|
What means “self guided trip”?
Means, you walk by yourself, there is no
guide involved. You can walk with your family, friends or alone by yourself.
Size of the group:
Most guesthouses can accommodate up to 4
couples in different rooms. If there are more then 3 people in a party,
you can get extra discounts (depending the program) There are special prices
for families with children.
Accommodation:
We selected the best available
accommodation in each region. Some regions are better developed (and also
busier) then others and where possible we offer guestrooms with private
bathrooms.
Criteria are location, comfort, a second
language spoken, access to telephone, capacity (we prefer smaller units) In
case there aren’t private bathrooms, then there is one or more shared
bathrooms. In many cases there aren’t any other tourists as the rate of
occupation is still low in many remote mountain regions.
Hosts:
Most of the guesthouse included have
already more then 5 years experience with tourists. At many places the owners
(or children) do speak fluently English, others a few words, others understand
simple English words, but don’t speak. Sometimes they even invite a neighbor
that speaks English, just to please you. Romanian people are extremely
hospitable and do a lot of effort to accommodate you.
Meals:
We offer mostly full board because there
aren’t any restaurants in the remote villages. For a few trips we offer bed
and breakfast in town because you don’t stay in a guesthouse, but in a
hotel. In that case it is more interesting to let you choose your meal in a
restaurant because the half board formula is not always the best option in the
hotels, especially not for small groups.
At the guesthouses you get soup or
starter, main dish and dessert. Drinks are not included. Most of the products
come from the farm or village.
Breakfast: a large variety of products
are served and there is enough served so that you can make your own lunch
packet for noon. Drinks, extra fruits or sweets can be bought in the shop or
market in the villages or towns.
Diet food or vegetarian food is possible,
just let us know in advance so that we can warn the guesthouses in advance.
Last minute is often impossible or poor prepared
Luggage:
Your luggage will be transported to the
next destination. Your luggage is absolutely safe with the owners or drivers.
From 2009 we start offering back packing trips. These trips are the same as
the ones with luggage transport and you will get a discount of 40-60 Euro (depending
the program).
Other tourists:
Romania
is still very much under-developed in the tourism segment. Active holidays are
almost inexistent. Romanian tourists do travel to the mountains during the
weekends or holidays, but stay mostly in the guesthouses to eat and drink.
Hotspots are of course visited. But you will hardly meet somebody along the
trails. Most busy places are
Brasov
, Risnov and Bran, (hiking between
Brasov
and Bran),
Sibiu
and Sighisoara (medieval Saxon towns), Ice cave (Aries trip) and for the rest
you’re pretty much on your own. You will occasionally meet tourists in the
guesthouses, but as soon you’re of the beaten track, again you’re alone.
Many guesthouses have only an occupation rate between 5 and 10 % on a year
base.
The programs:
We tried to offer a variety of programs
and put different accents for each program. All the trips are made for the
large public with a normal physical condition. This doesn’t mean there
isn’t any effort required but you don’t need to be an exercised sportsman
to make the trips. If a lot of climbing is involved, distance are kept
shorter. In some cases where there is a longer trip, we also offer a shorter
version. Additional you can also include extra days of rest.
New for 2009 are the programs where we
offer hiking trips in different regions. In this way you will see more from
Romania the when you would have chosen for a trip in one region. The transfers
can be done with private car or rental car. Public transport is only an option
if you really have a lot of time. Tourist regions are rarely well connected by
public transport.
Children:
Small children do remarkable well during
the hiking trips and 6-7 year olds walk easily 10-15 km a day. Trips that suit
families with children very well are the hiking trip with donkey. (the 2 week
trip has mainly shorter distances and several roundtrips where you stay 2
nights at the same accommodation) Another trip is the 10 day Aries hike where
you stay each time 3 nights at the same accommodation and can skip easy one
day hiking.
