I am thinking about visiting Hungary and Romania next month. I will be travelling by car. Are there any sites that are hard or even impossible to visit? Anything I should know in advance?
Any tips for helping me plan my trip are welcome :-)

I bought a decent road map, but I cannot find all the sites. To what places are they closest Could you maybe help me out Solivagant?

Which site(s) you cannot find?

Danube Delta. We drove up from Constanta and followed the coast around Lake Razim as far as Murighiol (both of which are inside the WHS boundary) and then on to Tulcea the main centre. As I said in the review this isn't really "seeing" the Delta, for which you need to take a ferry to places away from the road and invest several days but it will give you a general feel and a chance to see some of the birding spots.

Villages with fortified Churches. Most of these villages are scattered NNE of Sibiu along/off route 14 between Copsa Mica and Sighisoara although Viscri is SW of Sighisoara towards Brasov. When we were there in the early 90s it was all wonderfully rural along gravel roads. The "Saxons" were getting out to Germany and the area seemed in decline - some of the churches were in bad condition and the only one we went inside was Biertan. When the site was originally conceived this was in fact the sole nominated church and the site was extended later. It is massively impressive and, if you can only take in 1 that is the 1 to choose. It is about 9kms off the main road east of Medias. However the Saxon villages are very different from those in other parts of Romania and half the fun would be to search out several villages when you get there

Churches of Moldavia. My vote for the "highlight" WHS. In NE near Ukraine/Moldova -Vatra Dornei is the nearest "town" and quite pleasant - was a "resort" in Habsburg days. The scenery as well as the Monasteries is very fine and even at my fast travelling speed I would give the area 1.5/2 days. You need to make a circuit to take in a number of the monasteries - we did approx Campulung Moldovenesc , Gura Humorului, Marginea, Vatra Moldovita, and back to Vatra Dornei. We took in around 5/6 monasteries - in particular Voronet, Humorului, Sucevita and Moldovija. There were even then lots of "log cabin" hotels (it is a major logging area) B+Bs etc.

Monastery of Horezu. In southern Romania Between Pitesti and Targu Jiu. I found it a bit "tame" in comparison to the Moldavian churches. I also REALLY regret not going on to Targu Jiu but we just didn't have enough time. As a result I missed the Brancusi "Endless Column" - a "sculpture" of world significance AND on the TList now dammit!!

Sighisoara. Well you can't miss it - you will go to it before/after the Fortified Churches.

Our general route in 8 days was Bucharest, Constanta, Tulcea, Brasov, Bucovina/Moldavia, Transylvania, Sibiu and back to Bucharest. with lots of minor diversions

Good travelling!

thanks for the info Solivagant!

I'm currently researching the Romanian sites and coming up with a lot of broken links. For the Fortified Villages, there's some great pages for 6 of the 7 locations on the Romanian tourism website. Here's the page for Biertan: http://romaniatourism.com/castles-fortresses-romania-biertan-fortified-church.html. On the right hand side of this page are links for 5 of the other locations.

Thanks. I've changed them

Els - I went to make a Forum post about Romania and found that this (currently titled "Hungary and Romania") is the only place to do so. It grew out of joycevs's original question from over 10 years ago (!!) about a trip to both countries and before we had a set of "country topics". I think both Romania and Hungary deserve their own topic and everything so far has been about Romania so might it not be better to change it to Romania and allow for a separate one on Hungary??

done! Hungary can be created by the first person who needs it

We don't seem to have a means of commenting on specific sites and reviews without doing another "Review" - or else introducing "Site topics" on this Forum. So I am pasting these comments under the relevant country (Is it possible Els to link it to the site page for easier future reference?? Or might it be better to introduce a new "category" of topics for comments about specific (T)WHS which can be permanently linked to their relevant sites once the first post had been made??)

L'ensemble rupestre de Basarabi
Philipp Peterer's review of his and Nan's "adventurous" but ultimately unsatisfactory (in so far as seeing its potential value is concerned) visit to this site led me to investigate it further (we haven't visited but may be returning soon to Romania so would like to know more about it) - in particular what exactly the site represents and how did it get into the state described by Philipp.
A few conclusions and references
a. The site is described in several articles of being of "importance" (e.g - "the cultural importance of this monument is exceptionally high, not only for Dobruja, but also for the pan-European archaeological heritage") they may of course be "bigging it up" if that is where their interests lay but it seems to be so because of, inter alia
i. Its role in the Viking to Black Sea/Constantinople trade route
ii. The range of scripts/languages of its inscriptions - including Runic
iii. As an example of monastic sites from the 10thC in Bulgaria
See the Wiki article and this.
b. It has been carved from very porous/friable chalk rock and has been degrading badly since it was discovered during quarrying in the 1950s. Following initial attempts to protect the site with wooden structures the Ceaușescu Government tried with bigger concrete ones in the 1970s as described by Philipp - but run out of money and only a part was covered. That too seems to have been allowed to degrade - but the intention had been for a significant "Visitor Centre" as part of the structure. The Wiki article and this one both contain photos of the protective structure.
c. The site is officially "closed". There is a post to this effect on Tripadvisor by a local from Constanta. Nowhere can I find reference to any plans to improve and open it - whether using monies from the Romanian government, EU or e.g World Monument Fund!!
d. A number of scientific articles describe studies/experimentation regarding how best to stabilise the rock - but with no great conclusion!!
e. An article from 2015 states that a 3D model of the churches was to be shown in the Constanta Natural History Museum ("By the end of this year, somewhere in October, full-size 3D replica churches in the Cave Complex will be exhibited at the National History Museum in Constanta in a permanent exhibition"). – but I can find no reference to it being available. This article describes the Laser scanning process

