We hiked the Via Transilvanica trail (VT) in Romania for 3 days, and we’re here to share the costs, the experience, the logistics, and all the details of hiking Europe’s new Camino. We can’t wait to return to hike more of this amazing long-distance trail in Romania that is full of local culture, tasty foods, fabulous views, and utmost, wonderful hiking.
The Via Transilvanica trail traverses Romania, starting in the upper northeast corner and finishing in the southwest corner, going through the center of Transylvania. You can certainly travel it in either direction. Not only can you camp along the way, but more to our style, you can find charming inns, farmstays, hotels, and homestays every night. Not as rich in infrastructure as Spain’s famous Camino de Santiago, this multi-day, long-distance trail entertains hikers with charming villages, fantastic views, historic stops, Romanian churches, locals dressed traditionally, horse carts, hay stacks, and architecture that varies from region to region.
Although we’d love to do the entire trail, we wanted a taste of it first, and we set out to hike it for three days. After picking up a car in Bucharest through DiscoverCars ($110 for 10 days!), we did a road trip through Brasov, dropping into the fabulous Castles of Bran and Peleș and zipping through hairpin turns on the Transfăgărășan Highway (the world’s best road to drive.) Finally ready to get out of the car, we parked it for four days at our quaint inn in Criţ, Romania.
Day 1: Criţ to Saschiz
Lacing up my trail runners (although I do wish I had boats on parts of the trail due to angled paths that worked my ankles) and grabbing my hiking pole, Steve and I made a pit stop first for brunch at Casa Kraus in Criț where I enjoyed a lovely bowl of bean soup with bread followed by Romanian donuts topped with berries and cream. Ready to burn off all those calories, we started our first day’s hike.
The Via Transilvanica website is rich with data and data points, although we chose to use the more familiar AllTrails to map our route. We love the premium version because we get so much detail and tracking to boot! We had an easy mile or two when leaving Criț, passing by traditional Saxon homes, horse water troughs, horse-drawn wagons on their way to market, and even stopping in a church under restoration.
We loved photographing our first trail marker. All 1600 of the solid granite trail markers each has its own unique engraving. We couldn’t wait to see all of them. They were great motivators when the trail got long. When there wasn’t a trail maker, we’d easily find orange Ts in white circles, the traditional trail blaze for the Transilvanica.
AllTrails told us we had an immediate climb, and with temps in the high 60s, we had the perfect weather to do it. Up through meadows and into the woods we went.
After seeing the bear warning sign, we yelled out “Hey Bear,” a saying we did often along the three days. We had seen beautiful Carpathian bears early while driving, and the signs warned us to watch for them after sunset. We weren’t taking any chances in the broad daylight, continuing to holler for bears and keeping our wits about us.
About halfway through the day, we came across the small town of Cloasterf. In the middle of restoring its Basilica, we enjoyed a tour by the local mayor/key holder of the town. While there, a pack of German cyclists came through. Due to the Saxon history and influx of Germanic culture to the area over time, Germans apparently love to visit here. These were the only trail users besides us we saw the entire day.
We made it to Saschiz, Romania at the end of the day where we enjoyed a traditional meal at Hanul Cetății. I ate up my polenta with tomatoes and cucumbers and downed a lovely Cuic beer. Satisfied, we checked into another wonderful family-run place right off the trail called Pension Cartref. We drank all the bottled water in the place!
Later, after resting a bit, we went out again to a darling Tea house called Tei Teehaus right behind the church. There, they sold us our official VT Passport stamp book and stamped our first stamp. Sadly, it was the only stamp I’d get because I kept forgetting to ask for them at our future stops.
Day 2: Saschiz to Şapartoc
Our second day was to be the longest, so we started a bit earlier in the day. Again, we immediately had an uphill climb, but it went right to the Peasant’s Fortress in Saschiz, Romania. This ancient protective area, built by peasants in medieval times for the surrounding communities, allowed locals safe shelter. Unique that it was the peasants, not the royalty, who built it, the structure remains after many community iterations. Now, the locals see it is a tourist draw. It’s fabulously restored and free. Don’t miss it for the view alone!
After the fortress, we continued uphill and downhill and uphill again. We mostly stayed in the woods until we arrived at the tiny town of Daia. We loved anticipating the next trail marker and had a little reality check when we came across the one with a tick engraved in it! Ticks and Lyme disease are rampant here; fortunately, we didn’t find a single tick the entire time.
