Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains

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Transylvania is an amazing and beautiful destination. The hiking is hard enough to make one appreciate the huge dinners provided, but it is easily manageable for anyone with reasonable fitness. (I recommend 2 poles for some of the descents.) The highlight is definitely the hiking from Magura village in the mountains. The castles are interesting and attractive and Brasov is fun.

Susan Lonie, 2 Sep 2023

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A good introduction to Romania and it's mountains.

TAYLOR, 10 Jun 2023

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Stunning scenery and our excellent guide Renate really made our trip. She was very informative, passionate about the area and good fun. The pace of the walking was just right for all age groups, we were a small group of 7 and Renate adjusted the the itinerary where necessary to work around the weather. We liked the mixture of terrain from mountains to forests and meadows and Renate was so knowledgeable about the wildlife, flowers, local customs etc. that we just wouldn't, have got if we had self guided. She really cared that we all had a good time answering all our questions with patience and enthusiasm and ensured decisions were made as a group. We enjoyed the visits to the castles, fortress and summer palace and it was good to learn a lot about the history of the country both on the official tours and from Renate. The transfer of luggage and pick ups went smoothly and our driver was really friendly and chatted to everyone as well. Definitely recommend!

GOODEY, 10 Jun 2023

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Excellent we thoroughly enjoyed it. The guide was exceptional and made all the difference

JEFFREYS, 10 Jun 2023

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It was great. Our guide Renate was wonderful and showed us lots of interesting things we didn’t expect. It was a blast with a great crew of people from all walks of life.

BERRY, 10 Jun 2023

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Basically very good with excellent guide.

Mrs Orr, 24 Sep 2022

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Lovely country and a good comprehensive trip. Brilliant guide Silvio, everything was well organised. There were a couple of challenging walks, which we all managed with his guidance, but you do need to be a walker, reasonably fit. Other than the fact the food was very local and quite frankly I never want to eat Sheep's cheese again it was a very good trip.

Mrs Travis, 3 Sep 2022

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A most enjoyable holiday. A well thought out itinerary, high standards of accommodation and a friendly, knowledgeable and efficient guide.

Mr Gorman, 11 Jun 2022

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Romania is a beautiful country. Our guide Silvius was excellent. He is extremely knowledgeable, personable and considerate. He went out of his way to ensure we all had an amazing holiday. Hotels were well chosen and the food delicious. We were blessed with very good weather on all but one day so had ample opportunity to soak up the amazing views.

Ms Lavelle, 28 Sep 2019

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Great Walking in some wonderful and surprising countryside. Walks are tough but everyone managed OK. Hotels were all very comfortable. Guide was friendly, helpful, relaxed and knowledgeable.

Mr Orton, 28 Sep 2019

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Our guide, Sylviu, couldn’t have been more knowledgeable, entertaining or considerate. The Carpathian Mountains are just stunning and local folk very friendly. We even had an impromptu lunch with locals who called us in as we passed by and entertained us.

We are a bit older and for the most difficult walk, Sylviu gave us an easier route and made sure we were safe. We can’t thank him enough.

But it wasn’t just about walking - Peres Castle was stunningly opulent, Bran (Dracula’s) Castle fascinating, built in a uniquely powerful position and Radnor Fortress again gave us a different perspective on Transylvania’s history. We learnt a lot about Transylvania during our time there

Mrs Thompson, 14 Sep 2019

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It was definitely the right way to walk in Romania with Silviu who was good fun, serious, reliable and totally professional. The hotels were good. The transport was good.

Ms Hughes, 7 Sep 2019

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Excellent guide, great companions, fascinating country and places, interesting walks and wildlife. One of the best I have ever done in the past 15 years.

Miss Pillar, 7 Sep 2019

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Varied and interesting

Mr Langley, 1 Jun 2019

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Amazing views, well worth the climbs and always good to share these times with many and varied fellow travellers!

Mr Fenton, 1 Jun 2019

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A variety of walks and sight seeing made our first visit to Romania enjoyable and interesting. We found the countryside beautiful and our various hosts welcoming. We had a very good experience and would like to visit again. I would recommend talking through the fitness requirements with Headwater when choosing this trip. We were all except for one, over 65, and although we were fit the walk was tougher than we expected and if the weather had been unkind we would have found it much harder. Strongly recommend taking sticks.

Mr Lowes, 29 Sep 2018

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An excellent holiday exploring Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains, with plenty of variety - and we really enjoyed the historical/sightseeing elements. There was a good mix of scenery/landscapes when walking (the area is extremely attractive), however we did feel that there were some very strenuous sections to some of the walks which were definitely harder than the level 2 that the trip was graded at. The hotels were excellent and very comfortable, often with stunning views and all in excellent locations. Food throughout the trip was plentiful and tasty, we particularly liked our lunches in local villages. Despina, our guide, was professional, knowledgeable, helpful and fun and made sure we had an extremely enjoyable holiday. We would definitely recommend this holiday.

