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A fantastic trip! A variety of walks, with a hand-full of slower activities to balance out the week nicely. The Carpathian Mountains are absolutely beautiful.
The bear hide! We saw about 9 bears in total including cubs - an amazing experience to see bears in the wild.
Sebi was superb - a brilliant wealth of knowledge, made sure everyone in the group was included, and had a great sense of humour.
As someone else has mentioned - take earplugs! You will hear the dogs barking throughout the night.
We would thoroughly recommend our week in Romania. The walks were really thought out; our leader was excellent and the hosts at the guesthouse really interesting and thoughtful.
The evening in the bear hide was so memorable. Saw lots of bears and cubs - an amazing experience.
Really excellent. Very knowledgeable, helpful and friendly.
Great flowers in May/June, the meadows were incredible.
Villa Hermani is an excellent base for this trip, which combines interesting walks with opportunities to see bears in their natural habitat. We also visited a bear sanctuary to understand the atrocious conditions under which some bears have been abused by circuses and other ‘tourist/entertainment’ businesses.
The bear hide was pretty spectacular!
Tomas knows the area very well and went out of his way to share insights into the history and present-day culture of the region.
Take walking poles. I was surprised that a level 2 trip included walking poles as essential items, but I now understand why. Some of the descents are very steep and those without poles found them particularly challenging. Take an eye mask - the curtains in the wonderful Villa Hermani do not block out the morning light, and it gets light early. We stayed in Bucharest for several nights both before and after the trip - it's a wonderful city and well worth a visit. Public transport is cheap and efficient - for example, the 100 express bus from the airport to the centre of Bucharest runs every 15 minutes, takes less than an hour and costs only 3RON (about 50p!)
I had no idea how beautiful Romania is the location of Magura was so green in May, the rolling hills and snow capped mountains was perfect. Lovely hotel, friendly staff and plenty of home cooked food all locally sourced.
Bears!! And seeing their footprints when out walking, along with all the other wildlife you see and hear (cuckoos).
Thomas was fab!! So friendly, a wealth of knowledge, inclusive of the whole group, a brilliant guide.
Take walking poles, as in parts it’s steep and undulating. A lunchbox is a good idea to take, just so it’s not squashed in your rucksack or in the paper bag that’s provided when you make them at breakfast. Take ear plugs as you will hear the dogs barking at night!
Well organised trip, faultless hosts at Villa Hermani and an excellent leader in Sebi. The scenery was amazing and the walks were all excellent and well paced for our group. The bear watching in the hide was outstanding.
Bear watching in the hide along with our host Katharina's knowledge and dedication of the brown bears and their protection.
Sebi was excellent. He assessed our group's walking ability on the first day and adjusted the pace accordingly on subsequent days. He was friendly and very approachable and would answer any questions we had about the routes, landscape, wildlife and Romania. He became part of the group rather than just the leader. His English and knlowledge of his own area and country was excellent.
The walks are very much as described and I would definitely recommend walking poles, mainly for the descents down some rocky paths.
This was a really interesting trip in rural Romania; we were blessed with amazing weather, so the views and scenery were quite beautiful. The trip was a good mix of sight seeing, exploring and walking. The walking wasn’t difficult and very leisurely, plenty of time to soak in the surroundings. Personally, I would have enjoyed more walking , but visiting Bran Castle and Brasov was interesting. The visit to the bear hide was undoubtedly the highlight, we watched 9 females and 5 cubs for over an hour, a very special moment. The guest house was comfortable and the food was delicious, home cooked and plentiful. There were no options, vegetarians and vegans may struggle.
Has to be the bears, watching bears in the wild was an absolute privilege, Katerina who ran the guest house, is a passionate bear supporter, it was so interesting and informative listening to her.
Sebi was a great leader, he ensured our week was the best it could be. The walking pace and experience of our group was quite diverse, he managed the differing paces and needs with ease.
