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Day 1, approx. 30 km. Meeting Hungary…
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Program:
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Arriving in Budapest. Transfer from the airport/railway station to 3*** Agro hotel located on
the Svábhegy in Budapest with a great view over city; Get to know each other dinner - the guide
will hand out leaflets and the program, presenting the tour in a nutshell.
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Accommodation and half-board:
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on the 1st and 8th days in Budapest, 3*** Agro hotel
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Day 2, approx. 400 km. Transfer to Transylvania
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Itinerary:
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Budapest - Szolnok - Oradea - Huedin - Cluj Napoca
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Program:
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Leaving Budapest early in the morning. This day is a "transfer" day from Hungary to Romania.
We cross the Hungarian-Romanian border at Ártánd and the first Romanian bigger city we shall
cross is Oradea. We will have a short stop in this beautiful Art Nouveau style city at the St.
Ladislau Cathedral, the biggest baroque catholic church of the country. After leaving Oradea we
will enter a distinct ethnographical area of Transylvania, the Calata-Kalotaszeg, mainly inhabited
by Hungarians.
The main attraction of the region unified by geography, history and language is the visual aspect of
its ethnography both for scholarly and tourist visitors. We will meet the people of this particular
area in Calata village and learn about their traditions, habits and beautiful colorful costumes.
A folkloric program will be performed for the group with specific dances, presentation of the local
costumes and local gastronomy. We will have one more stop in the picturesque village of Izvorul
Crisului where we will visit one of the most beautiful protestant church with typical architecture
for this area and also, the group will have some free shopping program - the entire village is a
big "souvenir" shop, almost each house at the main street having its own little store selling all
kinds of merchandise produced in the area. The men of the village have always been good carpenters,
masons and wood-carvers and the women have had a long tradition for embroidery-making.
Our final destination of the day will be a picturesque village near Cluj Napoca where we will
be accommodated in private houses (4/6 people distributed to each house).
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Accommodation and breakfast:
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on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th days in a village, in the proximity of Cluj Napoca, in private houses.
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Day 3, approx. 110 km. Around the heart of Transylvania
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Itinerary:
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Turda - Cluj Napoca
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Program:
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The day is a predominant hiking and relaxation day. We will leave the village in the
morning and head towards the salt-region of Turda. The Turda Gorge is one of the most
spectacular and wild gorges of Transylvania, one of the favorite hiking places of Romania.
It is a wonderful natural protected area and its formation is connected to many local legends.
We will have a beautiful 4 hours long hiking program in the gorge followed by a picnic near the
small brook that flows through the canyon.
Our next stop will be in Turda, a place famous for the fact that in 1568 the freedom of
religions was proclaimed for the first time and for its large and old salt mine. We will
have an easy walk in the mine and we will have a look into the huge salt-halls, once a place
for very hard labor. Today it is an attraction for travelers and centre for treating lung diseases.
After the hike we travel back to our accommodation place through Cluj Napoca, the cultural centre
of Transylvania and one of the major cities of the country. We will have a short sightseeing tour
around the centre of the town and we will visit the beautiful neo-gothic St. Michael church
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Day 4, approx. 200 km. Where the sun shines for two times…
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Itinerary:
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Rimetea - Aiud - Teius
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Program:
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Rimetea is one of the most interesting villages of Romania, with specific architecture,
Hungarian traditional costumes, painted furniture, museum, "clean rooms" or watermill.
This village has been given the Europa Nostra Award and is on the waiting list to be
included among the World Heritage sites because of its location, specific architecture
and richly adorned costumes. We will have a nice walk in the village and visit one of
these "clean rooms".
After Rimetea we will have a very beautiful and quite wild hike in the Râmeti Canyon.
This hike consists of passing a very narrow and wild canyon where a brook is flowing that
we will have to cross several times and very often we have to be in the water up to our hips.
This is the reason this hike requires some bad shoes that we can use for crossing the water.
The hike is some 4 hours long and it can represent the highlight of the day.
