8 Day Guided Transylvania Cycling Tour in Romania
Romania Cycling Tour
With this guided cycling tour of Transylvania, you will find out the reasons why Transylvania is famous across the world. You will discover its mysterious legends and hear all about its bloodthirsty count who is said to have been ruling these wild lands from his hilltop castle for centuries.
Key information
- Trip type: Guided
- Lodging: Point to Point
- Starts in: Bucharest
- Ends in: Bucharest
- Total Distance: 196 Miles / 311 Kilometers
- Type of bike: Hybrid bike (included)
- E-bike: 260 EUR per person
Highlights
- 6 riding days
- Ride through villages, towns, forests, and fields
- 7 nights accommodation
- Daily meals
- Airport pick-up and drop-off
- Luggage transfers
Skill level
- Beginner
Accommodation
You will stay in double rooms in guesthouses and small charming hotels during the tour with exceptionally shared facilities.
- Vulcan’s Parochial House
- Charming guesthouses in Bucium, Carta or Cartisoara, and Biertan
- Three-star hotel in the center of Sighisoara
- Family guesthouses in Soars or Cobor
- Traditional Saxon guesthouses in Viscri
If you want to have your own room, an additional cost of 150 EUR will be applied. Please note that, there is no single supplement for day six meaning that you will have to share the room with another participant that night.
Program
Daily itinerary
Day 1: Bucharest - Transylvania
You are starting in Bucharest where you will be welcomed by your guide and transferred out of Bucharest (either by train or private transfer, according to the final number of participants) to a small and peaceful town named Vulcan on the outskirts of Transylvania, in Brasov’s county. This transfer is roughly three hours long but Romania Active will manage it just fine with the help of a few breaks on the way. Night in the village’s cozy Parochial Home.
- Meals: Dinner
Day 2: The oldest Transylvanian flour mill
After breakfast, you are all ready and set up to begin your ride on an easy and flat stretch of road, overseeing the spectacular panorama with snowy summits of the Postavaru Mountains, as you cross through the little mountain town of Zarnesti. At lunch, you stop to visit the still-working oldest flour mill in Transylvania, powered by the clear river that runs just next to it. Also, here is where you will learn the tumultuous story of the owner’s life and his mill’s hardships during the rough communist time.
After a well-deserved refreshing lemonade and a tasty piece of cake, you continue your adventure, heading to a lovely little village where you will spend the night, just at the foot of the grand Fagaras mountain range. If you are lucky and the weather is on your side, you will lengthen your journey by just a little bit, enough to allow you to discover an ancient and mystical worshipping cave, home to Zalmoxis, the supreme deity of the Dacian people who have ruled these lands 2000 years ago. Night in 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: Cycle at the foot of the Fagaras Mountains
Today, the Fagaras mountain’s ridges will follow and charm you all day long as if to prove its grandeur, these being the highest Romanian Mountains. In the morning after you had your copious breakfast, you begin today'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 here 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 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 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 tonight is just next door to a stunning ruined Cistercian Monastery where you can still sense the spirits of its old monks working and praying.
Here, you will have the opportunity to meet the nowadays pastor who’s a natural storyteller, and who is going to enchant you with the place’s rich history and funny legends. Possible detour to the spiritual Sambata de Sus (Higher Saturday) Monastery, 10 kilometers. Night in a comfortable guest house, on the grounds of Carta’s watermill. Please note that depending on the seasonal period accommodation on this day is possible in either Carta or Cartisoara. As a consequence, on some departures, you may visit the Monastery in Carta on day four.
- Distance: 65 kilometers / 41 miles
- Elevation: +300 meters / +985 feet and -450 meters / -1477 feet
- Meals: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Day 4: Cycling to the largest Fortified Church of Transylvania
Soon after you filled your breakfast appetite, you begin with a thrilling bridge crossing of the river Olt. You 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 ski with its spiking towers and marking the grounds with its grand ring walls. Free time for those who wish to discover its fascinating interiors. Since 1993, this church has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage site, and for good reason, since this is undoubtedly a magical site to experience. Night in 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: Cycle to Sighisoara
In store for today, you have a most beautiful ride through authentic Transylvanian villages, you will then catch up with the Tarnava Mare River and you will also pass by the nearby hop fields. Your evening’s is 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 visit choices, from the colorful and quirky medieval streets to the most famous Romanian clock tower, and the house of Vlad the Impaler’s father. Night in a three-star lovely 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
Day 6: Cycling like a true Romanian
The journey you have prepared for today will take you on a peaceful country road that crosses through the curvy Transylvanian hills and takes you into the little quiet village of Apold. You stop for a little while to throw a look around before getting back on your saddles. You 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 here, you will uncover some more interesting Saxon particularities and traditions. You will finish today’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. Today’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
Today begins with a quick uphill through a refreshing forest before you reach a nice and easy stretch of road through several small towns before arriving in Viscri. Once you get here, you will start exploring this striking old village and see in-depth how it was living as a Saxon back 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 you into 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: Back towards Bucharest
After serving 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 are probably all 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 this is a really beautiful place, you will have a short walk around its spectacular gardens before you retake your trip to reach Bucharest.