Was thinking about adding comment feature to all reviews. Or at least to sites/countries/connections?


It was a long drive back to Bulgaria, so we did get a much needed break. But yes. And thanks, for shedding some light on what this was.

As long as it doesn't comment on someone's rating or personal opinion from the review. I'd hate to see people bashing me not enjoying a certain underground river...

It will need more moderation as well. Not in for that at the moment. There's always the forum (with selected and verified users who behave themselves quite well).

If a "Forum topic" is linked to the page of the subject it is about, then in effect there is a "comment feature" which has the same controls as the Forum.
The only effort then for Admin is to create the link whenever a new "linkable" topic is introduced (self evident for admin to decide or up to "poster" to ask?) Also comments do not appear "up front" on the page and fill it up - merely e.g a new link on RHS to "Forum topic" under "Site Links". Of course - If we finished up with a forum topic for every WHS and TWHS there could finish up being c2500 of them - but i think very unlikely we would get anywhere near. There could be a problem with posters starting a second topic for the same site but that surely can be managed?
The problem at the moment is that relevant Forum posts about a site just get lost as the waves of further posts wash over them. There would be no "notification" of course about a new post on the page of the topic -only the usual Forum notification but I don't seen that as a problem -anyone wanting to see all Forum posts on a WHS when researching that WHS just clicks on the topic link on the WHS page.

Planning to work and travel in Romania starting next week and could use a little feedback. Note: There are work days thrown in, that will limit my travel activities (if any) to afternoons. Ideas for those always welcome.

Key sites
* Train: https://www.cfrcalatori.ro/en/
* Bus: https://www.autogari.ro/

Saturday - 10 July - Border Crossing Hungary - Romania / Oraclea
Taking late night train from Debrecen to Romania. I would arrive in Cluj at 3 a.m. so will get off at first station behind the border (Oradea).

Sunday - 10 July / Oraclea => Rosia Montana / Cluj
Option 1: Will make my way to Cluj. There are several Dacian Limes (T) sites in and around Cluj (map is missing locations). Gilau looks like it's worth an excursion.
Option 2: Go by bus from Oraclea to Câmpeni. Visit Rosia Montana (T) and hike.
Question: Is Rosia Montana worth it?

Monday - 11 July - Cluj or Rosa Montana
Option 1: Work in Cluj. Save on holidays.
Option 2a: Early bus to Cluj and work. Need to find sth till I can check in (coffee place). Time difference works in my favor :D
Option 2b: Take afternoon bus and a day off to visit some more.
Question: How good is Rosia Montana?

Tuesday - 11 July - Thursday 12 July - Cluj
All work and no play. Ideas for afternoons in Cluj appreciated.

Friday 13 July - Cluj => Baia Mare (bus/train) => Sighisoara (train)
In Baia Mare I will get a driver and visit the closest Mamures churches I can afford. Goal is to arrive at Sighisoara in the evening.
Side note: If I wasn't working from a hotel, I would go Thursday, but late checkout always a problem and I cant just call it quits at 11 a.m.
Question: If you know a good location in Cluj to put up a laptop for a day let me know.

Saturday 14 July- Sighisoara=>Subcetate
Fortified villages and Sighisoara. I will then head direction Simeria/Subcetate.
Question Alba Iulia (T) is on the way. Is that worth a stop over?

Sunday 15July - Subcetate => Targu Jiu (T) => Horezu
Explore the Dacian Fortresses.
Question: There are two tentative sites near Herteg. Are these worth a detour?

Monday16July - Horezu => Bucharest
Visit Horezu, then go to Bucharest.
Question: There is a tentative site near Ramnicu Valcea (Byzantine Church). Detour worth y/n?

Tuesday 17 July - Wednesday 18 July
Bucharest.
Question: Anything worthwhile?

Thursday 19 July - Bucharest => Suceava (Plane)
Breaking my own rule here, but... will work from the airport. I assume there is WIFI and electricity available.

Friday 19 July - Suceava.
Churches. Preferably, I do this while working till 14.00h. Not sure if this is feasible.

Saturday 20 July
Leaving Romania.