Romania, beyond the weekend

Explore

You're travelling a long way for two days, and the country repays a few more. The estate has the Carpathians an hour to the north, Bucharest an hour to the south and some of Romania's best wine on its own doorstep.

Flights, your room and the practical business of arriving are on the Travel page.

The map
The wineries
Things to do
With children
Coming early or staying on

Orientation

The map

Everything we've suggested and how far it is from the estate. Choose a pin, or a name from the list, for the short version.

Hungary Serbia Bulgaria Ukraine Moldova Black Sea Danube The Bărăgan plain Transylvania Dobrogea The Carpathians Dealu Mare Prahova Valley Ploiești Buzău Câmpina

Hatched ridges are the Carpathians, the ruled ground is the farmland either side of them, the gold band is Dealu Mare and the grey patches are towns. The gold frame is the hour around the estate — zoom in for everything inside it.

Casa Timiș The venue · Chițorani

Our venue and your bed for the weekend: a 140-hectare wine estate on the southern slope of Dealu Mare, an hour from the airport. Ploiești, the nearest proper town, is fifteen minutes west.

Where to stay
Otopeni airport OTP · 1 hour away

Henri Coandă International, and the only airport you want. It sits north of Bucharest, so the drive out to us skips the city altogether.

Getting there
Therme București Five minutes from the airport

Palms, pools, slides and saunas. The best way yet invented to spend the hours before a night flight home, and a very easy win with children.

Things to do
Edenland Park Balotești · by the airport

Rope courses through the trees, zip wires, pony rides and a whole area of slides and sand for smaller ones. Ten minutes from Therme, so the two make one easy last day.

With children
Bucharest The capital · 1 hour south

Two million people, boulevards built to answer Paris, the heaviest building on earth, and an old town that doesn't go quiet. Much more of a city than people expect, and worth a night either side rather than a day trip.

Things to do
Ceptura Davino & SERVE · 30 minutes

Two of the estates that made Romanian wine taken seriously abroad. Davino if you only manage one, and SERVE, the region's pioneer. Both need booking ahead.

The wineries
Mizil Mierla Albă · 40 minutes

"The white blackbird". Tiny, artisanal and a favourite of ours, out at the eastern end of the Dealu Mare hills.

The wineries
Sinaia & Bușteni Prahova Valley · 1 hour

Peleș Castle, Cantacuzino Castle, a monastery and a cable car up to the Bucegi plateau at 2,000 m, all within ten minutes of one another. The best day out from the estate.

Things to do
Bran The castle · 2 hours

The castle Dracula never lived in, and worth the queue anyway. A mile down the road is Club Vila Bran, where we've stayed and which is built around children.

Things to do
Râșnov Fortress & Dino Parc · 2 hours

A fortress on the hill above the town, quieter than Bran and arguably better. Halfway up the same road is Dino Parc, which beats both castles if you have children with you.

Things to do
Brașov 2 hours · Transylvania

A perfect Saxon old town under the mountains, and the obvious base if you're making a proper holiday of it. Worth three days if you have them.

Coming early or staying on
Sighișoara The citadel · about 4 hours

A walled Saxon citadel of painted houses, still lived in rather than roped off — and you can sleep inside the walls. Our favourite town in the country.

Things to do
Transfăgărășan The drive · 3½ hours to the start

Ninety kilometres of switchbacks over the Făgăraș mountains to a glacial lake at 2,034 m. Only open in summer, which late August comfortably is.

Things to do
Slănic Prahova 50 minutes · underground

A salt mine 200 m down, big enough to hold football pitches, and it does. Cool in every sense, and children love it.

Things to do
The Mud Volcanoes Berca · 1 hour east

A patch of Romania that has decided to be the moon instead, ten minutes' walk from the car. Small, very odd, and worth the detour.

Things to do

Times are a rough drive from Casa Timiș and the pins are approximate. The exact address, with a map link, is on the Details page.

