Halloween in Transylvania (Southbound)
Halloween in Transylvania (Southbound)
8 Days Starting in Cluj Napoca and ending in Bucharest
Visiting: Cluj Napoca, Turda Salt Mines / Cluj Napoca, Sighisoara, Viscri , Bran Castle/Brasov , Bucharest
Tour operator:
Tour code:
WMSH
Guide Type:
Fully Guided
Group size:
1 - 16
Age range:
15-99 years
Tour operated in:
EnglishInterests:
Tour Overview
Even without its bloodcurdling myths of Dracula, werewolves, haunted castles and curses, Romania is the perfect atmospheric place to spend an eight-day trip in October. You’ll be introduced to the beauty of ancient Bucharest, the haunting mythology of Sighisoara and the nostalgic atmosphere of Bran Castle (aka Dracula’s castle) in Brasov. Take a daytrip to the Hoia Forest, steeped in legend and ghost stories and dress up for a party after sundown with your fellow travellers. For a spine-tingling adventure this spooky season, don’t look past Transylvania... mwahahaha.
Highlights
Itinerary
Day 1: Cluj Napoca
Location: Cluj Napoca
Accommodation: Hotel
Buna Ziua! Welcome to Cluj Napoca – the unofficial capital of Romania’s Transylvania region. Your adventure begins with a welcome meeting at 6 pm tonight to meet your trip leader and fellow travellers. If you arrive early, you might like to explore this 2000-year-old city on foot or hit up the famous Piezisa Street for a drink.
Included Activities:
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Day 2: Turda Salt Mines / Cluj Napoca
Location: Turda Salt Mines / Cluj Napoca
Accommodation: Hotel
Meals Included: breaksfast
This morning, visit the Turda Salt Mines – a former salt mine converted into an underground amusement park. Maybe hire a rowboat, go bowling or visit the museum showcasing salt mining in the region – the options are endless! Salt is thought to be a protective tool against all sorts of evil beings and legend has it that if you pour an unbroken line of salt across the entranceway to your house, vampires and demons won’t be able to get in. After your salt mine visit, return to Cluj for a city tour with a local guide. The remainder of the day is yours to explore at your own pace.
Included Activities:
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Optional Activities:
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Day 3: Cluj Napoca
Location: Cluj Napoca
Accommodation: Hotel
Meals Included: breaksfast
Today, you’ll head out for a daytrip to the Hoia Forest – a famous haunted forest with reports of ghost stories, apparitions, faces identified in photos and UFO sightings. Over the years, locals and tourists report anxiety and the feeling of being watched in this forest and the local vegetation features strangely shaped trees and charring on tree stumps and branches. The forest became famous in the late 1960s when a military technician took photos of a UFO above Poiana Rotunda (Round Meadow). If you’re lucky, the forest may even be covered in mist! After a short transfer from your hotel, you’ll meet with a local guide for a 4-hour hike within the forest, along gentle hills and valleys. Listen to the legends and visit the Round Meadow where the first UFO was sighted. After, head back to your hotel for a free afternoon.
Included Activities:
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Day 4: Sighisoara
Location: Sighisoara
Accommodation: Hotel
Meals Included: breaksfast
Travel by train through pastoral fields and untouched Saxon towns to the 12th-century town of Sighisoara. Medieval Sighisoara is likely to seduce visitors more than any other place in Romania. The town is famed as the birthplace of Vlad Dracul III, better known as Vlad the Impaler, the ruler of Walachia province from 1456 to 1462 and whose name was the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s iconic Count Dracula. Walking through the town is like taking a trip back in time to the medieval age, and it’s easy to image streets crowded with vampires, evil counts, wolves, peasants riding through the untamed countryside on horse-drawn carts and crooked old men doddering along the narrow streets. Head out with your leader for a quick orientation walk, then spend the rest of your day exploring in your own time.
Optional Activities:
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Day 5: Viscri
Location: Viscri
Accommodation: Hotel
Meals Included: breaksfast, lunch
After a free morning in Sighisoara, you’ll travel to Viscri – this small Transylvanian village was originally inhabited by Saxons from the Luxembourg area, and the whole scene is picture-postcard rural. This idyllic village of red tiled roofs is also a UNESCO World Heritage site, virtually unchanged for 900 years. After a home cooked lunch at the house of a local family, you’ll visit the town's fortified church (thought to be the oldest in Transylvania). Continue to the 13th-century city of Brasov in the afternoon. Also known by its German name of Kronstadt, this town flanked by mountains and city walls was once a major medieval trading centre.
Included Activities:
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Day 6: Bran Castle/Brasov
Location: Bran Castle/Brasov
Accommodation: Hotel
Meals Included: breaksfast
No trip to Romania would be complete without a visit to the famous Bran Castle. The castle was built by the Saxons in 1382 to defend the Bran pass against the invading Turks. With its fairy-tale turrets and whitewashed walls, it's far from menacing and spooky, but is undeniably impressive, sitting on a high cliff top and surrounded by pine trees. After, return to Brasov for a guided walk around town, checking out the ornate churches, townhouses, old city walls and squares surrounded by gingerbread-roofed merchants' houses. Visit Brasov's main attraction – the gothic Black Church (Biserica Neagra), which took its name from its blackened appearance after a fire in 1689.
Included Activities:
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Optional Activities:
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Day 7: Bucharest
Location: Bucharest
Accommodation: Hotel
Meals Included: breaksfast
This morning, travel by train to Bucharest. Often called the 'Little Paris of the Balkans', Romania's capital is known for its Belle Epoch architecture, thumping nightlife and communist sites. Meet your local guide for a private tour of the city, starting with the recently restored Old Town of Bucharest, then some of the more significant sites of the revolution of 1989, which culminated in the ousting and execution of communist leader Ceausescu. Visit the huge Piata Unirii – one of Europe's largest squares – and the Ceausima – Bucharest's 12-storey Palace of Parliament. The palace is the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon. The former dictator ordered the construction of this monster, a building of staggering scale and opulence that includes 1100 rooms and 4500 chandeliers.
