Carpathian Mountains Ride

Introduction
Transylvania Romania

Transylvania is a land made for the adventurous horseback rider and there truly is no better way to explore the endless hills, meadows, and medieval villages it has to offer. The ride starts at the Southern edge of Transylvania and travels through the Southeastern corner of this mystical land. Journey 110 miles through the lush hills and medieval villages in a big arc back to Sinca Noua from which you begin. See and experience some of the most rural areas that Europe still has hidden, with tens of thousands of sheep grazing traditionally in the hills. Many of the beautiful and famous fortified churches of Eastern Europe along the way are 800 years old! Sinca Noua lay at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains and is from which the ride ventures towards the plains of the Olt River valley. Many long canters make the riding exhilarating for even the most advanced riders among us. Splash across the Olt River and visit Ticusu Veche, an old Saxon village then ride towards the town of Selistat while observing the continuous beautiful Romanian landscapes.  You are likely to see colorful Bee-eaters, the crowned Hoopoe, and the Lesser Spotted Eagles! Journey over the hills to Viscri, famous for its fortified church, the village restored by the Mihai Eminescu Trust (under the patronage of Prince Charles) to its original setting. Have an evening to explore the village and its 1100 AD church, designated a World Heritage site in 1993 by UNESCO. In the village of Jibert stay in a newly constructed log-house and enjoy a great dinner and bonfire party! With stunning scenery and many chances for strong canters all along the way, the horseback riding and culture available on the Carpathian Mountains holiday is phenomenal and not to be missed!

Accomodation

The Guesthouse at the Riding Center:
(first & last night accommodations)
The guesthouse has six double rooms, each with a bathroom. Downstairs, there is a nice dining room and there is a large veranda outside where guests can sit in the summertime. An extensive living room with open fireplace and bar is inviting for relaxing evenings. We heat our guesthouse with a modern wood central heater and treat our sewage with a reed bed for biological cleaning.
During the trail: Overnights are in  guesthouses or with local people on the way.
Attention: We are in rural Romania and the standard and comfort is not very high. Some overnight stays are rather basic, others very cozy and nice. The tranquility and slow pace of life in these villages makes up for the discomfort.
Single rooms are not available at every location.
There is now good cell phone coverage and wireless internet access at the farm.

Meals:
We use mainly locally produced food in our kitchen. People in Sinca Noua generally don't use pesticides or artificial fertilisers, and the livestock is still kept the old way, that is, outside on the pastures. Our own vegetable garden delivers fresh onions, salad, zucchini etc. Other food such as milk, potatoes, lamb, and veal is bought from the farmers in the neighbourhood. We support the village on their way certifying their whole agriculture as being organic.

Accommodations on the Trail:
In guesthouses or with local people on the way.
Attention: We are in rural Romania and the standard and comfort is not always very high. Some overnight stays are rather basic, others very cosy and nice. The tranquillity and slow pace of life in these villages makes up for the possible discomfort.

This trip includes and can accommodate special dietary requests.

Riding

The mixture of horses offers a suitable horse for everybody from calm horses for the lesser experienced to fast and fiery horses for the demanding rider. But all horses have stamina and are used to the mountains
Not suitable for novice riders, participants have to be competent in all speeds and able to fully control a horse at a canter. 
16 to 24 miles a day = approx 4 to 7 houre per day (incl. lunch brek)

Horses 
Shagya Arabs, Arabs, Kisberi, Gidran, Hungarian half breeds. Horses are very lively, fast, and forward going.

A HARD HAT IS MANDATORY FOR ALL RIDERS!

The Stables...
The upper stables cover approximately 300 m2 and hosts about half of the horses (and our donkey Maja), which have the possibility of moving around freely. The horses have an open stable with two large boxes (50 m2 and 35 m2) and approximately 1,000 m2 of paddock. Furthermore, we have a separate box (18 m2) for horses that we want to temporarily separate from the herd (e.g. for fowling), and a box for a stallion with 16 m2.
The stables provide space for most of our hay, oat, and straw supplies
The lower stables also consist of an open stable for the remaining horses and also the other animals have their boxes for the night: sheep, goats, chicken, ducks, geese, and our pigs. And of course our cats and dogs spend much of their time down there.
With the large amount of animals, there are almost always puppies, kittens, chicks, ducklings or goslings around and children will find their own little paradise here.