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Day 5, approx. 200 km. Toward legendary lands…
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Itinerary:
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Turda - Alba Iulia - Sebes - Hunedoara
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Program:
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On this day the group will be shown a few cultural sites of Transylvania with
major roles in the Romanian and Hungarian histories. The first town to be visited
is Alba Iulia, important in both Romanian and Hungarian cultures. The unification
of Transylvania with Moldavia and Wallachia was proclaimed here and in the beautiful
archbishopric cathedral rest a great part of the Transylvanian rulers. We will have
a walk in the castle of Alba Iulia and visit its most interesting sites. Sebes used
to be one of the most important Saxon centers and we will visit one of the best-shaped
Saxon monuments, the gothic cathedral with its famous Weit Stoss painted winged altar.
Hunedoara is one of the most visited places of Romania for its legendary and beautifully
preserved medieval castle, erected by the Hunyad family.
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Accommodation and breakfast:
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on the 5th day in a 3*** hotel in Hunedoara
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Day 6, approx. 180 km. Hiking again…
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Itinerary:
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Deva - Vascau - Sighistel - Boga
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Program:
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The Deva castle is beautiful even though today only its ruins can be seen on the
top of the hill, guarding the valley of the Mures River. Climbing the hill to the
former castle may seem tiresome but the reward will be a great panorama over the
city. Among the ruins we will listen to the legend connected to the building of
the castle.
Afterwards we will continue our itinerary north and we won't stop until our
hiking location, in the valley of the Sighistel brook. The hike in the Sighistel
Canyon is approx. 5,5 km long, so the total length back and forth is approx. 11-12
km and it would take max. 7 hours of hike. The tour is not demanding nor difficult
mainly because there are no big differences of level. The Sighistel Canyon is a very
narrow gorge, surrounded by lush green forest covered cliffs; we have to cross many
times the Sighistel brook, this is the reason why we need a pair of spare boots.
Also the canyon is famous for its 26 caves and we will enter a few (such as the Magura-cave).
For this we need the flashlights. After getting tired and wet we will have our
regular picnic in the beautiful natural surroundings. The hike ends by going to
our accommodation place.
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Accommodation and breakfast:
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Accommodation and breakfast on the 6th and 7th days in a pension, in Boga village
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Day 7. Hike to Castle of Wonders
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Itinerary:
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Boga - Padis region
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Program:
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From the pension we go with the local bus (lorry) some 14 km up in the karstic area
of Padis, a wonderful natural reservation. Here there are hundreds of hiking
opportunities and we will spend the entire day hiking in this area.
So, after this 14 km we leave our lorry and we start our hike at some 10 o'clock and
depending on the group's capabilities we can hike up to 8-9 hours. We will hike to
the so called "Castle of Wonders" or also called "The Ponor Castles" - beautiful wild
karstic region, huge precipices, connecting caves, wild waters, ice-caves, big forests,
and great panorama opportunities. There are multiple paths and hiking itineraries so the
hike depends on the group's physical condition. We will go back the same way we came, so
by means of the local transport (lorry) we will go down from the mountain to the Boga
village to our pension. After dinner we will organize a campfire.
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Day 8, approx. 340 km. One more hike and wellness in Baile-Felix
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Itinerary:
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Boga - Beius - Oradea - Szolnok - Budapest
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Program:
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The Meziad Cave is one of the most beautiful caves in this large karstic area.
Until we reach the "mouth" of the cave we will have a very pleasant walk in the
forest. The guide-escorted tour in the cave catches our interest from the first
moment since we will have the feeling that we are the discoverers of the cavern.
After escaping the bats and the darkness we will enjoy a well-deserved picnic on a green meadow
The next stop will be in the Baile-Felix resort where we will enjoy the
hot water of the thermal pools. After crossing the country border we will
make for Budapest. At the hotel, while having a goodbye dinner we will remember
the good times spent into the "lands beyond the forests"
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Day 9, approx. 25 km. The last day…
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Program:
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The entire day is dedicated to Budapest: sightseeing tour (The Buda Castle, the Parliament,
Central Market, the Fine Arts Museum, etc…) and also program at leisure. Traditional lunch
in a fancy restaurant.
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Day 10, approx. 25 km.: The last day…
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Program:
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transfer from hotel in Budapest to the Budapest Ferihegy airport / railway station. Departure at…o'clock.
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~ end of program ~
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