Across Romania, from the Ukrainian border in the north, over the Carpathians, through Transylvania in central Romania to the Serbian border in the south, a hiking route has been established: Via Transilvanica. The route goes over mountains, through forests and green pastures. Mostly it follows trails and cart roads, occasionally a bit of asphalt.
In Romania, rural areas are not heavily depopulated, so there are plenty of accommodation options in small, charming villages. Many are private homes where you can get both breakfast and dinner. In other places, you stay in abandoned houses. You can spend the night in a 17th-century house with old furniture and crooked wooden floors. These houses are usually equipped with modern bathrooms and kitchens, so you can manage on your own. In some places, you can order dinner from a local. Even the smallest villages usually have a small shop for essentials.
Hiking through Terra Saxonum
I chose to hike the section called Terra Saxonum, a forested area at 500–700 meters above sea level. This is part of Transylvania, in central Romania, northwest of the city of Brașov. See below on how to get to Brașov.
Brașov is a very pleasant city with a lovely old town, so consider making a stop here. The old town is car-free, and along the wide cobblestone pedestrian street, there are many restaurants and lively activity. Attractions include several 16th-century towers and the Black Church, so named after a city fire in 1689 that blackened it.
The name Terra Saxonum comes from immigration, especially from northern Germany. The Saxons were industrious, and lack of land drove them south. Transylvania was sparsely populated and suitable for agriculture, and the Hungarian king invited the Saxons to settle there. They established many villages but were constantly threatened by attacks from Ottomans and Slavs from the east..
Fortified Churches
They had the brilliant idea to combine houses of worship with defense.
The result was fortified churches—solid, tall buildings. The churches are Gothic, but unlike typical Gothic churches with large windows made possible by the Gothic column architecture, these have no windows—just arrow slits.
Around the church, a solid wall with towers was built, like a traditional fortress.
A total of 300 fortified churches were built, and you can visit many of them along the way. Most are locked, but there’s a phone number on the gate you can call to have them opened. The person who opens it doesn’t expect payment, but remember to donate for maintenance.
You can read more about fortified churches here: Fortified Churches in Transylvania – Romania
Start in Archita
The route starts in Archita, easily reached by train from Brașov. Take the opportunity to see the stunning fortified church there.
The first day’s hike is 30 km. I thought that was a bit tough, so I cheated a bit by taking the bus to Rupea, stayed overnight there, then a taxi to Saint George Monastery. From there, it’s 15 km to the first overnight stop in the village of Criț.
One advantage of hiking in the spring is how incredibly green everything is. From the monastery, I walked out through green meadows in rolling terrain. The spring grass was still short, so it was easy to walk without getting wet, even though it was quite damp after the night’s rain.
Into the Forest: Bear Warning
After about an hour through green meadows, the trail enters a forest, and I encounter the first bear warning sign. It’s old deciduous forest with large trees and no undergrowth, so visibility is good. Still, I wasn’t exactly brave and had no desire to meet a bear, especially one with cubs. So I loudly announced my presence: “Here I come, it’s just me.” No bears appeared.
Read more about bears below.
Sheep and Dogs
Once through the forest, I came out into open fields again, and a new problem materialized: sheep. The sheep themselves aren’t the problem—it’s the dogs guarding them. Where there are sheep, there are guard dogs to protect them from bears and wolves—usually five or six of them. They see you as a potential threat and will come charging, barking loudly.
The strategy is to ignore them. First, choose a route as far from the flock as possible. When the dogs come, keep a steady course. The dogs will follow you closely, barking, growling, and snapping. Don’t act threatening or make eye contact. It’s not pleasant, especially if you’re afraid of dogs. But once you’re past the sheep, they’ll give up and return to the flock—usually without biting. There’s typically a shepherd nearby, but he won’t intervene.
I encountered dogs twice in seven days—not a big issue.
There is rabies in Romania, but not in the shepherd dogs. However, in the north Carpathians, there are many stray dogs that can be dangerous, so consider a rabies vaccine if you’re heading there. Read about the Carpathians here:: Romania, the Carpaths andTransylvania
Once past the dogs, the landscape opens up more and I can look down on the village of Crit where I’ll be spending the night. The small Romanian villages usually consist of one street where the colourful houses are close together with the gable facing the road. I easily find my way to Casa Brutarului where I’ve booked a room on Booking.com and am allocated a modern but freezing cold room. Dinner is pork and polenta pudding. You’ll be seeing more of polenta…
Crit – Cloasterf – Saschiz
Romanian breakfasts are lavish: eggs and countless cold cuts. Be careful not to overeat when you have 15 km ahead of you. Again, lovely open forest followed by meadows. You’ll pass through Cloasterf, which has a beautiful fortified church worth visiting. It was locked, but I called the number on the gate and got it opened. We were lucky to get a guided tour from a young man who spoke English.
