Romania photography tour

Planet

In terms of travel, we do not include international flights in our trips because this ensures participants can find the best ways to get to the starting location in the most effective and environmental-friendly manner, for example by combining travel if they come to Romania from an adjacent country as part of a multi-country trip, which can be done by train. We never book internal flights and once we’re on location we encourage walking not only as a means to be environmentally friendly but also as a best way to get to know and photograph a place in a slow and considerate way, the best experience there is! As this is a circular trip we are traveling by mini-bus, as we only run small groups this is usually just the right size for our group, and we ensure that anything we hire is compliant with the latest emissions regulations etc.

Throughout our trip we choose suppliers that match our environmental values, especially small family-run businesses and eco-tourism locations. In fact just by choosing these locations to begin with is not only providing our participants with a great experience, but it is actively supporting and encouraging these local businesses to continue.

We encourage participants to drink tap water wherever it is possible, but also Romania is a well-known producer of natural mineral water which is usually sold in big glass bottles that are returned to the manufacturer for reusing, so we always prioritise those local brands when we stop to eat. The same goes for prioritising local produce, the closer to the food source the better, and luckily that is still very wide-spread and a source of pride in Romania, especially in the more rural locations.

People

Our entire trip is planned with the local communities in mind. We focus on getting our services from small, ideally family-run businesses so that the local communities benefit directly from our business. This ranges from where we find accommodation to where we eat and buy our souvenirs from, as the case may be.

In the smaller towns and rural areas for example, particularly the villages of Sibiel and Viscri, we stay with locals and we eat with locals. The experience that we provide in Sibiel in collaboration with the local community is a perfect example of agro-tourism, from the 100% home made dinners with the locals to the small contribution we make to the local artisans demonstrating their craft and the support to the icons museum, or the village of Viscri where we eat with the locals and we buy products from local artisans, or the surroundings of Bran castle where local artisans sell hand-sewn Romanian blouses, painted ceramics or the famous and intricate painted Easter eggs.

We also work actively with our participants to ensure we have a great experience and interact with the local communities in the most empathetic way, especially when photographing people, we coach our participants on any cultural sensitivities and promote a collaborative way of creating images.