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Horse riding holidays in Romania

Sample riding itinerary

Here are typical itineraries for one-week and two-week riding. Please note that these are examples. We may make changes if local conditions, weather and so on require.

Regular one-week itinerary

This is our regular one-week riding circuit, available for individuals and for groups of any size.

Day 1 (Saturday) – Fly to Cluj-Napoca international airport, in the heart of Transylvania, where you will be met by an English-speaking guide. Transfer by express train, or by car or minibus, to the mountain village of Lunca Ilvei (a three-hour journey) where you will meet your hosts Julian and Angelica Ross. Spend the night in a village guesthouse.

Day 2 (Sunday) - After a leisurely morning, enjoy lunch, then meet the horses and get to know them on an afternoon ride in the tranquil Carpathian forest. Spend the night in the same village guesthouse.

Day 3 (Monday) - Climbing southwards onto a high ridge, we are heading towards Bram Stoker’s Borgo Pass. The path undulates along a succession of gentle peaks and saddles, with views stretching up to 50km. Pass a monastery chapel at the hamlet of Ciosa, then cross a surviving Roman road. The horses stay on a peasant farm for the night, and riders stay at the Hotel Castle Dracula. As well as a good restaurant and a bar with a spectacular view, the hotel boasts a small museum about the fictional vampire (don't let the hotel worker disguised as Dracula alarm you!) You have the chance to visit a small monastery on a hilltop overlooking the village.

Day 4 (Tuesday) – We descend north-westerly into the deep forests of the Dorna Valley, where much of Romania’s excellent mineral water originates. We travel along a quiet forest road, alongside which bears’ tracks are sometimes seen, before riding into virgin forest where some good canters are available. We pass through a nature reserve that harbours interesting carnivorous plants, insect and reptile life. Coming out of the forest, we arrive in the village of Poiana Stampei (with many attractive folkloric wooden houses) to spend the night in a guesthouse well known for good food - the host’s wife has given cookery demonstrations on television. You may also enjoy the traditional (and slightly eccentric) décor of the house.

Day 5 (Wednesday) – Return to your host’s village of Lunca Ilvei through an area of spread out farmsteads that give way to pastures and forest. You will experience naturally regenerating pine forest, described by a visiting naturalist as “the finest natural European forest after the great Bialowieski reservation in Poland”. We emerge onto a high ridge with a spectacular view to the south and west, where we stop for lunch. A few remains of First World War trenches are to be seen too – until 1918 this was Austro-Hungarian frontier territory. One section was the setting for the great Romanian novel "The Hanging Forest" by Liviu Rebreanu - "the Romanian Kafka". We ride back to the village guesthouse for dinner, whenever possible including folk music played by two local musicians, and a night’s rest.

Day 6 (Thursday) – We ride northwards over a high ridge, descend through ancient beech forest (home to wolves, lynx, foxes, deer and other animals) and drop down into a silent forested valley, then climb up to the pasturelands of Poiana Persa (“Persa Meadows”). This “obcina” (bare mountain crest) covers several square miles and is, in summer, home to up to one hundred mares and foals enjoying summer grazing. There are fine views from here over a high, secluded region of alpine pastures called "obcinas" where shepherds spend six months of each year without machines or electricity. Descend into the Small Maria valley and ride down to a remote tourist cabin owned by the local forester.

Day 7 (Friday) – We return to Lunca Ilvei by a different route, skirting Poiana Persa by a semicircle of high pastures and sheepfolds (where goats and buffalo may also be seen) with particularly fine views of the three 8,000 feet Rodna mountains. We travel along a Habsburg military road, now a little-used grassy track, but in the late 18th century important for defence of Empress Maria Theresa’s growing frontier. From here the view is immense, and there is a tangible feeling of remoteness. Nearby, only one hundred years ago, a gendarme post existed to protect travellers against highwaymen! We arrive on a ridge overlooking Lunca Ilvei and descend sharply to arrive in the village. After a brief rest, a shower, etc, clients depart by express train for Cluj-Napoca (a three-hour journey), where the night will be spent in a hotel.

Day 8 (Saturday) – Set off for home by a morning flight from the nearby international airport.

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