Education and Information...
Our visitors get a first-hand experience and extensive information about flora, fauna, and sustainable land-use systems. Our experience of many years of field research about wolves, bears, and lynx is an excellent basis for discussions about wildlife and habitat conservation.

Conservation contribution...
We ask all our visitors for a donation of 40 Euro per week for our regional conservation and development fund, which supports sustainable projects in and around Sinca Noua. Furthermore, we are personally involved in a number of conservation projects.

Itinerary

Day 1 Saturday:  Arrival in Bucharest (please note latest arrival is 16h00) transfer by minibus from Bucharest to Sinca Noua, overnight at the guesthouse, dinner and evening introduction to the ride.  (Single rooms available on request)
Day 2 Sunday:  After being introduced to the horses, we will leave Sinca Noua, ride through the ancient forests of the Carpathian mountains towards the plains of the Olt River valley. We pass the ‘Daffodils Meadow’ Nature Reserve and can experience already several of the long canters before we arrive after about 7 hours at our destination in Mândra, where we will stay with a local family. 35 km distance   (no Single rooms available - 1 double and triple rooms only)
Day 3 Monday:  We will cross the Olt River at Halmeag and continue to Şona (pronounced Shona), where we will ascend the high plateau of Transylvania. We ride for about 7 hours on the rolling hills around the Felmer Valley and reach our goal of the day in Cobor, an old Hungarian village in the middle of the Saxon area. Here, Barbara and Christoph run a conservation project to which the traditional restoration of some of the abandoned houses belongs. We stay overnight in one of these new-old guesthouses. 36 km distance   (no Single rooms available)
Day 4 Tuesday:  Full-day ride (7 h) to the village of Calbor (in Saxon: “Kaltbrunnen” = cold well) through some of the most beautiful landscapes. There are lots of opportunities for long canters and we will likely see bee-eaters, hoopoes, great grey shrikes, or lesser spotted eagles. In Calbor, we stay at a new guesthouse with swimming pool/sauna, billiard, and WiFi in the house. 34 km distance  (Single rooms available on request)
Day 5 Wednesday: Full-day ride ca. 7 hours over the hills to Viscri, our destination for the next night. Viscri is probably the famous most Saxon village in Transylvania with a stunning fortified church, and the UK based Mihai Eminescu Trust (under the patronage of Prince Charles) has restored the village in its original setting. We stay in the old farmhouses, which are transformed into little guesthouses, and enjoy the traditional Saxon cuisine. In the evening there is time to explore the village. 36 km distance   (Single rooms available on request)
Day 6 Thursday:  In the morning we explore the fortified church in Viscri and ride in the afternoon over the hills to a newly built log-house near the village of Jibert. Stunning scenery and great canters all along the way, but today is a rather fast but shorter ride, ca. 3.5 hours. We get a great dinner and will enjoy the relaxing atmosphere of the Transylvanian hills. 25 km distance    (Single rooms available on request)
Day 7 Friday:  Today, after some sheer endless canters, we are leaving the hills of Transylvania and descend down into the Olt River Valley again (6 hours ride). In Halmeag, we enjoy a barbecue and a bus takes us back to the riding canter in Sinca Noua - also our horses get a transport back home. Surprise dinner in the evening. 35 km distance  (Single rooms available)
Day 8 Saturday:  After a last breakfast, the minibus takes us back to Bucharest for our flights.

   Subject to change

Rates and Dates for Carpathian Mountains Ride

Dates Note:

Other Info
Meeting: Sinca Noua
Airport: Bucharest
Transfer: Bucharest

Climate:

Climate

Romania has a temperate climate with four distinct seasons. Spring and autumn are cool and pleasant, making May and June, and September and October the best months to visit. Summers are hot from July to August and winters are harsh and very cold between December and March, with snow falling throughout most of the country. Spring and summer are the wettest seasons, but rain can be expected throughout the year.

A continental climate ensures that Bucharest experiences hot, dry summers and cold winters when temperatures often drop well below freezing. The city lies on the Romanian Plain, and this brings chilly winter winds. Summer temperatures are usually pleasantly warm with occasional heat waves, and humidity is low, but there can be occasional rainstorms. The rainiest seasons in Bucharest are spring and autumn.

We recommend you bring your own helmet if possible for this ride.  If not, there are a limited few around to borrow, but they are not property of the outfitter (they are forgotten helmets of past riders at the riding centre) and they will not assume the risk for their use.