Younger Romanians speak decent English, and older ones learned German in school. Many attended German schools and speak fluent German. The area once had a German-speaking majority. Many returned to Germany, especially during the Communist era, but many descendants still identify as Saxons.
From Cloasterf, the trail goes on asphalt to Saschiz, where I stayed at Saschiz Lodging and Glamping. I was unsure because of the name, but it turned out to be very nice. The house was old, the garden large, and in the evening they lit a huge fire in the hearth room where we could relax in comfy chairs. There was a well-equipped kitchen, so I cooked dinner myself.
Cloasterf’s fortified church is open during the day. Unfortunately, the wall around it has been torn down, but the church building is worth a visit.
Saschiz – Daia – Sapartoc
Again a steep climb through forest. You’ll pass the fortress Cetatea Țărănească, worth visiting. Going down toward Daia is very muddy, steep, and slippery. The cart roads become deep ruts, making detours impossible. If you don’t normally hike with poles, I highly recommend them here—they help with both uphill and downhill. I often saw hikers with improvised sticks. Here I also saw bear tracks in the mud for the first time.
Daia is a small, mostly abandoned village with little to offer, so I continued to Șapartoc, a bit off the trail. I stayed at Șapartoc Traditional Romanian Village, a nice little guesthouse. I met some Dutch hikers who went on to Sighișoara—a 30 km day. I was satisfied with the 18 km from Saschiz. The Dutch hadn’t found any accommodations on Booking.com. Not all places are listed there—at Șapartoc you had to call or send a message via WhatsApp. The number is in the guide. WhatsApp is very handy since it has built-in translation.
On arrival in the tiny village, I noticed a total of four small churches—quite unusual. The host explained it wasn’t that uncommon. There was a Lutheran, Orthodox, Reformed (Calvinist), and Catholic church. The host had attended German school and spoke fluent German and good English.
Sapartoc – Sighișoara
The next day’s walk continued through forest on a gravel road, then on a beautiful trail into the city of Sighișoara. I had planned a rest day, so I booked two nights in the old town—and I didn’t regret it. Sighișoara has an incredibly charming old town. It sits atop a hill in the city center, with a 14th–15th-century cathedral at the top. Many stairs lead up, but it’s worth the climb. The old town is full of colorful buildings, narrow cobbled streets, and towers. The clock tower, visible from all over town, dates from the 13th century. The town is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Naturally, it teems with tourists.
Still, I found a small casa to stay in, with a biergarten just across the narrow street—a perfect combo for a day of recovery.
Sighișoara – Stejărenii
The rest day was just the right thing to do. After four days and 60 km, my legs and back were sore, and my left knee was aching. But on the fifth day, all pains had vanished. I walked refreshed toward Stejărenii. On the way, a young Swiss man in his 20s caught up with me. He had started in the far north and planned to walk the entire route in one summer—1,420 km.
I had booked accommodation in Stejărenii via WhatsApp, but had no address—only the village name and a house number. I asked around and found a German-speaking local who knew the place. It was 2 km outside the village, and he kindly offered to drive me there. I gladly accepted. Walking 2 km on asphalt after a day in nature is a bit of a letdown.
The place turned out to be a pig farm. It looked a bit shabby—with old car wrecks, a small house, and a long pigsty. But I received a warm welcome. Unfortunately, they were slightly overbooked. A group of five Romanian women arrived later and got the two rooms, so I had to settle for a sofa bed in a converted garage that also served as a dining room. But oh well, I could live with that. The bathroom was in the women’s room, so if I needed the toilet at night, I was told to go outside in the field.
The host was a big, burly man with hands like shovels and very chatty. We spoke broken German to each other and had a long conversation about Norway and his farm—accompanied by frequent refills of homemade plum brandy.
Suddenly, he stood up and asked me to follow him; we were going to make sausages. I was given a chair where I watched the making of the day’s dinner—bratwurst made with a hand-cranked sausage machine.
The lavish dinner—soup, sausages, pork, and as always polenta, supplemented with homemade wine and brandy—was eaten by me and the five women staying in my room. Some of the women spoke English, and it turned into a successful evening. It can get a bit lonely walking through the woods, hollering to yourself, so it was nice to have some company in the evening.
Stejărenii – Mălâncrav
The next day was gray and rainy. The host offered to drive us the first two kilometers along the paved road. Everyone accepted, and seven people squeezed into the small car. Then it was off into the mud. The path went steeply uphill along a tractor road, and the mud felt bottomless. Huge clumps built up around our boots, and our legs slipped in all directions. Luckily, we all had trekking poles; otherwise, we likely wouldn’t have made it up.
Going downhill was even steeper, through 3–4 meter deep cuts where it was impossible to go around. I felt like putting my arms behind my back and sliding down, but I chose the slightly safer method of placing my poles in front and essentially sliding down.