In Daia, right as we arrived into town, we found a bodega just to the left. It was closed. But two ladies were walking toward us as we arrived, saw us, and opened the store just for us. Ice cream!
While taking a break, we checked out AllTrails again. Occasionally we’d have to look just to make sure we were on the trail. There are many trails in this area, all well marked and also shared with the VT. Just when we thought we had gone off trail, we’d look at AllTrails and it’d guide us right back to a missed blaze.
The second half of the day after Daia, was, frankly, not pleasant. We hiked up through a farmer’s field and a meadow. Due to heavy rains the week before, heavy and deep ruts dug into the trail, making hiking worse than walking on scree and cobblestones!
Once we cleared the field, we had to hike uphill through a meadow where the trail hadn’t been maintained. It was overgrown and the wildflowers were up to our waist. After seeing the tick signs, I swore I’d be picking them off by the dozen. Fortunately, although the trail was hard, hot, and treacherous, there weren’t any ticks!
We finally arrived at our accommodation (Traditional ŞapartocVillage) for the night, a farm-stay billed as a traditional village. Well, the room was darling–filled with traditional Romanian prints and furniture–and the property had two super friendly Carpathian Shepherd dogs. The buildings, too, had charm. Our stay included dinner and breakfast. Whereas breakfast struck a traditional note of eggs and local cheeses, our dinner did not! They served us instant noodle soup and pasta with vegetables in coconut milk they called “Asian noodles.” We had to pay cash and book through WhatsApp. Finally, though, we did meet some other hikers! A local Romanian family out for a 3-day hiking adventure just like us.
Day 3: Șapartoc to Sighișoara
Our shortest day lie ahead, and our legs agreed it was about time for a short day! Don’t let the AllTrails image below fool you. We only did half of the segment, finishing our hiking in the town of Sighișoara . With the temperatures rising to the mid 70s and the humidity rising with it, we were glad the majority of the day’s hike was in the shady woods.
We continued to enjoy the entertaining trail markers. At one juncture, we took a bit of a detour and found ourselves on a trail marked with blue and white crosses as blazes. We checked AllTrails to discover that the blue and white cross trail was the bike trail that paralleled the hiker’s Via Transilvanica. We stayed on it rather than veer over to the hiker’s version. It was a better trail and no one else was on it. They had split the trail into two parts for safety, and we should have made our way back over to the hiking trail, but we just stayed on the bike trail. We saw no one else.
We did see bear tracks, though!
Along this segment, not only did we not see anyone else, there were no facilities either. So be sure to bring enough water and snacks to get you to Sighișoara. The last part of the trail climbs straight up to the high point above Sighișoara, offering a great view of Dracula’s hometown, and then straight back down.
We checked into the DoubleTree for the night, then we grabbed a cab back to Criţ to get our car. Our cabbie wondered what in the heck we were doing being dropped in the tiny town of Criţ. We drove back to Sighișoara, and Steve insisted we needed to tour this UNESCO town. I agreed.
So we put on our Hoparas and walked up the hill into town. It was fun to find Dracula’s (Vlad the Impaler) birthplace! We laughed at the tourist train, but then realized that our tired legs might actually appreciate a ride through town. We paid the $6 per person fare, sat back, and giggled our way through a great tour of Sighișoara .
Gear and Total Costs to Hike Via Transilvanica Trail for 3 Days
Hiking the Via Transilvanica for three days was an affordable way to enjoy some moderate hiking. Although the trail was difficult in a few places, overall, we enjoyed moderate days wearing trail runners accompanied by one hiking pole each. Our day packs carried two water bottles each, a couple of pairs of underwear, one change of shorts and two shirts. I carried my Hoparas with me for the end of the day. We left our carry-ons in the car.
Total hotel costs for three nights: $150
Total food (includes groceries, trail snacks, coffee, meals): $65
Cab back to car and one tourist train ride: $52
Total costs for three days hiking the Via Transilvanica Trail: $267.
Worth every penny!
Chris Englert, the Walking Traveler, believes walking is the platform for life. Wanderlusting since the age of 5, she’s since traveled all 50 US states and 62 countries. Chris shares her love of walking while traveling via blogs, books, and presentations. A natural storyteller, she invites you along as she explores the world, one walk at a time.
Currently, Chris and her husband, Steve, travel the world, full-time as nomads, with just their two carry-ons. They’ve been traveling since May, 2021.