Flexibility:
We are extremely flexible and can adept
about every program to your wishes. We propose trips between 6 and 14
nights but you can model a trip to your preferences as long you keep the order
of the days. (we have physically no time to change or rewrite descriptions
during summer) This means you can start with day 3, or end with day 6 or
whatever. Additional there might be a small fee to pay if we have to bring you
somewhere or pick you up.
If you make s shorter trip, the price changes and
generally the price of the total program is divided by the number of nights of
the standard program and multiplied with the nights you really stay. In some
cases 2 hikes spread over 2 days can be combined in one. As the owner (or
driver) is also transporting the luggage to the next destination, you can also
skip a day walking and let you drive.
Maps, road description and direction:
There aren’t any good hiking maps in Romania, so far. A good hiking map is a map with a scale 1:20.000 up to 1:30.000.
Most likely the military has them, but they are still “top secret” and not
available. So we have to do with less. We have maps going from 1:60.000 up to
1:100.000. Because these maps are not detailed enough, we provide additional a
detailed road description. A compass is very useful for a lot of trips as we often
use compass headings as extra help. In the very near future GPS track or
waypoints will be offered.
Is it difficult? No, you just need to
take a bit care.
First of all, we use existing trails and
don’t make unnecessary detours. Means, since ancient times people follow a
river or a ridge to get from A to B. The reason is clear, the area is flat and
often there isn’t any dense forest near the river. The ridge: it’s easier
to follow a ridge and stay mainly on the same altitude then to go up and down
all the time. Further, we follow existing marked hiking trails if they are
available. Sometimes we marked the right track at intersections.
We often provide 2 or 3 indications for
the same place. An example: At the intersection you take right, descending to
the north. First indication: right, second “descending”, third “to the
north” one should be enough, but you might be at a different intersection
because; you miss-interpret something, you skipped a paragraph, or you walked
wrong. In that case you know the reality doesn’t correspond with what you
see. You walk back till where you’re sure it all fits, or you change your
direction if you know more or less where you are on the map.
A compass is a useful tool because we
often use the compass headings as well. You don't need to shoot with the
compass, it is just a useful tool that helps you out to take the right track.
We had over the years thousands of
tourists of all ages, for many of them it was the first time, and we never, really
never lost someone or had to search for somebody. Of course it happens that
people walk wrong or end up where they didn’t suppose to end up. Most of the
time they find the right track by themselves, sometimes we can help out with
the mobile phone, and all the time they arrived at the destination. The local
people are extremely helpful and often bring you right on the right track.
Danger:
Wild animals: there are still
wolves and bears in the mountains in Romania
but the chances you see one are almost zero. The reason, they are wild,
nocturnal and
scared of people. As well wolf and bear smell you a long time before you cross
their path, they are already a long time gone before you arrive. There is one
exception, the
Brasov area where the bears are used to people (because they are often fed by
tourists) and the danger is not in the forest, but at the border of the town
and in the mountain resort Poiana Brasov. But even there, the bears don’t
appear during the day, mostly during the night or at dusk.
May be one important remark: you walk
mostly in inhabited country, not in pure reservations. So bears or wolves are
not supposed to be there. They have more remote area's where no people are
living.
Bear
encounters: (in the extreme rare case you might find a bear on your path)
There
are still a lot of wild bears in the country, many years ago a lot of hunters
kept that population down, nowadays not anymore. The milder winters and most
likely also the presence of tourists (cabins and hotels) offer the bear better
conditions then some 20-30 years ago and the bear population is growing. But
luckily most of the bears are wild and keep way from the humans (except around
Brasov and Poiana Brasov.) The chance you'll meet one is really very
remote.
In
case a bear all of a sudden crosses your trail: most likely the bear will
be as scared as you are and will run away in 90% of the cases. In 10%
of the cases he is curious or aggressive. NEVER RUN AWAY! The bear runs a lot
faster and will most likely see you as a prey. Trees are no option as he
climbs better and faster.