Why we chose here

The wineries

Dealu Mare is where Romania makes its best reds. The grape to look for is Fetească Neagră, "the black maiden", which grows almost nowhere else and is worth the trip on its own.

Casa Timiș
Where you're staying
The estate has five hectares of its own Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot and an award-winning label to go with them. Start here. You won't have to go anywhere.
Davino
Ceptura · about 30 minutes
One of the names that made modern Romanian wine taken seriously abroad. If you only manage one outside tasting, make it this one. They have a restaurant, they speak English, and they're set up for children.
SERVE
Ceptura · about 30 minutes
The region's pioneer, and Romania's first private winery after communism, founded in 1994 by a Corsican count who bet on Romanian grapes before anyone else would. Ask about the Cuvée Charlotte.
Mierla Albă
Near Mizil · about 40 minutes
"The white blackbird". Tiny, artisanal, and a personal favourite of ours. Exactly the sort of place you'd never find without being told about it.

Book ahead. These are working estates, not visitor centres, so tastings need arranging in advance, usually by email or through their websites, and late August is busy. A week's notice is sensible; more for a group.

One driver, or none. This is a wine region and we're planning to make the most of it. If you're touring wineries, nominate a driver or book a car. Most estates will happily arrange transport if you ask when you book a tasting. Hire cars, the road toll and how far to trust a taxi are on the Travel page.

Make a trip of it

Things to do

The mountains

About an hour north. The Prahova Valley climbs straight into the Carpathians.

Peleș Castle
Sinaia · about 1 hour
A Neo-Renaissance royal palace in the forest, and genuinely one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe. Open daily through the summer, but daily visitor numbers are capped, so book ahead and go early. Check peles.ro before you set off.
Cantacuzino Castle
Bușteni · about 1 hour
Smaller, quieter, spectacular terrace views. You may recognise it as Nevermore Academy from Wednesday.
Bucegi plateau
Bușteni cable car · about 1 hour
Up to 2,000 m for the Sphinx and Babele rock formations. Take a jumper. It's a different climate up there.
Brașov & Bran
About 2 hours
A perfect Saxon old town, and the castle Dracula never actually lived in. Râșnov fortress nearby is less crowded and arguably better, and both villages have somewhere very good to take children.

Bucharest

About an hour south. Best on the way in or out.

Caru' cu Bere
Old Town · mandatory
An 1899 beer hall with stained glass, vaulted ceilings and enormous plates of Romanian food. Touristy and completely worth it. Book a table.
Therme București
Next to the airport
A vast thermal spa and waterpark. Palms, pools, slides, saunas. Excellent with children, and brilliantly placed for a long layover before a night flight.
Palace of the Parliament
City centre
The heaviest building on earth and Ceaușescu's monument to himself. Tours must be booked ahead; bring your passport.
Village Museum
Herăstrău Park
Hundreds of real wooden houses, churches and windmills moved here from across the country. Open air, easy with kids.
Old Town wandering
Lipscani
Stavropoleos Monastery for quiet, Cărturești Carusel for the most beautiful bookshop you'll see this year.

Close to the venue

An hour or less.

Slănic Prahova salt mine
About 50 minutes
An enormous cathedral-like cavern 200 m underground, with football pitches and picnic tables in it. Strange, cool and a huge hit with children.
The Mud Volcanoes
Berca · about 1 hour
Grey mud bubbling out of a cracked lunar landscape. Small, odd and unlike anywhere else in Europe.
Sinaia Monastery
About 1 hour
Worth pairing with Peleș, five minutes down the hill.
Eat, mostly
Everywhere
Look for mici (grilled meat rolls), sarmale (stuffed cabbage), ciorbă (sour soup) and papanași, fried doughnuts with sour cream and jam, which you should order at least once.

Further into Transylvania

Three to four hours. Both are better with a night at the far end than as a day's driving.

