Romania: Touring Transylvania by Bicycle

This trip is fully supported and uses a mix of roads and trails including tarmac, gravel roads and a few off-road trails. We recommend mountain bikes, and will provide front-suspension MTBs as the default hire option, as we think that is the best piece of equipment for the terrain. However, hybrids or gravel bikes will work just fine. We start riding in Talisoara, a three-hour drive north of Bucharest and end in Sibiu, which is four-hours northwest of Bucharest.

We have five full days of cycling plus a warm-up ride on day one, and the full distance is 336 km. Each day we ride for 50-75 km on undulating roads and trails. Expect to ride at a leisurely pace, stopping often for visits and rest breaks. The terrain is up and down: we climb a total of 2,400 metres and average around 450 metres each day so there are lots of hills but no long climbs or very steep sections. On most riding days, we start after breakfast at around 9 am and ride for between 3-4 hours with stops and a leisurely lunch. We typically arrive at our destination late afternoon. Most riders should be able to complete the full distance and be able to ride comfortably at 20-22 kph, but if anyone needs a rest, there is a support vehicle following, so you can do exactly as much cycling as you wish. As we sometimes ride at different speeds, the guides will ride through the group to check on all group members and make sure everyone knows where each rest stop is located, so we can regroup and visit sites together. We encourage you to ride at a reasonable speed, enjoy the riding, take in views and immerse yourself in the surroundings. Faster, fitter riders can go ahead and regroup at designated meeting points. The tour is designed to flow and accommodate all riding styles.

Suitability: This trip is suitable for anyone with a reasonable fitness level and has been designed for all levels of rider. It is a good idea to prepare for the tour with some riding, especially practicing on hills, if possible. While there are no extended climbs on the tour, the rolling hills of Transylvania result in an average daily elevation gain of +440 m. While most of our cycling routes are quiet and free of traffic, expect to encounter some busier sections when entering villages or towns.

Biking Conditions: This tour follows a wide mix of roads and riding surfaces including gravel roads, forest roads, dirt tracks, broken roads and some good tarmac roads, with about 10% on dirt/gravel tracks, 10% on dedicated bike paths, 50% is on quiet roads with little traffic, and 30 % on roads shared with traffic.

Cycling Days: We have 5 1/2-riding days and ride point to point every day. Usually, there will be one or two main stops planned each day for visits and local cultural experiences and several short stops to regroup, refuel or take-in-the-views before we reach our finish point.

Accommodation We use a range of beautiful accommodation including restored medieval guesthouses, 4castles and 3-4 traditional rural hotels. The accommodation is 3-4 star level and of excellent quality.

Bikes

Because some people can't imagine going on a trip without their own beloved bicycle, we do not provide them as part of this tour. However, you can hire bikes locally for the price listed in the tour pricing section.

If you bring your own bike, please make sure it is a mountain bike, hybrid or gravel bike, preferably with front suspension in good mechanical order if you prefer riding in comfort.

Bike Repairs

Basic spares and tools are carried by the guide and on the support vehicle, though we cannot guarantee having spares for every conceivable problem. Carrying a basic tool kit, a spare tube and a pump while riding is recommended.

Safety

Wearing a helmet is required on all our biking adventures and is non negotiable. If you do not wear a helmet you will not be allowed to cycle. Your tour leader is trained in first aid and emergency rescue, but to a large degree you must be responsible for your own safety while riding. It is therefore compulsory that you take out travel insurance that will cover you for a mountain biking tour.

Guides

You will be led by a local English-speaking guide and if the group is 9 people or more we will add another guide to the tour. All our guides are well informed in the history, culture and religions of the area where you are biking and are skilled at passing that knowledge on to you. Your guide is also medically trained and an experienced cyclist, able to handle most minor repairs en route.

If this is the tour for you here's what you need to do to confirm your place:

FLEXIBLE BOOKING CONDITIONS

CONFIRMING YOUR BOOKING

Just complete our online booking form or send your booking details offline (email or post), and we will confirm your participation. No deposit is needed to confirm your place on a SpiceRoads tour.

You are advised to read our Booking Conditions in full before you make your payment and should you require further clarifications of any of the conditions below, please email us or call our office.

TRIP STATUS

There is a minimum number of participants (usually 2) required to enable the trip to go ahead. Once the minimum number is reached, the trip status will change from 'Available' to 'Guaranteed to Depart'. Once a trip is guaranteed to depart you are free to book your flights and make other travel arrangements. If the trip status is ‘Limited’ will mean we have only a small number of spaces available for booking. If you are unsure about the trip status, please email us or call our office.

BOOKING ONLINE

From the tour page, click the 'Book Now' link. All departures for this tour will appear, just select the date you'd like to travel. For the next steps, you'll need to know the names of the people travelling. If you wish you can also provide extra details such as passport numbers, height (for bike hire), or you can add that later by logging into Manage My Trip (we'll set up an account for you automatically if you don't already have one). Our system will contact you from time to time to fill in the missing information, as it will be required before departure. However, if the trip that you are booking offers a child discount, you will have to fill out the date of birth of each rider (so we can calculate the appropriate discount).

If you are having any problems please send us an email, or give us a call (+66 026 3295) and one of our travel specialists will assist you with your booking.

BOOKING OFFLINE

Just call us or send an email indicating which trip you want to join and we will happily send you a list of questions and process your booking for you.

DEPOSITS AND PAYMENTS

We do not require a deposit or full payment to book a place for you on a tour.

The balance of the tour’s cost (final invoice) will need to be paid 60 days before the departure date with fees for any bicycle rental(s), single supplement(s) and extra hotel nights.

In the case where a booking is made when there are less than 60 days until the tour departure date, the tour’s cost should be paid in full within 72 hours of receiving an invoice from SpiceRoads. Payment can be made by credit card using our online payment gateway or by bank transfer. When making payment online you will need to confirm that you have read these booking conditions during the "checkout" process, which equates to agreeing to the terms of services and stipulations as indicated in this document.

In all cases, tour fees need to be paid “in full” before participation in a tour. No person(s) will be allowed to join a tour without fully settling their invoice and receiving a confirmation number from SpiceRoads.

The exception can be made for last-minute miscellaneous fees that can be paid locally (visas, additional local hotel bookings, etc.) can be settled on the day of arrival.

FULL FLEXIBILITY FOR TOUR CANCELATIONS

If the tour is cancelled or postponed by SpiceRoads because we didn't make the trip numbers and the tour can’t run, we will make a full cash refund (by bank transfer or on your credit card).

If the tour is cancelled for any other reason, including due to Covid related travel restrictions, we will give you a full credit (with no deductions for admin or any other small-print item) to use on any SpiceRoads tour with no time limit. (Exceptions being flights, special permits and other non-refundable items and these will be advised when booking the trip).

Before paying for your tour, you can cancel your booking with no charge and up until 40 days before departure, you can change your booking to another travel date or move your booking onto another SpiceRoads tour with no charges.

If you need to cancel after you have made full payment, please see our cancellation policy.

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The information in this document is given in good faith, and covers the average range of conditions likely to be found on this trip. Please note that the itinerary is subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances, however, we will always do our best to adhere to this original itinerary