8-Day Traditional Tour

Daviza Tours 8-Day Traditional Tour explores the most tradional and authentic corner of Romania: Maramureş, in the extreme north of the country. This is a unique part of Europe, a place where it seems that time has stood still and where daily life is still strongly influenced by religion and superstition. In between the rollling green hills there lives a proud people; the inhabitants of Maramureş. Horse-drawn carts are still a common sight in and around the villages and the fields are mostly plowed by horse or oxen. On Sundays everyone is either on their way or returning from church in procession, dressed up in traditional folk costume. The beautiful, delicately carved wooden Maramures churches appear on the UNESCO World Heritage site list. The wooden village houses and cottages as well as the wooden entry gates seem to have come straight out of a fairy-tale story. If you would like to get a glimpse of what Europe used to be like in long centuries past, Maramureş comes closest in all of Europe to fulfilling that wish!.

Tour Description:

Day 1.

Transfer from Budapest Airport to the Puszta of Eastern Hungary. Traditional Goulash bogrács dinner and overnight stay near the Hortobágyi National Park

Day 2.

We drive straight through the Hortobágyi National Park (the last remainder of the real Puszta, the Hungarian prairie) to the city of Debrecen and on towards the Hungarian-Romanian border. Once we have crossed the border we make a quick stop in the town of Satu Mare which is noted for its contrasts in architecture (Jugendstil versus Communist for example). We then continue in northerly direction through the more traditional region of Ţara Oaşului (land of the iron people) and start climbing into the Carpathian foothills. We follow the Tisa river, get a glimpse of Ukraine on the other side and enter the traditional district of Maramureş.

Dinner and overnight stay at Săpânţa.

Day 3.

We pay a visit to the “merry cemetery” of Sapânta with its many colourfully painted wooden crosses that decorate the tombstones. Then we drive to the city of Sighetu- Marmaţiei where one can visit the very impressive prison museum, a real must for those interested in trying to understand modern-day Romania as it shows how dark the country's past was under the long period of communist rule. Afterwards we continue eastwards to the the village of Vişeu de Sus.

Dinner and overnight stay at Vişeu de Sus.

Day 4.

We have to get up early to catch the narrow-gauge lumberjack steamtrain (the Mocaniţa) that will take us uphill through the densely forested Vaser valley to the timber settlement. If in luck we’ll see deer on the way (and sometimes a bear, too!) which come to drink from the mountain stream. It will already be late afternoon by the time we get to return to Vişeu de Sus.

Dinner and overnight stay at Vişeu de Sus again.

Day 5.

Today it is only a short drive to the idyllically located farming village of Poeinile Izei where you have the option of joining a scenic guided walk and/or visit the early 17th-century wooden church with it’s freaky frescoes depicting hell. The newly built Romanian Orthodox church next door can also be visited. Its interior is completely decorated with colourful frescoes depicting a plethora of Saints and much more.

Dinner and overnight stay at Poeinile Izei.

Day 6.

We depart in westerly direction and explore the modern Romanian-Orthodox monastery complex of Bârsana . We then continue through the unspoilt villages of Sârbi en Budești with their wooden entry gates and houses. In Șurdești we visit the Greco-Catholic church with its tall wooden tower, perhaps the most picturesque wooden church of all Maramureş.

Dinner and overnight stay near Șurdești.

Day 7.

Today we pass through the town of Satu Mare again on our way back to Hungary where we will spend the night at the same location as on the first day, in the vicinity of the Tisza Lake and the Hortobágyi National Park.

Dinner and overnight stay near the Hortobágyi National Park

Day 8.

Transfer to Budapest Aiport in the morning where our tour ends.

The price for Daviza Tours’ 8-day Traditional Tour is 599.- euro per person. For more information please go to ‘prices and bookings’ in the menu above.