Carpathian Peaks walking vacation in Romania

Planet

We are passionate about leaving the Carpathian Mountains as we find them - we feel lucky to be in a position to benefit from the beauty and wilderness of these trails, and we recognise the need to leave them in a pristine state. As such we operate a strict no litter policy, taking all refuse to either be recycled or properly disposed. We ensure our clients understand how to responsibly manage any toileting in the wild. We work with the policy of ‘take nothing but memories, Leave nothing but footprints’.

As an alternative to flying it is of course possible to travel from the UK to Bucharest by bus or train. Both involve extending your adventure by several days as the fascinating journey route takes you through some of the highlights of Europe! The train route for example, starting in London, stops at Brussels, then Frankfurt, Budapest and then Bucharest. Total journey time (if you don't do the obvious thing of breaking it to visit some of these wonderful places!) is around 34hrs. A bus is also an option though it is 30 hours, taking you through Belgium, Austria, Hungary and finally into Romania.

During the adventure we are of course primarily walking to experience the sights, sounds and smells of this beautiful country, which is a low carbon way to see the sights. Where required we use private minibus transfers.

During the adventure we introduce our clients to the works carried out by the Romanian NGO; Foundation Conservation Carpathia (FCC). Our clients are invited to learn about the Conservation and biodiversity work done by the charity, in the areas we visit and to make a donation to support them, if they would like.

Day 7 of the adventure involves Wildlife tracking in the Fagaras Mountains with an expert guide. This is a far cry from visiting a brown bear sanctuary and is an opportunity to learn directly from experts about the conservation of top carnivores and their habitat, as well as to understand more about how to track animals and learn from their behaviours.

We are very proud to be working with Pure Hydration, specialists in personal and expedition water purification, instantly, and on-demand. We recognise that the ability to produce safe drinking water from sources off the beaten track, of sometimes dubious quality, offers incredible benefits to our adventure travelers and so are excited to be subsidising this product to make it more accessible to you. Having a re-usable filtration bottle avoids single use plastic, with each bottle purifying 350L of water. RRP is £39 but our clients are able to purchase a bottle for £20.00.

People

We work directly with a small Romanian operator who provides the local walking guide (qualified) for our adventures - our clients benefit from their expertise, and they benefit from our employment.

We also use small, locally run hotels and traditional guesthouses during our adventure rather than larger internationally run chain hotels. These guesthouses, due to their more remote location in mountain villages and towns, rely on local produce and serve traditional cuisine for our clients to enjoy. We spend 2 nights in a comfortable mountain refuge in the heart of the Fagaras mountains. Often during this adventure, we purchase packed lunches from our accommodation supplier also.

The Wildlife tracking on Day 7 of the adventure, is provided to us by a local ranger from a biodiversity and conservation reserve - another opportunity to promote responsible tourism in the area.

Our Romanian partner has a fabulous network of local contacts who are passionate about developing the right kind of tourism in Romania, one which supports local communities as well as the environment. Enjoying 2 guides on this adventure, one from our company and one local guide, offers our clients the best of both worlds, supports local tourism, and helps build positive and sustainable relationships between ourselves and the tourism industry within the areas we visit.

As mentioned in our section about the Environment, as part of this adventure, we introduce our clients to the works carried out by the Romanian NGO; Foundation Conservation Carpathia (FCC). Our clients are invited to learn about the Conservation and biodiversity work done by the charity, in the areas we visit and to make a donation to support them, if they would like.