Discover Maramures by bike

Arrival in Sighetu Marmatiei. Optionally, private transfer from Cluj Napoca Airport (3 hours) / Baia Mare Airport (1 hour 30 minutes) to your first accommodation, or train from Cluj (6 hours) or Bucharest (14 hours, sleeping car). Free evening. Dinner included. D

After breakfast, you begin your adventure with a loop which will bring you on the outskirts of the town of Sighetu Marmatiei, the old capital of Maramures: to visit the Memorial of the Communism Victims, a museum situated in the former political prison, which will give you a sad testimony of the Romanian dark years. You can then have a coffee break on the pedestrian street at one of the cafes and stroll through this city which is also a border point with Ukraine. This is also the hometown of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner, Elie Wiesel. A first taste of the region’s landscape and charm. (~40km, +/-500m) BLD

Today, our route will bring us through typical and charming villages of the region. We can admire houses, churches and monumental portals with symbolic or everyday life scenes carved in wood. We will arrive in the charming village of Breb, a hidden gem surrounded by the Carpathians. We will spend the night at a traditional guesthouse. (~30km, +/-400m) BLD

Today you will leave Breb and bike further on the Iza Valley. You will pass villages like Budesti and Valeni, where you will be able to admire the tranquillity of the Maramures' life. In the village of Barsana you can stop and admire the craftsmanship of the wooden church, located above the village. Your destination for today is the village of Botiza. (~40km, +/-600m) BLD

Moving further today to Viseu Valley. On your way you can stop and visit the church from Ieud, the oldest wooden church from Maramures, also part of UNESCO heritage. You'll cross Iza river and you'll be getting closer to the Ukrainian border, passing through beautiful villages. You arrive in Viseu de Sus, the home of the steam train Mocanita. (~47km, +/-400m) BLD

In the morning, you'll ride the steam train from Viseu de Sus. It will take you through breat-taking landscapes, a cool forest that was once a battlefield in WWI and stop at the end of the track for lunch. While eating a delicious meal, you can closely admire the artwork of the steam engine. Once back, you take your bike and ride to a nearby village, where you'll spend the night. (~20 km, +/-100m) BLD

You leave your bikes today. Then, you will have a private transfer back to Sighetu Marmatieij. End of the tour. Breakfast included (Optionally, return to Bucharest by night train from Sighetu Marmatiei, to Cluj Airport by private transfer or train, or to Baia Mare Airport by private transfer) B

Hello Raluca-Maria … at last!

Our cycling holiday in Maramures … was everything we hoped it would be. Your attention to detail was excellent and we appreciated the phone-calls beforehand checking, for example, how fit we were and then slightly altering the chosen route to suit us … very thoughtful.

The Road Map was superb. Of course we went wrong a few times, but not seriously and it was always fun. We learned to read it very carefully!
The information about the various places, churches, monasteries, etc., we would see on the way (in green) was really useful and interesting. Our lack of Romanian language made this information really, really, useful!
Thank you too for highlighting our route and stops on the map given to us at the start.

The bikes were just right for the job with good off-road tyres, much needed on some of the rougher, stony tracks, which we found quite a challenge at the start, not being off-roaders ourselves, but we improved day by day and I only fell off once. I’m a horse-rider so expect the odd tumble.
Punctures … we had none, but the kit provided, patches, tools, inner-tubes and even a spare tyre was very re-assuring.

Accommodation … all but one of our overnight stays were excellent.
Th first one gave us our first taste of Maramures hospitality and it was very special. The guest house was superb, our hosts were extraordinarily kind and helpful, the room was lovely and the food simply delicious. Nothing was too much trouble for those lovely people. The bikes were delivered to us next morning and after a few adjustments, off we went, armed with a really good picnic.

The Mocanita … oh how we enjoyed the trip on that darling little steam train, the Mocanita. No-one should miss that. The sight and sound of all that puffing and whistling will stay in my head forever. Fabulous.

Maramures is the most wonderful, rural, scenic, unspoilt area. We were there at peak-haymaking time, which was fascinating to watch. They all work so hard. We passed hundreds and hundreds of those gorgeous, pointy, little haystacks and masses of drying racks piled with lucerne and grass. The small fields were brim-full of wild flowers. The views were breathtaking, especially when the far distance was where we’d cycled from that day. The hills … steep, hot and exhausting but always with such a sense of achievement at the top and the thought of that picnic, just over the brow, in the shade of an apple tree.

I would do it again tomorrow. It was an amazing holiday.

Thank you to the two Ralucas for making it work so well for us..

Jenny xx