Best of Transylvania’s urban heritage
€ 709
per personUncover castles and romantic medieval cities. Admire beautiful Art Nouveau architecture. Fall for UNESCO sites. Descend into a deLIGHTfull salt mine. Wander through old and new European Capitals of Culture.
Travel details
Destination
Transylvania
Start / End
Budapest (Hungary)
Duration
5 days / 4 nights
Service
guided
Seasonality
all year long
Tour type
discover
Departure time
8:30 am
Dress code
for Turda salt mine: non slippery-shoes & appropriate warm clothing recommended (the constant temperature inside the salt mine is 10-12° C).
Visits
Oradea, Cluj-Napoca, Brasov, Sibiu and Timisoara city centers; Turda salt mine; Biertan fortified church (UNESCO); Sighisoara fortress (UNESCO); Bran castle; Alba Carolina fortress in Alba Iulia; Corvin Castle in Hunedoara
Distance
about 1580 km / 980 mi
Car transfer duration
see daily details in Tour Plan
Notes
for all the visits to be available as mentioned, the tour is recommanded to start from Sunday to Wednesday. If starting on a different day of the week, certain visits may not be possible or will have to be replaced.
When visiting urban Transylvania do not expect to stumble across big metropolis. In just a couple of cases the biggest city population hardly reaches half a million inhabitants. The bigger the city, the more cosmopolite, modern, multilingual. You will not feel a stranger here, that is for sure!
And yet, there are plenty of smaller and seducing towns with colorful and well preserved medieval look. They will not make you feel like going back in time (unless for the communist outskirts perhaps), but entering a mysterious world of fairy tales and legends.
This urban tour of Transylvania starting from Budapest is meant to reveal similarities and differences between Central and Western Europe and what Eastern Europe is generally thought-to-be-like.
Budapest – Oradea – Cluj
Your guide will meet at your hotel in Budapest in the morning. Departure for Romania. After a 3 hours drive across Eastern Hungary, you shall arrive in Oradea, a beautiful city with most of it’s central buildings raised in Art Nouveau style. Stop for lunch and a city tour.
Continue onwards to Cluj-Napoca, along the Western Carpathians and immersing into the countryside. Arrive in Cluj in late afternoon. City tour and free time to enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.
Overnight in a 3* accommodation in Cluj.
Car transfers: approx. 6h; ~ 470 km / 290 mi
(no meals included)
Cluj – Turda – Biertan – Sighisoara
Breakfast and departure towards Saxon Transylvania. Stop in Turda and tour one of the most amazing man made underground open spaces in Eastern Europe: Salina Turda. With a history going back in time at least to the Middle Ages, the salt mine is now a hot spot, both for its historic and modern sides.
*It is not recommended to visit the salt mine if you have heart, lungs, digestive and other health conditions. You can check them all here.
Lunch in a restaurant on the way.
Transfer to Biertan village and visit the impressive fortified church. Nominated as UNESCO site, it is the biggest of its kind in Transylvania. Chance to learn why churches got to be fortified in medieval times.
Afternoon arrival in Sighisoara. Roam through the charming narrow-streeted fortress which came into being in the 14th century, now also a UNESCO site. Catch on stories about the German speaking communities of medieval Transylvania.
Restaurant dinner.
Overnight in a 3* accommodation in Sighisoara.
Car transfers: approx. 3h; ~ 180 km / 110mi
(breakfast included, lunch and dinner not included)
Sighisoara – Brasov – Bran – Sibiu
After breakfast, departure to Brasov, the ‘crown city‘ of the Saxons. Tour the city center and visit the biggest Gothic church eastwards of Vienna: the Black Church.
Lunch in a restaurant and departure for Bran, taking a scenic little road across the mountains. Arrive in Bran and tour the so called ‘Dracula’s Castle’. Built in the Middle Ages and yet modernized at the beginning of the 20th century, Bran castle is now the most visited place in Romania. Will you find Dracula inside?
In late afternoon, arrive in Sibiu, the best defended medieval fortified town in Transylvania, named European Capital of Culture in 2007. Free time for dinner and a relaxing walk.
Overnight in a 3* accommodation in Sibiu.
Car transfers: approx. 5h; ~ 300 km / 185 mi
(breakfast included, lunch and dinner not included)
Sibiu – Alba Iulia – Hunedoara – Timisoara
Breakfast and tour the four defensive walls of the old city of Sibiu and the main three medieval squares.
Departure for Alba Iulia, the city Romanians love the most. Lunch in a restaurant. Visit Alba Carolina Vauban fortress and discover all its inside stories: all about the ancient Romans, the Hungarian kings, the union of Transylvania with Romania.
Continue the journey to Hunedoara, where you shall tour the largest Gothic castle in Romania, Corvin Castle (also known as Hunyadi Castle) which, as it’s name already says it, belonged to the Hunyadi family, one of the most famous members of which was King Matthias the Just.
Late in the afternoon, arrive in Timisoara. It was this city that inspired the entire country, in 1989, to ask for freedom against the communist regime. Throughout 2023, Timisoara wore the European Capital of Culture title. Free time for admiring the beautiful Art-Nouveau and Baroque architecture.
Overnight in a 3* accommodation in Timisoara.
Car transfers: approx. 4h30 min; ~ 330 km / 205 mi
(breakfast included, lunch and dinner not included)
Timisoara – Budapest
Breakfast and tour of the old city center of Timisoara. Lunch in a restaurant and head back to Budapest.
Arrival in Budapest in late afternoon. End of the tour.
Car transfers: approx. 4h; ~ 300 km / 185 mi
(no meals included)
Included:
Not included:
Check here what discounts apply to this tour.
All prices are listed per person and calculated on an 8 participants basis.
For tours with more than 8 participants, please request a quote.