7-Day Romania Highlights Tour from Bucharest with UNESCO Sites and Castles

• Meet your Romania guide at your hotel or at the airport in Bucharest, if your arrival is on the same day.

• Start the tour heading north from Bucharest to Sibiu, passing through the Carpathian Mountains into Transylvania.

• Continue to Sibiu/Hermannstadt, European Capital of Culture in 2007. Sightsee in Sibiu and visit Piata Mare (the Big Square), Piata Mica (the Little Square), Piata Huet (Huet Square), the Iron Bridge, Biserica Evangelica (the Evangelical Church), and Metropolia (the Orthodox Church).

Overnight in Sibiel village in a rural family guesthouse. A traditional home-cooked dinner is included, with alcoholic drinks.

• After breakfast, move on to Sighisoara, Europe's best-preserved medieval town.

• En route, stop to visit Biertan Fortified Church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the village of Biertan.

• In the afternoon, arrive at Sighisoara Citadel, which Vlad the Impaler once called "home". The whole medieval citadel is part of UNESCO World Heritage, with German architectural influences visible throughout the city. Highlights include the Guild Tower, the Venetian House built in the 13th century, Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) House, the Antler House, the Wood Covered Staircase, the Hill Church, and Hermann Oberth Square.

Optional: lunch or dinner in the house where Dracula was born, today the famous restaurant "Casa Vlad Dracul".

Overnight in a 3-star hotel right in the medieval citadel, with breakfast included.

• Start your day with breakfast in the morning.

• Head to Northern Romania, to Maramures county, "the Land of Wood," and UNESCO's wooden churches.

• Stop at the Merry Cemetery of Sapanta. Here, grave markers celebrate life with beautiful images and gentle wit. The colourful wooden crosses, sculpted and painted by craftsman Stan Patras and his apprentice, Dumitru Pop, have become an authentic open-air museum.

• Follow the Iza and Mara rivers, admire impressive landscapes, and visit some of the oldest churches made of wood, unique places within UNESCO's patrimony, as well as a row of Maramures gates with authentic rustic triumphal arches.

Accommodation in Sighetu Marmatiei, with breakfast included, in a 3-star hotel or pension.

• After breakfast, leave Maramures and stop at Barsana Wooden Monastery, one of the landmarks of Maramures and part of the UNESCO World Heritage List.

• Cross the Carpathian Mountains to Bucovina, the famous region in the north-east of Romania, and discover the Painted Monasteries, the major Moldavian destination because of the vivid and animated frescoes on their church walls. These depict Biblical and other scenes, designed in sequences almost like strip cartoons to educate local people in the Orthodox religion. Due to their uniqueness, the monasteries in Bucovina are now UNESCO-protected cultural sites.

Accommodation in a lovely 4-star pension in the Gura Humorului/Painted Monasteries area, with breakfast included.

• In the morning, after a tasty breakfast made with pure biological food, discover the famous Moldavian Painted Monasteries of Humor and Voronet, widely known as "the Sistine Chapel of the East," while passing through picturesque villages.

• Visit the Egg Museum in Vama village, deep in the heart of Bucovina, and see the most varied and numerous collections of dyed and decorated eggs in Romania.

• Continue driving and visit Agapia and Neamt Monasteries.

• In the evening, arrive in Piatra Neamt city and stay overnight in a 4-star hotel.

• Enjoy a breakfast buffet at the hotel and a short sightseeing tour of Piatra Neamt city.

• Then continue to Transylvania via the winding road through Bicaz Gorges. Pass through the Red Lake Resort, where there will be a short stop to admire the incredible landscape and take some nice pictures.

• On the way to Brasov, visit the Fortified Church in Prejmer, the biggest fortified church in Southeastern Europe, built in the 14th century.

• Arrive in the medieval town of Brasov, where you will overnight in a 3-star pension, with breakfast included.

• Enjoy the evening on your own.

• After breakfast, enjoy a sightseeing tour of Brasov with its highlights: the Black Church, the Town Hall, the Black Tower, Ecaterina's Gate, and Rope Street, the narrowest street in Europe.

• Say goodbye to the beautiful city of Brasov and head further to the village of Bran.

• Visit the famous Bran Castle, known as "Dracula's Castle", an important national monument and landmark of Romanian tourism, due not only to the beauty of the castle and the landscape but also to the legend of Count Dracula. Don't forget to take garlic with you.

• Continue along the Prahova Valley, where the Rhein Wine Cellars are located, recognized between the two World Wars as "Romanian Royal House Official Purveyor". Here, enjoy lunch, wine tasting, and a visit to the oldest Romanian wine cellar, which uses the traditional Champenoise method of producing sparkling wines.

• Learn how Romania's most famous sparkling wine is produced, bottled, corked, and labelled. Since April 2006, the Rhein Wine Cellar has been appointed "Supplier of His Majesty King Michael I of Romania". Here, you can also buy genuine Romanian wines and sparkling wines if you wish.

• Depart further to Sinaia, the beautiful mountain resort surnamed "the pearl of the Carpathians", and visit the famous Peles Castle, one of Romania's most beautiful palaces, once the summer residence of Romanian kings, and also one of Romania's most important museums.

• In the evening, arrive in Bucharest and be dropped off at your hotel or directly transferred to the airport, if your departure is on the same day.