Welcome to the
\nfirst installment this year in our regular feature Traveler’s Guide. Today we
\nwill take a look back, to see the most
\ninteresting holiday destinations in Romania in 2016. We tried to come up with
\noffers for all tastes and pockets, for those looking for adventure as well as
\nfor those who are more into leisure activities, at the seaside or in the
\nmountains. We guided you off the beaten track or to established tourist
\ndestinations, all perfectly fitting into a holiday to remember.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
2016 began with an
\ninvitation we extended to you for Gorj County. Boasting fairy tale scenery, a
\nrich history and legends to remember, Gorj County is the place where many
\npersonalities rose to prominence. Among them, the great sculptor Constantin
\nBrancusi. It was the final installment in our prize-winning contest series
\ntitled A Contemporary of Constantin Brancusi: Constantin Antonovici. The
\ncontest aroused your interest and we received 120 correct and complete answers
\nto our questions. The winners of the contest were Khalil Abdel-Kader and
\nGoumidi Mohamed, both from Algeria. They took part in the contest, provided
\ncorrect answers to our questions and won a seven-day trip to Gorj County,
\nfull-board, six-night accommodation over April 15 – 30, 2016. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alongside
\nTransylvania, Bukovina, Maramures and the Danube Delta, the capital city
\nBucharest has it own place among foreign tourists’ preferences. Statistics show
\nthat in the last 15 years, Bucharest’s accommodation capacity has tripled.
\nRomania’s capital city has become a city break destination also thanks to the
\neight low-cost companies operating on Otopeni Airport. There are around 90
\ndirect flights linking Bucharest to 90 cities, which makes it possible for
\nRomania’s capital city to be included on the list of European capitals as a
\ncity break destination. In February, we usually target those who love winter
\nsports, so we took you to two of Romania’s most beautiful mountain resorts,
\nV\u00e2rtop and Arie\u015feni. Located at only a few kilometers from one another, they
\nare all replete with snow and guest houses ready to welcome guests with
\ntop-quality services and food. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Around 300
\ncompanies took part in the 35th edition of Romania’s International
\nTourism Fair, held over February 25 and 28 in Bucharest. Just as it was
\nexpected, tour operators were present with lots of early booking and last
\nminute offers for all tourist areas in Romania. Spa tourism was intensely promoted at the aforementioned edition
\nof the fair. We also told you about other destinations in the country, such as
\nIasi, Sighisoara and the Danube Delta. In March we invited you on a trip around
\nRomania’s villages. Scattered in the highlands, on mountain tops, on the top of
\nthe hills or in the plains, Romania’s villages always make perfect destinations
\nfor those interested in a quiet holiday. One of the world’s most prestigious
\ntourist guides, Best Travel 2016, edited by Lonely Planet, provided a rankings
\nof the world’s top ten regions, with Transylvania coming in first. Traditions,
\nnature, cuisine, routes for all sorts of trips, you can find all that in the
\nregion, which is famous mainly for its rural part. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the spring of
\n2016 we invited you to the city of magnolias, Timisoara, in western Romania.
\nIt’s a city rich in period buildings, museums, open-air concerts, fairy tale
\nsquares as well as a historical city center which is unique in Romania, made of
\nthree urban squares, each of them with their own architectural style. It’s
\noften referred to as Europe in miniature, a settlement where ethnic Romanians,
\nGermans, Serbs, Croatians, Slovaks, Hungarians and Bulgarians all live in
\nharmony. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In late April, we
\ntalked about Maramures and Bukovina as two favorite destinations for those who
\nchoose to spend the Orthodox Easter in Romania. It was also then that you found
\nout about the offers on the Romanian Black Sea Coast resorts and spas. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In June we headed
\ntowards the Danube Delta. It is a destination for the active type of people,
\nfor those who love nature. A stay in the Delta may even include trips by
\nhelicopter, by bicycle, speed-boat trips or rowing trips with the local long
\nboat, taking you to canals and waterways. Then we went to the Corvins’ Castle
\nin Hunedoara, from where we followed in Count Dracula’s footsteps, in
\nBistrita-Nasaud. That unique trip was offered to you as part of another
\nprize-wining contest organized by radio Romania International, titled Holiday
\nin Bistri\u0163a-N\u0103s\u0103ud. This contest too aroused your interest as we received 352
\ncorrect and complete answers. Winner of the contest was Liu Faijan of Shenzhen,
\nChina. Our listener and his wife were treated to an 8-day trip, accommodation
\nand full board for seven nights, over
\nSeptember 15 and 30, 2016, in Bistrita-Nasaud County. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Then we headed
\ntowards the Romanian seaside. The big novelty of the summer season in 2016 was
\nthe fact that beaches in the southern part of the coast were expanded with more
\nthan thirty hectares. As for those who didn’t quite feel up to spending a whole
\nday on the beach, as an alternative to that we pointed to amusement parks,
\nhorse riding trips or trips to Dobrogea and the Danube Delta. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the autumn of
\n2016, we invited you to get to know Vatra Dornei, dubbed the pearl of
\nBukovina, a resort lying at 800 meters above the sea level. The place is
\nperfect for those who love mountain sports, but also for those who feel like
\nspending their holiday in an oasis of peace and tranquility. Here you can go
\nrafting, mountain biking, do some extreme biking, paragliding, you can go
\nskiing or you can just take a walk around the park of the resort only to enjoy
\nthe strongly ionized air. In the same period, we also invited you to the
\nwestern area of the Southern Carpathians, in the Tarcu Mountains, the perfect
\nplace for the reintroduction of aurochs to the wild. We recall the aurochs are
\na species that had disappeared for more than 200 years. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Those of you who
\nwanted to find out the latest on agro tourism, or about religious and healing
\ntourism in Valcea, were invited to a county for all seasons, with recognized
\ntourist assets. Toward the end of the year we told you about Romania being one
\nof the world’s biggest salt producers and we took you to some of Romania’s most
\nfamous salt mines. And of course, rounding off 2016 were Christmas and New
\nYear’s Eve offers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It was a plentiful
\nyear, in terms of tourist offers. We shall stick to that tradition in 2017,
\nwhen our trips will be at least as interesting and unusual as those we took you
\non in 2016. A Happy New Year to you all
\n!<\/p>\n
(Translated by Eugen Nasta)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Welcome to the first installment this year in our regular feature Traveler’s Guide. Today we will take a look back, to see the most interesting holiday destinations in Romania in 2016. We tried to come up with offers for all tastes and pockets, for those looking for adventure as well as for those who are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":125300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43423],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-148736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travellers-guide"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n