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Transylvania Traverse - Trekking in Romania

Romania`s finest walking in the Carpathian Mountains
Climb Moldoveanu, the highest summit in Romania
Explore the amazing fairy tale castle of Peles Palace
Climbing the exciting Fagaras Ridge
A trekking holiday that transports you into medieval Europe

An amazing walking holiday adventure in Transylvania trekking across the Carpathian Mountains of Romania to the summit of Moldoveanu. The Carpathian Mountains run in a great arc across Romania, rising to over 2500 metres (8200 feet) in Transylvania and include some of the wildest mountain walking in Europe. Our trekking holiday through Transylvania explores the plateau of the Bucegi Mountains and the ridges of the Fagaras Mountains of Romania, with ascents of Omu and Moldoveanu. As our introduction to the walking delights of Romania and the Carpathian Mountains, which soar dramatically above the forest and the plains below, we use a cable-car for the first part of the ascent to Omu (2505m / 8219ft), the high point of the impressive Bucegi Massif. Here we explore the Bucegi plateau by walking from the cable car to spend the night in the highest mountain hut in the whole of Romania, as well as the Carpathian Mountains themselves. The hut is dramatically situated on the summit of Omu and we can enjoy extensive views across Transylvania. Descending to Bran, a long day of walking from the Bucegi leads ominously to the castle nowadays more often referred to as "Castle Dracula".Leaving Dracula and Bran behind we transfer to the impressive Fagaras Mountains, also known as the Transylvanian Alps. Here we begin an exciting 4-day trekking traverse of the Fagaras range/Transylvanian Alps which will take us on high ridge walking trails to Moldoveanu (2545m / 8347ft)), the highest peak in all of Romania. Staying in comfortable, friendly Romanian pensions and scenically located mountain huts, this is wild European mountain walking at its very best. Culturally intact, Romania is a revelation, offering a fascinating glimpse of how much of Europe would have been a century ago. Bram Stoker never actually visited Transylvania when he wrote ‘Dracula' - but you can! A week of 'fangtastic' trekking amongst mountains, forests and medieval Romanian villages, where wolves and bears still roam wild will enchant and delight even the most seasoned walking enthusiast.

Trip Guide

The Carpathian Mountains sweep across central and eastern Europe from Slovakia, through Poland and Ukraine to Romania and contains some of few remaining large stretches of wilderness left in Europe. Mountain walking has long been a popular local past time in Romania, but it is only in recent years that a handful of foreign visitors have began to discover the delights of the country's spectacular mountains. The trails are predominantly good and waymarked, but there are some sections where the paths may be indistinct and rough. There is very little exposure on either the ridges or summits and it is always possible to encounter patches of late lying snow in the gullies. Any difficult sections are usually cabled for protection, although there will also be some short sections of straightforward scrambling. After the first 4 to 5-hour introductory walking day, there will be several quite challenging days, involving around 8 hours walking each day, with some significant climbs and descents. And you should ensure you are physically prepared for this. This trekking holiday is suitable for keen hillwalkers with a good level of fitness, looking for an excellent week's mountain walking in a largely undiscovered part of Europe. There will be access to your trek bags at the overnight accommodation on days 1, 3, 4 and 7. Group members will need to carry minimal overnight items on the days when we are staying at huts which are inaccessible by road. In practice, this will be very little extra, as sleeping bags are not required.