You will be welcomed at Bucharest airport and driven to the riding center where a tasty meal awaits you. You will have a good night’s sleep in one of the farm's lovely double rooms and then head out on a test ride. You are treated to great views of the mountains and long gallops across the fields. Your English-speaking guides know the area and its history inside and out and it's fantastic to be able to benefit from their knowledge about predators and the wilderness.
The riding is varied and will be at a good pace when the terrain allows. You pass through small villages and get to see what life is like in rural areas. It is as if you have gone back in time 100 years.
You can take a trail ride where you stay on the farm all week, with the chance of one night in tents.
Midweek the horses get a rest and you head off to visit Viscri who has many colorful stories to tell and you will be invited to enjoy a special meal with homemade wine and plum brandy.
The last riding days will be a trail ride up into the predator-filled mountains. If weather permits, you will stay overnight in tents (sleeping bags and camping matts can be provided for 15 EUR/person) . Your food is cooked over an open campfire and it's exciting to sit in the dark and listen to the wolves howling.
This week not only gives you great riding but also a unique insight into the interactions between predators and humans.
Daily Schedule (subject to change due to local circumstances):
Day 1
Arrival at Bucharest airport where you will be picked up and driven to your guesthouse in Sinca Noua. The trip takes about 3 hours. Welcome drink and dinner is served and you spend the evening with Barbara and Christoph preparing you for your week.
Day 2
After breakfast you will be shown around the farm and introduced to the horses. Soon we take off for a first 3 h-ride passing beautiful hay meadows, ancient pastureland, and old beech forests. You will have time to get used to the horses,
the equipment and the terrain. The hills offer a fantastic view over the area and the meadows invite for some first trot or canter. Upon return, after a short lunch, we will drive up a forest road to the famous virgin forest of Stramba Valley (UNESCO World Heritage Site). We will do a 2-hour hike, see these century old giant beech and fir trees (amongst them the tallest known tree of Romania), and learn about the ecosystem of the mixed mountain forests of the Carpathians.
Day 3
Today we head off for a full day-ride along the meadows and through the forests at the foot of the mountains. We will have stunning views and lots of possibilities for canters over the meadows. You will be stunned by the variety of wild flowers and we might come across tracks of bears or wild boar. We do our lunch breaks on beautiful meadows with spectacular views and return in the afternoon back to the stable.
Day 4
Today, the horses will rest and you will instead learn about Transylvania’s exciting history. You head off from the riding center and drive for about 1½ hours to the medieval village of Viscri. Attractions here include the famous fortified church dating from the Turkish invasion. In Viscri, you will be served a traditional Saxon meal with homemade wine and plum brandy. After the visit to Viscri, you continue to the town of Sighisoara and its well-preserved medieval old town. Both Sighisoara and Viscri are listed on UNESCO’S World Heritage List.
You return to the riding center in the evening.
Day 5 and 6
A two-day tour of about 50km that involves riding over rolling hills and through deep woods together with some long gallops. In the afternoon, you reach an area where time seems to have stood still. Here people's lives have not changed much since the Middle Ages. The small mountain farms still use bullocks and horses and many lack running water and electricity. You will camp overnight at one of these farms. Tents, sleeping bags and food etc. will be provided. You will enjoy a dinner cooked over a campfire before it's time to crawl into your sleeping bags. You might even be able to hear the howling of wolves in the distance ....? In the morning you ride through the forests of Transylvania where you can enjoy breathtaking views of the Carpathian Mountains. You return to the riding center in the afternoon. If you don’t fancy camping out in tents, we are happy to pick you up after dinner (20 min walk is necessary) and drive you to the guesthouse for the night and back again the next morning.
Day 7
Your last ride for the week takes you in a great arc around Sinca Noua, through woods and across meadows where you can enjoy both galloping and beautiful views. After three hours riding, you will return to Sinca Noua in time for lunch.You then travel to Bran Castle, known as Dracula's Castle.
Day 8
Time to say goodbye and head home. After breakfast, you are driven to the airport in Bucharest.
Other:
Depending on season and weather you may be offered a trip to a hide in the forest where you can see wild brown bears, foxes and even wolves. (30 EUR extra).
One day, instead of dinner at the riding center, you may be offered a visit to a genuine shepherd’s camp. There, you will see how to milk sheep and make cheese. The trip ends with a barbecue of roast mutton and traditional shepherds’ fare. Note that this opportunity is yet to be finalized, as the location of the shepherd’s camp has not been determined.
Reservation
We reserve the right to change the day-to-day program due to weather and other local conditions, without affecting the program's character.
