Bucovina and Maramures in 5 days

Culture and History tour in Cluj-Napoca, Suceava, Sighetu Marmatiei

Tour Price : €600-800 Duration : 5 days Languages: English, French

Tailored tour including the must-see places of Bucovina and Maramureș, including no less than 4 UNESCO sites). Discover the cultural blend of Romanians with the Ukrainians, Saxons, Hungarians, and Jews, go off the beaten track, meet the locals at their homes, at market or out on the fields, walk through the best preserved hay fields in Europe, and others.

Itinerary:

Day 1. Start from Cluj-Napoca. Cross Bistrița, a former Saxon city, with its Main Square and the Evangelical Church, with the tallest medieval tower of Transylvania, and climb Tihuța Pass (Borgo Pass from „Dracula” novel, great viewpoint), entering in Bucovina, a stronghold of Romanian traditional culture. Visit Voroneț Monastery (a UNESCO monument, known as ”the Sistine Chapel of the East,”  with the famous Last Judgment fresco). Overnight in Gura Humorului.

Day 2. Visit the 18000+ painted eggs collection of Vama Egg Museum. If is working, visit a traditional blacksmith workshop. See Moldovița Monastery (UNESCO, one of the best preserved and most colorful). Stop on the scenic Palma Pass (famous zip line). Visit Sucevița Monastery (UNESCO), the largest in Bucovina, looking like a mighty fortress. Stop at Marginea pottery workshop, See the oldest church of Bucovina and Moldova, Bogdana, from Rădăuți. Overnight in Gura Humorului.

Day 3. Cross Ciocănești village with its painted houses; climb Prislop Pass and enter in Maramureș. Along the way, meet farmers and craftspersons. Optionally, see the Museum of the Peasant Woman from Dragomirești, or Ieud-Deal UNESCO church. Walk around beautiful Bârsana Monastery, then discover a wood carving workshop (where the skilled workers create from gates and furniture, to churches). Overnight in Breb.

Day 4. Visit the food market and the Memorial of the Victims of Communism (a political prison in the ancient regime, one of the main memorial sites of the continent), both from Sighetu Marmației. Optionally, see Elie Wiesel Memorial House (the Jewish museum). Get to Săpânța, famous for its unique „Merry Cemetery“, where the painted wooden crosses carry stunning epitaphs about the deceased’s life. Discover the wood shingle makers and meet locals in Breb. Overnight in Breb.

Day 5. On Cosău Valley, meet a loom weaver and see Sârbi alcohol distillery, mills and whirlpool (still used by the local women to wash heavy blankets or to press the wool felt). Visit Budești church (UNESCO) and an astonishing optical illusion. Stop in Baia Mare, where stroll around the medieval Old Square (including an artist’s workshop), with St. Stephen Tower (from 14 century, quite a view from the top). Drive back to Cluj-Napoca. 

The tour includes the guiding fee, the transport, and all entrance tickets. 

Additional information