10 places in Transylvania worth visiting

Eszti-Téka is a blog about maternity, becoming a mother and the difficulties of the first few years. Eszter, the writer of this blog decided to make a trip in Transylvania visiting ten different places with her little son. As she writes, Noel was a hero: only one-and-a-half-year-old but enjoyed the trip very much. Her experiences are published by szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu. The trip in numbers included 1700 km, 5 different accommodations and 10 places to visit.

The family travelled by car for a week and wanted to see as much as possible. According to Eszter, although they could not visit many of the sights, they had a wonderful week and could see beautiful places. Let’s see what they saw.

1. Kolozsvár / Cluj-Napoca

Kolozsvár is located halfway between the family’s home and their first accommodation. It was good to get out of the car after a long time of sitting. They could park next to St. Michael’s Church and after lunch, they went inside the Gothic church. Next to the church is the statue of Matthias Corvinus.

St. Micheal’s Church
Source: wiki commons

Their accommodation was in Cserefalva in a small guesthouse. It was absolutely 10 out of 10 for them, they would have enjoyed spending the whole week there.

2. Salt mine in Praid / Parajd

Eszter imagined the place somewhat different but was not disappointed at all. It was not too cold inside and the playground and the chapel simply enchanted her. Of course, everything was made of wood.

Playground in the salt mine in Praid
Source: wiki commons

Obviously, Noel really liked the playground, so they spent a little more time there than they had planned. Throughout their whole trip, this was the only place where they could find a normal baby dresser.

They were only sorry for not bringing in their sandwiches for lunch because they could have eaten them in the “canteen” of the mine. The spa next to the salt mine became an item on their bucket list, but Noel is too small right now to swim in water as salty as there. They will return for that.

3. Red Lake

After leaving the salt mine, they headed for the Red Lake. They arrived right after the rain, but they didn’t mind it as the air cooled down a bit.

Red Lake
(Hungarian: Gyilkos tó)
Source: wiki commons

4. Bizac Gorge

They finished that day’s program with the Bizac Gorge and in the evening they arrived at Csíkszereda and spent the night there.

Bizac Gorge
(Hungarian: Békás-szoros)
Source: wiki commons

5-6. The thousand-year-old border and the Saint Anne Lake

The next morning they went to the thousand-year-old border, then they headed for Saint Anne Lake. On the shore, Eszter saw a wild bear for the first time in her life. It was standing at the edge of the forest and didn’t really like the people on the beach. It was moaning a bit, then it went away slowly. She didn’t manage to take a photo of it because she wasn’t brave enough to go closer to the bear. Instead, they admired it from a distance.

Chapel at Saint Anne Lake
Source: wiki commons

Saint Anne Lake
(Hungarian: Szent Anna tó)
Source: wiki commons

Their accommodation that day was in Tölcsvár. Noel got really tired, so they could not visit the Black Church of Brassó. They went directly to Tölcsvár, where they spent two nights in a row. Luckily, because next day Noel didn’t want to hear about getting into the car again. The program of that day was the Bran Castle, or in other terms the Dracula Castle. They were also walking at the market under the castle and slept for a while in the afternoon. They could not visit the Peles Castle, but they will definitely go back for that as well.

7-9. Fagaras Mountains, Nagyszeben / Sibiu, Déva / Deva

They were very excited about the following days. They were travelling next to the Fagaras Mountains, so they had to stop and go up there too. Unfortunately, while they were up in the mountains a storm came, but the panorama was still wonderful. They visited the main square of Nagyszeben that day, and the Castle of Déva on the following one.

Fagaras Mountains
Source: wiki commons

10. Nagyvárad / Oradea

Before going home, they spent a night in Nagyvárad, so they could see the city in the sunset. The scenery enchanted them. The main square is wonderful itself, but in those lights, it was an unforgettable memory for the whole family.