Once you get to Bucharest, you are free to explore it as you wish with the help of the self-guided written instructions that they will give you. 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. That is why they consider 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
Although these are only legends, Transylvania is indeed a most spectacular place, where tradition, the breath-taking natural scenery, and the wide variety of animals and plants that inhabit it, still co-exist harmoniously today, not caring about the fast-paced advancements of the modern world you are surrounded with. Guarded by the glorious Eastern Alps, also known as the Carpathian Mountains, this fairy tale land was always fiercely fought for.
First, the Saxons settled here, early in the 11th century and they bravely kept the passes between Transylvania and Wallachia safe from the powerful Tatars and the Ottomans. This bloody and fascinating history is waiting for you to discover it. You will experience not only brilliant castles, fortified churches, and medieval towns but also small environmental reserves, untouched still by the heavy hand of modern advancements, and sublime in their natural simplicity. The exits and entrances of the biggest cities can have busy traffic for a few kilometers.
Transylvania is famous across the world for its mysterious legends and its bloodthirsty count who is said to have been ruling these wild lands from his hilltop castle for centuries. Although these are only legends, Transylvania is indeed a most spectacular place, where tradition, the breathtaking natural scenery, and the wide variety of animals and plants that inhabit it, still co-exist harmoniously today, not caring about the fast-paced advancements of the modern world you are surrounded with.
Guarded by the glorious Eastern Alps, also known as the Carpathian Mountains, this fairy tale land was always fiercely fought for. First, the Saxons settled here, early in the 11th century and they bravely kept the passes between Transylvania and Wallachia safe from the powerful Tatars and the Ottomans. This bloody and fascinating history is waiting for you to discover it.
You will experience not only brilliant castles, fortified churches, and medieval towns but also small environmental reserves, untouched still by the heavy hand of modern advancements, and sublime in their natural simplicity. The agent will join you at approximately 3:00 p.m. at Bucharest train station or Otopeni Airport or at 7:00 p.m. at the first guesthouse in Vulcan. There are eight days of which six of cycling. Medium level: from 35 to 68 kilometers per day, with some climbs). Luggage will be transferred from one guesthouse to the other.
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
Transfers
All transfers are private, by local buses or 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)
Location
The tour will take place in Romania.
Food
You will be served seven breakfasts, five picnic lunches, and six dinners provided by the guesthouses on tour included in the price. Drinks other than water and other meals are at your own expense.
The following meals are included:
- Breakfast
- Drinks
The following drinks are included:
- Water
The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:
- Regular (typically includes meat and fish)
What's included
- 6 cycling days
- 7 nights accommodation
- 5 picnic lunches
- 6 dinners
- Water
- Train transfers from and to the airport
- Luggage transfers
- Transportation between locations
- English-speaking Romanian guide or driver-guide with a first-aid kit
What's not included
- Airfare
- Drinks other than water
- Bike rental
- Meals not indicated as included
- Extra panniers
- Items of personal use
- Extra activities
- Transfers to the meeting point and from the drop-off point
- Entrances fees
- Personal expenses
- Personal insurances
How to get there
Recommended Airports
Henri Coandă International Airport
129 km
Transfer included
Arrival by airplane
Please book your flight to arrive at Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP).
- Day 1 - Private transfer OR by train Bucharest / Vulcan: approximately 3:30
- Day 8 - Private transfer Viscri / Bucharest: approximately 4:30
Cancellation Policy
- A reservation requires a deposit of 14% of the total price.
- The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
- The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.
For this organizer you can guarantee your booking through Tripaneer.com. All major credit cards supported.