In Mălâncrav, I had booked a room through Experience Transylvania and got an entire apartment to myself. Two large rooms in an old house with rustic furniture and a wooden floor worn by years of use. After a while, a young woman came with a big basket of firewood and lit the ceramic stove in the room. I was cold, and most of my clothes were wet, so it was wonderful. The woman spoke fluent German and talked about how much she and her family enjoyed living in the countryside, far from noise and stress. She said that although the village had mostly elderly residents, young people had started to move back. You can get an excellent house for under 50,000 euros.
The fortified church in Mălâncrav is definitely worth visiting. It is unique because the original wall paintings from the 1300s have been preserved. In the other churches, they were painted over during the Reformation. The ceiling and walls of the chancel have very well-preserved murals, while the ones in the nave are more faded.
Mălâncrav – Biertan
Again, rain, though not as much as the day before. Fortunately, there’s a trail and not a tractor road, so it’s not as muddy. The trail winds through beautiful valleys where deer and sheep graze—thankfully at a distance, so no dogs in sight.
I passed through Copșa Mare, where the fortified church was open. Not a soul around, so I allowed myself to eat lunch inside, sheltered from the rain.
In Biertan, I once again had an old house with two very large rooms to myself, with big ceramic stoves. Unfortunately, no lady showed up this time to light a fire, so I’ll likely have to put on wet boots tomorrow.
Biertan has one of the most famous fortified churches. It sits impressively on a hill and is visited daily by busloads of tourists.
Biertan – Medias
Originally, I was supposed to walk two more days to the town of Mediaș. But the weather forecast for the next two days was terrible. I had walked for 7 days and covered 100 km and felt satisfied. More mud didn’t seem appealing. So I finished the hike and took the bus to Mediaș, stayed there for two days, and then spent a day in Sibiu.
You can read more about these towns here: (coming soon)
Bears
Romania has the highest density of bears in Europe. Bears live in the forest and try to avoid humans. However, there is a certain risk of encountering them on the trail. Every time you enter a wooded area, there’s a warning sign: Beware of bears after sunset. That’s when bears are most active, but of course, you might be unlucky and run into one during the day as well.
So, you should follow some safety precautions. Make noise while walking so the bear has time to move away. It helps to walk in a group. That way, people talk and make more noise.
If you’re walking alone, as I did, speak loudly to yourself or go through your song repertoire. Many people wear a whistle around their neck, which might scare the bear away.
Consider buying bear spray. It’s a strong pepper spray effective up to 10 meters. It’s said to be safer and more effective than firearms. Pepper spray is banned in most European countries but can be freely bought in Romania. I bought one in Brașov but luckily didn’t have to use it. Don’t try to bring it home. In Norway, pepper spray is classified the same as a firearm.
If you do encounter a bear, the rule is: don’t run. Stop, speak or shout at it, and slowly back away. If you have spray, get it ready. Read more here: https://www.wildtransylvania.com/p/safety-tips-bears.html
Getting there
Brașov has an international airport with routes to many foreign cities. But it’s just as easy—and maybe cheaper—to fly to Bucharest and then take the train 2.5 hours to Brașov. From the Henri Coandă airport in Bucharest, you can take a train to Gare de Nord, and from there to Brașov. From Brașov, you can take a bus or train further to your starting point, e.g., Archita. Or, as I did, to Rupea, then a taxi to Monastari Saint George. Apparently, it’s possible to spend the night at the monastery.
When to go
I started in mid-May. May has a fair amount of rain, so expect to get wet. Of the 7 days I walked, I had 5 days of partly cloudy weather and 2 days of rain. The temperature ranged from 15 to 20 degrees Celsius. May weather is unpredictable, so you might also experience temperatures up to 30 degrees by the end of the month. July and August are usually quite hot, while autumn is dry and has pleasant temperatures.
What to bring
Of course, this depends on the season. If you choose to sleep indoors, a small backpack is enough. Bring a couple of thin wool sweaters and light indoor shoes. You can buy food along the way. With lunch for the day, 1.5 liters of water, and a bag of muesli for breakfast, my backpack weighed under 7 kg. In addition, I brought trekking poles and a bear spray.
Be sure to get a good map. I lost my way several times. The trail is well marked, but there can be many side-trails, and it is easy to get lost. I use Locus Maps on my Android phone, and downloaded gpx file from Via Transilvanica site.
Read about maps here: Navigation apps for overlanding and hiking
Links
Via Transilvanica – Guide book and gpx files: https://www.viatransilvanica.com/en/
Experience Transylvania – Rent a house : https://www.experiencetransylvania.ro/
Bus routes : https://www.autogari.ro/
Train CFR: https://m.infofer.ro/en-GB/Itineraries
Transylvanian Saxons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvanian_Saxons
Fortified churches: Fortified Churches in Transylvania – Romania