Just to be aware, the guest house is in a rural community, hot water is not a given; showers were often on the chilly side. We extended our stay and enjoyed a few days in Bucharest, would recommend the city, lots to see, easy and safe to get around, and reasonably priced.
This was a really interesting trip in rural Romania; we were blessed with amazing weather, so the views and scenery were quite beautiful. The trip was a good mix of sight seeing, exploring and walking. The walking wasn’t difficult and very leisurely, plenty of time to soak in the surroundings. Personally, I would have enjoyed more walking , but visiting Bran Castle and Brasov was interesting. The visit to the bear hide was undoubtedly the highlight, we watched 9 females and 5 cubs for over an hour, a very special moment. The guest house was comfortable and the food was delicious, home cooked and plentiful. There were no options, vegetarians and vegans may struggle.
Has to be the bears, watching bears in the wild was an absolute privilege, Katerina who ran the guest house, is a passionate bear supporter, it was so interesting and informative listening to her.
Sebi was a great leader, he ensured our week was the best it could be. The walking pace and experience of our group was quite diverse, he managed the differing paces and needs with ease.
Just to be aware, the guest house is in a rural community, hot water is not a given; showers were often on the chilly side. We extended our stay and enjoyed a few days in Bucharest, would recommend the city, lots to see, easy and safe to get around, and reasonably priced.
The trip content is very varied and if you love wildlife, wildflowers and fungi this is a great trip. Wild European Brown bear watching in the forest and the bear sanctuary was brilliant. Local hikes in the rugged countryside- Barza valley; Coja, Pestera and Postavarul nature reserve were wonderful. Brasov and Bran castle visits were informative and took you back to the past.
Watching wild European Brown bears in their natural surroundings and visiting bears at Europe's largest brown bear sanctuary- learning about how many suffered from conditions in captivity was quite emotional. We found several fire salamanders, a Common European viper (Adder), European firebugs and many species of fungi. I also spotted a Lesser Spotted Eagle, Black Redstarts, Chiffchaff, Ravens, Wood Sandpiper, Caspian gull, Little Stint, Black Stork and a Green as well as a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Thomas was a very friendly, organised and flexible leader.
You can pay for your drinks and bear hide in £s or Euro at Villa Hermani. Change your money in Brasov's exchange shops as the rate is so much better than at home and in the airport. Take binoculars for bears and birds. Learn about your camera settings. A sandwich box is useful. I took my own travel kettle and tea bags to make my own drinks. If you love wildlife, wildflowers and fungi this is a great trip. Wildflowers are best earlier in the year (May-June-August).
An excellent week in the heart of Transylvania
Watching a mother bear and 2 cubs Walking and scrambling up the Cheile Pisicii - Cats Gorge
Great fun and very knowledgeable
Read the Trip Notes - this is a walking holiday with the added benefit of seeing bears from a hide plus at the Sanctuary. It's tempting to want to see a bear/wolf in the wild on a walk - it's both very unlikely and probably very dangerouse if you were to. Bran Castle is just a tourist trap. It obviously isn't "Dracula's Castle" as that's a fictional character. It's highly "disneyfied" and very crowded
I absolutely loved this trip. Our guide Tudor was absolutely fantastic, he went above and beyond when organising things. We also met his wife Andra, another tour guide who helped out with some people who were unable to complete all of the walking, saving them from just sitting around the hotel. She also took me to the hospital when I had an allergic reaction to a wasp sting. Honestly the tour guides were amazing. The accommodation was brilliant, Katherina and Herman who ran the guesthouse were friendly and knowledgeable, the other staff couldn’t do enough for you. The food was delicious and we were given far too much to actually eat. The beer was nice too as well as the cherry schnapps. Excursions were all good, I enjoyed every one of them. The scenery was beautiful and people friendly. 10/10 go on this trip.
Seeing wild bears was amazing. Also visiting the sanctuary was quite humbling.
Amazing. Honestly 278437892278743377 out of 10.
Just go and enjoy it.
