Authentic Christmas in Maramureș, 23-28 December

Arrival in the heart of the Historical Maramureş. Your hosts will be waiting for you with a fine dinner, as it is appropriate to welcome such distinguished guests.

After breakfast, you will start visiting the old capital of this region, the town of Sighetu Marmației. The Memorial of the Victims of Communism awaits you on the pedestrian street of the city, the place where the elite of Romanian politics and culture of the last century found its tragic end. You can continue with the Museum of Jewish Culture - Elie Wiesel Memorial House, but also with a visit to the Merry Cemetery in Săpânța village, just a few km away.
Towards evening we prepare for the arrival of Santa Claus - we decorate the Christmas tree, sing carols and eat traditional dishes, prepared according to the ancestral tradition from these lands.

After the Christmas meal, we go to relax a bit in a beautiful easy hike through the villages on the Iza Valley, accompanied by your guide. The starting point will be the wooden church from Ieud - UNESCO Monument, which we will visit first. From there we start on foot, slow & steady, to the neighboring village - Botiza. We will admire the hills and mountains in the distance, taking advantage of the tranquility of this archaic world. If the weather allows it, we\'ll do this was on snowshoes for an even more unique experience!
In these villages you can admire the famous carved wooden gates, old houses and people dressed in folk costumes. The guide will share the meanings of the symbols on the gates and costumes, as well as various customs in the area, specific to this holiday.
In the evening we return to the pension where a delicious dinner will be waiting for us.

After breakfast, the guide will accompany you in a new discovery of the Land of Maramureș. We arrive in Desești village, where we will admire the wooden church from the UNESCO patrimony, one of the few still living places of worship of Maramureș. From here, depending on the weather, we can start a new easy hike to Breb village, the village at the foot of Gutâiului, from where we admire the Rooster\'s Ridge in all its splendor. Here we can visit various craftsmen who still carry on the tradition of carving gates, and we can admire other wooden houses with their gates, true keepers of the local identity. And we will do this hike with snowshoes if the roads are covered with snow too!
You will visit the Bârsana monastery - a true masterpiece of Maramures architecture, after which we will visit the complex of traditional water installations in the village of Sârbi: a whirlpool, a brandy distillery, a fulling mill and a thresher.

Today you can choose between going to Vişeu de Sus in the morning, known for the Mocănița steam train and having this experience on the Vaser Valley, in the heated cars, much more picturesque in winter.
Or you can stay at the hotel and participate in the activities organized by them: visit to the open-air village museum in Sighet, art program, campfire.

Even if it is said that, once you know the real Maramureș, you hardly want to leave, our magical story comes to an end.