Mrs Hadfield, 8 Sep 2018

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A fascinating introduction to Transylvania with a mix of serious hikes, gentle strolls and sightseeing. We had a seriously unpleasant windy/cold introductory long hike followed by perfect (but apparently unusual) weather for the rest of the week. The tour two weeks earlier had apparently experienced hot (30+) weather and crowds.

Mr Henderson, 8 Sep 2018

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Very interesting place to see. Beautiful landscapes mountains, forests, villages you saw it all!

Ms Hansen, 8 Sep 2018

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Lovely hotels, great tour guide.

Ms Ffrench, 25 Aug 2018

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Beautiful scenery and flowers. Walking at times 2 1/2 boot not 2. Food variable -evening meals in Sighisoara poor. A restaurant rather than another hotel would have been better. Sightseeing very enjoyable and interesting.

Dr Owen-Jones, 23 Jun 2018

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The holiday provided a very good balance between the walking element that one normally expects from Headwater and the opportunity to view the many historic castles, fortified churches, and villages. However some of the larger attractions, e.g. Bran were a lot busier than anticipated. The meals were good, and in particular the lunches were both generous and interesting as some were provided by the welcoming local villagers in the remoter locations visited! Despina our guide went out of her way to organise additional activities, e.g. a morning visit to the monastery in Sinaia, and was generally knowledgeable and helpful throughout.

Mr Collins, 23 Jun 2018

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A very good balance between walking and sightseeing without too much travelling by coach.

Mr Beare, 9 Jun 2018

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Excellent from start to finish-from initial enquiry to booking through Operations to on the actual on the ground Guiding.

Romania is a beautiful country with really nice welcoming people.

Our Guide Dispina was excellent couldn't have been better also our driver was always on time at the right place and very helpful and considerate.

Can recommend Headwater and this holiday without reservation.

Only slight issue is for any elderly,frail travellers the hotels don't have lifts ( except Belvedere) nor Portering( except Fronius) which can be a problem for rooms above ground floor.It didn't affect us as we are pretty fit but could be a problem for others.Also Hotel Belvedere is out of town and very upmarket and smaller friendlier hotel or guesthouse would be better.

Mr Browning, 9 Jun 2018

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This is a varied itinerary consisting of walks and sightseeing in a small area of Romania. It's described as intermediate level and there were some steep sections but the walks were not overly long - longest about 7 hours including lunch at a mountain hut. The scenery is beautiful and the villages, castles and towns visited very interesting - Romania has a complex history. The wildflower meadows were an absolute delight, identifying some species quite challenging! The hotels we stayed at were good, Fronius Residence is a beautiful building. We did have 2 rooms in other hotels with dodgy shower drains which we reported. Eating establishments were all pretty good, traditional food which was more than acceptable. All coped well with people in our party who required gluten-free food or were vegetarian. Our guide, Despina, was exceptional. I cannot praise her enough - her English was excellent and she was intelligent, informative, helpful, receptive and also fun. She could explain to us the history, politics and culture of the country. She also coped very well with any difficulties that arose, going out of her way to visit a pharmacy for treatment for a damaged foot. Her sonic dog repeller was magic - there are a lot of dogs in the rural areas!

Personally I would have liked a little more walking and a little less lunching in the day times, though the lunches in open barns in Saxon villages were charming. There was certainly one day when we walked from Cris to Malancraz for lunch when I would have liked a further walk in the afternoon to another village.

All in all a very pleasant holiday with good company - interesting people and we all made the effort to gel together as a group. I have not been on a group holiday like this before - we normally travel independently, but I found it an agreeable experience which I would repeat in the future.

Mrs Curtis, 9 Jun 2018

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A lot of walking and a lot of Sarmale (cabbage rolls) if you don't like both then maybe not for you!

Mr Cotton, 19 May 2018

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Very enjoyable - mixture sight-seeing & walking. Guide was lovely and went out of her way to make sure we were safe & comfortable. Hotel Nobillis was awsome

Mr Laidlaw, 24 Sep 2017

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Great combination of scenic walking, gourmet food and historical interest

Mrs Lucas, 10 Sep 2017

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This was a real 5 star holiday. The scenery and walking were fabulous and it was great to end every day at wonderful hotels in superb locations. The local rep was brilliant and her local knowledge of the area was superb. Can't fault the holiday in any way.

Mr Davidson, 10 Jun 2017

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Great holiday taking in some stunning walks and 'bucket list' site seeing. We were lucky with our group and guide, great fun, and fortunate to have a week of sunshine. All the hotels were welcoming with good food and comfortable rooms.

Mrs Walker, 10 Jun 2017

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Beautiful scenery of rolling hills in vast valleys with wildflower meadows, exceeded expectations. Be prepared for a lot of climbing up & down hills. Extremely cold our first day as 2000m high & still some snow lying, so warm clothing needed! First day was long descent & we have recommended to guide that might be an idea to alter this walk slightly. Renate our guide was excellent & went out of her way to help us. Hopsitality, accommodation & food was superb, especially at the Hotel Nobillis.

Miss Chappell, 20 May 2017