Reconnect in Romania

Exploring Natural Beauty & Learning Traditional Skills

DAY 1 Arrive in Transylvania

It's an early start today for your Reconnect in Romania trip, with your three-hour flight from London to Targu Mures in Transylvania leaving early this morning. The good news is that means you arrive in the heart of Transylvania at around lunchtime. You will be met at the airport by your guide and driven just over one hour your lovely accommodation for the next two nights, which consists of a number of guest houses dotted around a traditional Saxon village. You have the rest of the afternoon to get your bearings and start to adapt to the slower pace of life in Transylvania.

DAY 2 Visit Sighisoara and Reconnect in Viscri

After breakfast you will be met at the lodge by your guide and driven half-an-hour to the lovely medieval citadel town of Sighisoara, the next stop on your Reconnect in Romania trip. Explore this charming town, which is a thoroughly justified UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit the fortified church, the iconic clock tower and the guild towers before heading on to visit a local homestead where the family grow the finest organic herbs and spices for medicinal purposes and also teas and infusions. After a delicious lunch they can explain the various properties of the local flora as you wander around their lovely garden.

Then it's an hour-and-a-quarter drive to the charming village called Viscri which was once home to German-speaking Saxons, but is now one of the few villages in Transylvania with a community made up of the various different communities.

Viscri has another exceptional fortified church to visit, but this is also somewhere to really reconnect with traditional skills and pastimes. If your interest was peaked by the garden visit earlier, we can arrange for you to join a local lady collecting plants known for their medicinal properties from the meadows, or you can go on a horse and cart ride with the local shepherd, learning about this ancient profession, helping him milk and sheer the flock, and tasting the excellent local sheep's cheese (and brandy).

You can also meet the village blacksmith and tilemaker to see how work the iron and clay respectively using methods unchanged for centuries.

After all that, spend the night in a traditional Saxon house, decorated with authentic furniture.

DAY 3 Brasov & Bran

Have breakfast at the lodge before being driven an hour to Brasov, a charming town in the shadow of the Carpathians and somewhere worth a quick explore before lunch. Your guide will walk you around the medieval town centre, including the 4ft wide Rope Street and the Gothic style Black Church, home to an astonishing collection of antique Ottoman rugs used to barter for goods with Transylvanian merchants in centuries gone by. After lunch it's a short onward drive to Bran - the castle once owned by Vlad the Impaler, famously the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. You can also visit Peles Castle, the one-time summer retreat of the Romanian royal family. Just beyond Bran is your home of the last night of your Reconnect in Romania trip, a lovely lodge set high on a ridge with wonderful views of the Carpathians. This is a lovely place to sit and watch the world go by, but there are also some lovely local trails to hike along before a last dinner in Transylvania. It's only a short detour between Brasov and Bran to reach the town of Sinaia in the Carpathians, and site of Peles Castle, one-time summer retreat of the Romanian royal family. Worth a wander around if you have the time and the inclination.