So what to do: There are almost as many
theories are there are bears, but here some tips: An aggressive attitude most
likely stimulates aggression in the bear. So better don't take chances. Most
case studies show that you better don't look him in the eyes, but don't turn
around either. So generally facing his direction, you talk normally and walk
slowly backwards. Is the bear really aggressive (most likely the case with a
she bear with cups) she will charge in a lot of cases up to a meter in front
of you. (Mostly without directly attacking) Keep cool.... and talk normal and
walk back. If she really attacks, pepper spray might help, but be sure you
have the thing pointed in the right direction (if you can find it fast enough)
Spray to nose and eyes. But there is no guarantee that the bear will stop in
his tracks or avoid you. You still might get kicked or run over. Play dead.
You still might expect some aggression after you're "dead" so you
should protect vital organs and face. (so lay face down, knees tot the chest
and hands in the neck) About all bear incidents stopped at that time. If it's
really not your day, try to defend you with all what you have...
An aggressive bear turns his ears back
and growls and remains on 4 legs and prepares the attack. A curious bear stays
on his back legs, this is almost always an imposing attitude to scare or warn
you. If you're with several people, stand together, the larger the groups the
more impressed the bear will be. If you have food, you might try to throw it
in his direction. (this is not recommended by wildlife people as the bear
might try to get food from each hiker- but that should be the last of your
problems during an encounter. The forest people will take care of the bear
later on)
If you see a bear at a large distance,
stay still and look for a way around, or even walk back. Taking a picture
might be very tempting, be sure you're flash doesn't light up. It might have
been the cause of sudden bear attacks in Romania, although it is not proven.
Places where you might encounter bears:
Apuseni
Mountains: (Up to today, not one attack or encounter was ever registered in
these mountains)
The
area between Marisel and Poiana Horea and Poiana Horea and Doda Pilii. (nature
park Apuseni) You walk mainly north-south and in a region where western winds
are dominant. So you might encounter a bear very early or very late in the
season. But as the region is frequented by foresters and farmers bears trespass
mostly at night.
Southern
Carpathians: More danger in some area's (yearly dozens of encounters,
sometimes even with fatal results. But don't panic, most of the time human behavior
was the cause of the problem:
Most problems occur at night around
Brasov and Poiana Brasov as backpackers sleep with food in their tent. The
bear is interested in the food and will attack all what is in it's way to get
to the food. In other cases the bears attacked tourists that were taking
pictures of them or feeding them.
Rodna
and Rarau Mountains: Bears are wild and don't appear along the marked hiking
trails in the summer months.
Harghita
Mountains: Bears might be around the moors because of the fruits, some caution
is recommended.
Wolves:
No problems with wolves, they seem to like only sheep.
Viper:
There are vipers in all the mountain region and some caution is recommended in
the spring. The viper awakes from the hibernation and is often slow. They warm
up on sunny rocks. Normally they rush away from humans but as their senses
aren't always 100% active, they might notice you too late. Better don't wear
sandals in risk area's. If you enter bushes use a stick to kick around a
bit.
Insects: mosquito’s are rare in the
mountains and not much of a problem.
Ticks: there are ticks and especially the
grassland where a lot of sheep graze are at risk. But if you use common sense,
there shouldn’t be a problem. There aren't any badly tick infested animals in the
mountains because the game population isn't as dense as for instance in
Germany or Austria where the density of the animals is artificially high
because they are fed by the hunters. See also at: http://www.LymeDiseaseAssociation.org
Crime:
Your car: Your car is perfectly
safe at the guesthouses, pensions or hotels. Just use common sense when you
park your car in the towns or tourist hotspots. Don't leave valuables visible
for all to see. So far we absolutely never had problems with car theft, break
ins or whatsoever. We don't say there aren't any car thieves at all in the
country, they just don't operate in remote regions.
You are very safe in the
mountains. There are of course pick pockets in Romania
(as in any other country) but these people hardly operate in the mountains as
there is hardly somebody to steal from. Some care has to be taken and common
sense to be used at busy places such as train stations and tourist hotspots.
