Saxon villages in Romania

Beyond Viscri

Local guides will show you how life is lived in these Saxon villages. They’ll take you to meet the shepherds, carpet weavers, charcoal makers, bee keepers, barrel makers and pastry makers, and root out B&Bs owned by a cultural mash-up of Saxon Germans, Romanians (including Roma communities) and ethnic Hungarians. You’ll get to know the countryside from the inside.

You might stay in a manor house in Malancrav, where you’ll chat with women who still use looms to weave curtains and carpets. Floresti (or Deutsch Branndorf in Saxon German), meanwhile, is famous for its barrel makers – an essential ingredient for the tuica plum brandy. Meet the men who have learned the art from their fathers and grandfathers, or lunch in the garden of a woman known village-wide for her homemade pastries.

The best vacations invite you into even smaller villages – perhaps 13th-century Archita (AKA Arkeden), where some of the last Saxon descendents in the region run a tearoom piled high with herbs and jams. Or perhaps to an organic farm in Mosna (Meschen), where the family milks the cows by hand for herby cream cheeses.

Sana explains MET’s plan: “The idea is to show local people that authentic, well-kept houses and their traditional way of life is something both Romanians and tourists from around the world appreciate a lot – and travel for. In this way, we help change perceptions in communities towards cultural heritage.”

MET hopes to protect the villagers’ way of life without making an exhibition of them. “We’re interested in developing the communities from an economic point of view whilst encouraging communities to keep their lifestyle,” Sani says. “At the same time, we’re offering travelers a unique Transylvanian experience. We invite tourists to visit craft workshops, try farm produce and see Transylvania from the back of a horse, in a horse-driven cart or hiking as opposed to from big buses. This way we are directly involved in sustaining other local initiatives too.”

The truth behind the fairy tale

At first, the time-warp villages, gingerbread houses, bear forests and wolf valleys of Transylvania seem like a fairy tale vision of Romania. But don’t get too carried away with the fiction. The best vacations pair you up with a guide who’ll reveal the reality behind the horse and cart rides and bumpy roads. They won’t treat the villagers like exhibits, but get you chatting with the farmers, shepherds, villagers and restaurateurs able to reveal the realities of living in the remote rural Saxon villages of Transylvania.

Rural Romania is one of most impoverished places in the EU. The quality of infrastructure like transport and power supplies rank 102 out of 137 countries studied in 2017-18, and access to education and healthcare can be limited. It falls well behind the swiftly developing towns and cities that young folk escape to. The farms that you see will likely be small, traditional set-ups that feed themselves and the village. You’ll discover welcoming people who live hard lives; it’s a good way to peel the romantic gloss from the horse and cart rides and lonely sheepfolds.

Fortified churches & painted monasteries

Romanian Saxon villages might be tiny, but the churches are mighty. After all, the Saxon villages in Transylvania doubled as outposts used to defend trading routes through the countryside. Most of the churches are big enough to house villagers fleeing from invaders – sheep flocks, cow herds and family dogs included.

One of the oldest fortified churches is preserved in the remote village of Mesendorf; climb the tower for views of the village, plum orchards and forests. Watchtowers and fortified walls entirely encase the cemetery. Most of Romania’s Saxons live in Malancrav, however, where you can stay overnight in a manor house that sits in the shadow of a walled Lutheran church with 15th-century frescoes. Prejmer (Tartlau) is a three-village commune – so of course the church is fitted out with a 19th-century Gatling machine gun. Another all-guns-blazing church rises above Biertan.

Some villages go one step further, cracking out a whole monastery dressed in intricate murals. Sucevita village’s painted 16th-century monastery is famous for its blue and green hues, while Humor Monastery is known for its blood-red paintings.