Sighișoara
About 4 hours · the citadel
Our favourite town in Romania: a walled Saxon citadel of ochre, pink and green houses around a 14th-century clock tower — one of the last in Europe that people still live in rather than merely visit. Vlad the Impaler was born in one of the houses on the square.

Best of all, you can stay the night inside the walls: several of the old houses are guesthouses, and the citadel after the coaches leave is worth the drive on its own.
The Transfăgărășan
About 3½ hours to the start of it
Ceaușescu's road over the Făgăraș mountains, and the best drive in the country: ninety kilometres of switchbacks climbing to a glacial lake at 2,034 m, with the Vidraru dam and reservoir at the southern end.

It's only open in summer — roughly the start of July to the end of October, snow permitting — so late August is the right time to be here. Check it's open before you set off, take a jumper, and don't plan on rushing it.

Poenari citadel is on the way up: 1,480 steps, and the fortress Vlad the Impaler actually used, as opposed to the one at Bran that he didn't.

Bringing the children

With children

Romania is easy with children, and these three are the ones we'd actually send you to rather than the ones the guidebooks list.

Dino Parc, Râșnov

About 2 hours. On the road up to the fortress.

Four hectares and more than 120 life-size dinosaurs, plus playgrounds, tree houses, an erupting volcano, a laser maze and a zip wire. It's the largest dinosaur park in south-eastern Europe, which undersells how much fun it is.

Fully grown adults Luuk and Georgina went on their trip to Romania and came back thoroughly delighted with it. Take that as the review.

At the bottom of the same hill is Magic Parc: fairytale houses, a magician's show, inflatables and a treasure hunt. The two together are an easy half day.

Club Vila Bran

About 2 hours. A mile from Bran Castle.

We've stayed here, and the whole place is built around children: indoor and outdoor pools, pony and horse rides twice a day, archery, mini-golf, a mini-zoo, playgrounds, a games room and a kids' club that will take them off your hands for an afternoon.

The restaurants are genuinely good, which is rarer at a family resort than it ought to be. If you're giving the mountains a few days with children, base yourselves here. The castle is a fifteen-minute walk.

Edenland Park

Twenty minutes from the airport. Balotești.

Rope courses strung through the trees at every height, zip wires, horse riding, and a separate area of slides, swings, trampolines and sand for two- to nine-year-olds. Romania's biggest adventure park, and a good way to run everyone tired.

It's ten minutes from Therme and twenty from the terminal, so the two of them make an easy last day before an evening flight.

Also good with children, further up this page: Therme București for the pools and slides, the Slănic Prahova salt mine, which has football pitches 200 m underground, and the Village Museum in Bucharest, which is entirely outdoors.

Casa Timiș itself has pools, grounds to run around in and a welcome BBQ on the Friday, so the weekend end of the trip looks after itself.

A few more days

Coming early or staying on

Your room at Casa Timiș covers the wedding weekend. If you want to make a proper holiday of it either side, these are the areas worth basing yourself in.

Bucharest
About 1 hour · the city
The obvious bookend, a night or two before or after. Close to the airport, and there's more to it than people expect.
Sinaia or Bușteni
About 1 hour · the mountains
Cooler air, proper mountain hotels, and Peleș Castle on the doorstep. The best add-on if you have a spare two days.
Brașov
About 2 hours · Transylvania
A perfect Saxon old town and a good base for Bran and Râșnov. Worth three days if you have them.
Sighișoara
About 4 hours · inside the walls
Far enough to need a night, which is the point: the guesthouses are in the citadel's own painted houses. Two hours on from Brașov, so the two pair naturally.

Book these ones early. Late August fills up fast. If you'd rather just stay on at the estate, ask us and we'll find out what's possible.

Ask the locals

We'll plan it with you

Ioana is Romanian and Zak has made the trip more times than he can count. Tell us how many days you have and what you enjoy, and we'll tell you where to point the car.

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