(Bran castle for instance) By all standards,
Romania
is a very safe country, there are no terrorists, no bomb attacks, no
extremists, rarely a hold up or bank robbery. There is organized crime, but
not in the villages or in the mountains and not in the towns of
Transylvania
.
Some advice: avoid drunks and don’t mix
in fights. Avoid contact with gypsies and especially don’t take pictures if
they don’t agree. Of course not all the gypsies will cause problems but it
is impossible to distinguish bad from good. Over the years we had 2 times
tourists that got robbed by gypsies, each time when they were “chatting”
or had a friendly “conversation”. Some gypsies ask money if you take a
picture, but as conversation is often hardly possible it is difficult to know
what they want and we had tourists that were thrown stones at after they took
pictures and didn’t want to pay for it. Others were invited to visit a gypsy
house and were supposed to pay for the visit….To other tourists they tried
to sell their children. So our advice is: say friendly hello and let them in
peace.
Health:
In the unlikely event that something
happens to you, all emergencies are free of charge. Unfortunately the state
hospitals aren’t always the best. Therefore it is useful to have additional
a travel insurance coverage. We immediately come to help you out or (if the
distance is too big we’ll send somebody locally.) Pharmacies you only find
in the towns, so if you need medication, you better provide in advance. Of
course we’ll do whatever is possible or needed to help out with emergencies.
Money:
You’ll need a little pocket money along
the road to pay for your drinks in the guesthouses and along the road. There
are some souvenir shops, but rarely in the mountains. You don’t need to
bring a lot of cash with you, there are ATM’s in each town and some larger
villages. So wherever you trip starts, you can pin money before you go up in
the mountains.
Phone:
The mobile phone network covers almost
all the country and can be very useful for emergencies. You might not have
always the best connection down in the valley, but as soon you’re on higher
ground, it works. You can reach us 24 hours on 24 and we do answer each phone
call as long we are connected with the network. (it sometimes happen that we
don’t have coverage when traveling through the mountains)
Emergencies:
In case you get lost, don't panic. Don't
call the national emergency number unless it is really necessary. The Romanian
police takes things very seriously and send right away the mountain rescue
brigade to the area. Summer 2009 2 tourists called around 17 hours directly
the national emergency number and at 20 hours (3 hours later) a team of more
then 20 people were starting a search and rescue. We didn't know about this as
they only called us that they were lost 1 hour after they called the national
emergency number (and even never mentioned that they called mountain rescue).
As we knew more or less in what area they were it was easy to give them a
compass heading where they certainly would arrive and could be easily picked
up. There was absolutely no need to call mountain rescue, certainly not at
such an early hour. So far the service remains free, but if more of this
happens, we wonder for how long.
Of course in case of injury or sickness
or extreme weather conditions you should call as soon as possible. The before
mentioned case shows how fast the mountain rescue works. In case you call us,
most likely, we are earlier in the region to help out or to organize and/or
conduct a search and rescue.
Getting at the starting place of your
trip and back again:
Plane: there are now cheap flights from almost
anywhere in Europe to Romania. You can fly directly to Cluj Napoca
from Paris Beauvais, London Luton and Dortmund. In other cases you still have to combine flights.
Romania is very well connected with Italy and Spain as many Romanians work
there. Sometimes you can combine 2 low cost flights and end up with a price
under 150 Euro.
Most interesting airport for all trips in
Transylvania
: Cluj Napoca. (train connection to Maramures and
Sibiu
or
Brasov
), bus connection to Aries trips, by train or car to Gilau and
Vladeasa
Mountains
or
Apuseni
Mountains
.
Bucharest
for
Brasov or Saxon villages trip, eventually also Sibiu.
Public transport: All trips can be
reached by public transport. But as distances are long and traffic slow, you
might need to stay an extra night in the beginning or at the end of your trip.
Train tickets can now be reserved 1 month in advance, bus tickets not at all.
See links at our Travel Info page at: http://www.greenmountainholidays.ro/travelinfo.html
|
