty of choices to visit, from the colorful and quirky medieval streets to the most famous Romanian clock tower, and the house of Vlad the Impaler’s father. Spend the night at a lovely three-star hotel in the heart of Sighisoara’s citadel.

• Distance: 40 kilometers / 25 miles
• Elevation: +380 meters / +1247 feet and -400 meters / -1313 feet
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch

Day 6: Bucolic Transylvania

The journey that Romania Active has prepared for today will take you on a peaceful country road that crosses through the curvy Transylvanian hills and takes you into the little and quiet village of Apold. You will stop for a little while to throw a look around before getting back on your saddle. Resume cycling through small farming villages, past local shepherds looking after their sheep.

For lunch, you will stop at yet another impressive fortified church, and there, you will uncover some more interesting Saxon particularities and traditions. You will finish this day’s ride in a small and traditional town, where you will sleep in actual traditional Romanian homes. This will allow you to truly feel like a Romanian and better interact with your hosts. The day’s dinner will be organized at the largest guesthouse, and it will consist of proper Romanian family dishes.

• Distance: 48 kilometers / 30 miles
• Elevation: +600 meters / +1969 feet and -500 meters / -1641 feet
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Day 7: Following the king’s steps

This day will begin with a quick uphill through a refreshing forest before you reach a nice and easy stretch of road through several small towns, arriving in Viscri. Once you get there, you will start exploring this striking old village and see in-depth how it lived as a Saxon hundreds of years ago.

You will also have the option to visit Viscri’s beautiful fortified church. This church was brought back to life with the help of the Prince Charles Foundation in 1991, and nowadays, it is considered amongst the best examples of fortified churches across the world.

To fully immerse yourself in the local spirit, Romania Active has also prepared two special meetings for you, one with the village’s brickmaker and the second with its blacksmith. These are two special members of this society, as they are the only ones allowed to tackle the village's restored building. For the rest of the day, you will be free to explore at your own pace since you will be located straight in Viscri’s heart.

• Distance: 35 kilometers / 22 miles
• Elevation: +300 meters / +985 feet and -250 meters / -821 feet
• Meals: Breakfast

Day 8: End of the trip

After being served your final rustic breakfast, you will embark on your bus and head to Dracula’s Bran Castle, situated right on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia. Since you will probably be very curious to see it, you will have a photo stop in front of it and hear its intriguing story.

After this, if you have time, you will make another stop at the romantic castle of Peles, which was the Royal Family’s summer residence. Since it is a really beautiful place, you will have a short walk around its spectacular gardens before retaking your trip to reach Bucharest.

Once you get to Bucharest, you will be free to explore it as you wish to with the help of the self-guided written instructions that Romania Active will give you. This marks the end of the trip.

Accommodation in Bucharest is available upon request. Please note Bran Castle is an extremely popular tourist destination and can be very busy. This is why Romania Active considers it more convenient to have two shorter stops (Bran and Peles) and also have the time to have a short stroll in Bucharest.

• Meals: Breakfast

About the tour

Note that the exits and entrances of the biggest cities can have busy traffic for a few kilometers. Romania Active's agent will join you at approximately 15:00 at Bucharest train station or Otopeni Airport, or at 19:00 at the first guesthouse in Vulcan. There will be eight days of the tour, of which six will be for cycling. Luggage will be transferred from one guesthouse to the other.

• Medium level: from 35 to 68 kilometers per day, with some climbs)

Bikes

• Trek bikes (hybrid): 95 EUR public price with front suspension, 21 gears, light aluminum frame, Shimano derailleur, and one back pannier
• E-bike trek UM3+: 260 EUR per person with no suspensions and nine gears
• Not included: helmet, speedometer, front pannier, and gloves

Romania can provide you with helmets, but they advise you to bring your personal helmets.

Transfers

All transfers will be private, by local buses, or by trains.

• Day 1: Private or train transfer from Bucharest to Vulcan (three and a half hours)
• Day 8: Private transfer from Viscri to Bucharest (four and a half hours)