The great Carpathian mountain range stretches for more than 1,500 kilometers and covers a total of eight Eastern European countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia. They all share a part of these mountains full of unknown beauty. Romania is one of the countries where the Carpathians are most present and where some of the most majestic primary forests are preserved.
The mountains display all their splendor around places like Transylvania, one of the country’s top tourist destinations. The Carpathians, which begin near the Danube near Bratislava and end near Orşova, Romania, have a very diverse and abundant fauna, especially in Transylvania. This is why this region is an important destination for those looking to observe wildlife.
In the Carpathians live more than 5,000 brown bears, 3,000 wolves, 2,000 lynx and many wild cats. Wild boar, bison and capercaillie are also among the species that live and hide in these forests, which cover an area of 250,000 hectares in the country. These are often – as is the case in other parts of the continent – under threat from humans and climate change, which is why conservation work in national parks such as the Făgăraş Mountains is so relevant. Specifically, its mountains are home to the largest continuous alpine habitat in Romania, with 75% still covered in spruce and deciduous forests. A sanctuary for 66 endemic and 107 rare species of plants and animals listed by the European Union.
A region full of history and tradition
The Carpathian region has been a permeable and rich frontier over the centuries, which has managed to merge the culture and traditions of the Slavic north with those of the Mediterranean south, since its days as Roman Dacia. Likewise, it was a containment barrier, first against the Tatars, then against the shock wave of Islam. Many of its monasteries, in addition to being protected as authentic fortresses, were covered from top to bottom with murals, both inside and out, earning them the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Its relative isolation has favored the locus of legends as fertile as that of Count Dracula – Bram Stoker’s novel has been adapted for film more than 200 times – and has also brought to our days almost intact medieval towns, castles and cathedrals, customs, food and landscapes with all the flavor of the authentic and the primordial. Here we offer a magical immersion of the senses in a still virgin territory, which allows us to combat the routine of negative and unfair clichés.
We enter the Carpathians following an exclusive itinerary developed by EL PAÍS Viajes. During this trip to Romania, guided by travel expert and popularizer David Botello, we will know the soul of Eastern Europe. The tour, which will take place on March 28, 2026, will take place over nine days and will allow you to visit sites such as Peleș Castle, the famous Dracula Castle, the Prejmer Fortified Church, the Moldovița Monastery or the Voroneț Monastery, among others.
Transylvania, the heart of the Carpathians and its most important cities
As we said, Transylvania, surrounded by the Carpathians, is the most famous region in Romania. This is therefore the main place to discover them. The first stop will be Sinaia, where Peleș Castle is located, built in the mid-19th century in the German Neo-Renaissance style and considered one of the most beautiful castles in the world. A few kilometers away, Bran reveals another of its most legendary places: Dracula’s castle. This was built in the late 14th century by the Transylvanian Saxons and served as a customs post between Transylvania and Wallachia for many centuries.
Among the most important cities in the Carpathians are Brașov and Sibiu. The first is known as the “Crown of Transylvania”. In its very well preserved old town, the main historical and cultural attractions are revealed to the traveler: Council Square, Saint Nicholas Church, the Black Church and the Brașov Fortress are among the most important.
Sibiu, on the other hand, was colonized by the German Saxons in the 12th century and, like Brașov, has a magnificent old town with colorful houses, large squares and many legends. From Plaza Mayor, where you can admire the Catholic Church and Brukenthal Palace, you can walk to Plaza Menor, Puente del Mentiroso and Plaza Huet.
There are other cities that also stand out in the Carpathians, such as Bukovina, famous for its painted monasteries, built in the Middle Ages by powerful Romanian rulers. The most important are the Moldovița Monastery, the Sucevița Monastery and the Voroneț Monastery, built at the end of the 15th century by Stephen the Great and known throughout the world as the “Sistine Chapel of the East” because of its impressive interior and exterior paintings in an intense blue tone.
Crossing the Carpathians through the Borgo Pass, Târgu Mureș preserves a great monumental heritage in Transylvania, as it presents a mixture of Romanian, German and Hungarian cultures. The Palace of Culture, from the 19th century, and the Palace of Apollo, built in the Baroque style, the Old Prefecture building, from the 18th century, and the Orthodox Cathedral, which houses the largest painted area of an Orthodox church in Romania, are some of its main sites to visit.
The peoples of the Carpathians and Transylvania
In the small town of Prejmer is the fortified church built by the Teutonic Knights at the beginning of the 13th century and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Inside the fortification, you can see 272 rooms, one for each family in the village, a church completed in 1225 and a school. If the region stands out for anything, it is for its landscapes: a stop at the Red Lake and a visit to the Bicaz Canyon with its spectacular path through the rocks, show that the beauty of the Carpathians is inexhaustible.
Sighișoara, for its part, is not a city, but it is a small medieval town. Without a doubt, another of the charms of the Transylvania region, which has already existed since the 12th century, and which has a medieval fortress with nine towers that makes it particularly charming to the eye. Its historic center has been included on the UNESCO list since 1999, and this does not surprise us, since it is one of the rare citadels of this style still inhabited in the world. Admire the iconic image of its clock tower before leaving.
Finally, thanks to EL PAÍS Viajes and the itinerary designed for the month of March 2026, we approach the small and idyllic town of Biertan and its magnificent fortified church. It is one of the Saxon towns with fortified churches in Transylvania, all of which have been included in the UNESCO heritage list since 1993. This town is surrounded by primary forests, which make the Carpathian region one of the richest in biodiversity in Europe.
*If you would like more information on this and other similar trips, check out our website THE TRIP TO THE COUNTRYSIDE.
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