Included Activities:
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Day 8: Bucharest
Location: Bucharest
Meals Included: breaksfast
With no further activities planned, your trip ends today and you can depart your accommodation at any time. If you want to stay longer in Bucharest, just speak to your booking agent ahead of time to organise additional accommodation. If you have some extra time, why not take one of the daytrips offered by Urban Adventures. Check out urbanadventures.com for more information.
Optional Activities:
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What's Included
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Accommodation
Hotel ( 7 nights) -
Turda - Salt Mines Tour
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Cluj Napoca - Halloween Party in Cluj
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Cluj Napoca - Walking Tour with Local Guide
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Viscri - Fortified Church
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Viscri - Sock Project Visit
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Viscri - Local Home Cooked Lunch
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Bran Castle - Tour
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Brasov - Walking Tour with Local Guide
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Bucharest - Walking Tour with Local Guide
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Meals
6 breakfasts, 1 lunches
What's Not Included
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Tipping and Gratuities
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International Travel
Included Activities
Turda - Salt Mines TourCluj Napoca - Halloween Party in ClujCluj Napoca - Walking Tour with Local GuideViscri - Fortified ChurchViscri - Sock Project VisitViscri - Local Home Cooked LunchBran - Bran Castle VisitBrasov - Walking Tour with Local GuideBucharest - Walking Tour with Local Guide
Transport
TRANSPORT IN EUROPEHalf the fun of travel is the travelling itself, that's why we like to travel the local way – whether that means mingling with commuters on a local train, watching the scenery roll by from the window of a long distance bus, arriving on a high speed train in the city centre of your next destination, or navigating each city's public transport system. In Europe, you are guaranteed to travel by genuine local public transport wherever possible, which puts you right in the centre of the action.
Accommodation
OCCASIONAL ALTERNATIVE ACCOMMODATIONThe style of accommodation indicated in the day-to-day itinerary is a guideline. On rare occasions, alternative arrangements may need to be made due to the lack of availability of rooms in our usual accommodation. A similar standard of accommodation will be used in these instances.TWIN SHARE BASISAccommodation on this trip is on a twin/multishare basis. We pair up solo travellers with another traveller of the same gender as per the gender marker on each of their passports. Please note there may be times where facilities will be shared rather than ensuite and rare occasions when you share a room with passengers travelling on different Intrepid trips than your own.CHECK-IN TIMEThroughout the trip we request that our hotels prepare rooms in time for our arrival, especially if we're arriving prior to normal check-in time. However this isn't always possible which means we won't be able to check-in immediately on arrival at some hotels. Instead, we can store our luggage and explore our new destination.PRE/POST TRIP ACCOMMODATIONIf you've purchased pre-trip or post-trip accommodation (if available), you may be required to change rooms from your trip accommodation for these extra nights.FACILITIESYour accommodation may not always have private en suite facilities or air-conditioning. European hotels generally don't provide kettles or fridges.
Important Information
1. This itinerary may have multiple departures on the same date. Your group size will still be capped at a maximum of 16 travellers; however, in some locations, you may overlap with other groups, such as in overnight stays and, of course, at the Halloween party itself.2. To give your creativity free reign, we recommend you bring along your own costume for the party. Costume hire opportunities on-site are very limited.3. A single supplement is available if you’d prefer not to share a room on this trip. The single supplement applies to all nights of your trip and is subject to availability. Please speak to your booking agent for further information.4. Depending on the start date of your trip, your Halloween party will be held on 31 October in either Brasov or Cluj-Napoca. Please review the Itinerary for more details.
Mode of Transport
TRANSPORT IN EUROPEHalf the fun of travel is the travelling itself, that's why we like to travel the local way – whether that means mingling with commuters on a local train, watching the scenery roll by from the window of a long distance bus, arriving on a high speed train in the city centre of your next destination, or navigating each city's public transport system. In Europe, you are guaranteed to travel by genuine local public transport wherever possible, which puts you right in the centre of the action.
Check out our Q&As
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Is this trip right for you
Autumn weather in Romania can be cooler than expected, especially at higher altitudes. Please remember to pack some warm layers.
Hotels in Europe often don't have double beds, but rather two single beds that can be pushed together if you'd like to get cosy. Many hotels and guesthouses only offer shared bathrooms rather than ensuite facilities.
This trip takes place around Halloween in October. If you would like to visit Romania during a different time of year, you may want to check out our trip Budapest to Bucharest or the epic Eastern Europe Explorer, which continues further south into Bulgaria.
It’s recommended you pack light and smart for this trip, as you'll be required to carry your own luggage between train and bus stations and hotels, which can include going up and down multiple flights of stairs and across cobblestones. -
What policies are in place for Covid-19?
Please contact us for latest COVID-19 policies
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How long has the tour company been trading?
Intrepid Travel has been taking travellers around the world for over 30 years
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Will the accommodation included meet local health and safety regulations?
Yes
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What Ethical Travel credentials does the tour company have?
Since 2002, The Intrepid Foundation has supported over 130 organisations across the world. We’re creating positive impact through the joy of travel, community and connection.
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Do you operate a “single share” option and how does it work?
Over 50% of traveller travel solo with Intrepid. You can choose to share a room with another solo travelle of the same sex for no additional charge, or choose to pay a single supplement if you’d like your own room. Please request this when booking, and we will secure you a single supplement wherever possible. Please note, if you are booking a last-minute trip, it may be harder for us to secure a single room
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