Hike Romania's Carpathian Mountains in Winter

Meet your host at the airport and drive to the small town of Turda for a late lunch. Next, continue to the village of Garda de Sus and then on to the Apuseni Mountains in the Western Carpathians. These secluded mountains comprise impressive karstic peaks up to 1800m, dotted with forests, prehistoric caves, deep gorges and picturesque villages. You'll stay in the remote hamlet of Casa de Piatra, where you’ll be welcomed by a local family in their simple, cosy guesthouse – a unique opportunity to experience traditional Romanian hospitality in a remote spot, away from the tourist hotspots of Transylvania. Enjoy a hot drink followed by a briefing with your guide and, time permitting, head out to explore the surrounding area by snowshoe before dinner.

Don your snowshoes and head deep into the Romanian wilderness across pristine snow. Stop for tea with a local family and learn about their life in the mountains, then follow narrow trails lined with wild animal tracks to return to your guesthouse in time for dinner.

This morning you'll hike to the Vârtop Cave, famous for the unreal beauty of its rock formations. Dripping with imposing stalagmites and stalactites, this fascinating site used to house fossilised footprints made by a Neanderthal about 67,800 years ago. You'll then head to Coiba Mare, the largest cave portal in Romania, to explore this unique system of caverns. After lunch back at your guesthouse, head out onto the snow once again to visit the Tauz karstic spring, the deepest underwater cave in Romania. With its blue-green eye of water at the foot of an impressive rock wall, it is without doubt the most beautiful spring in the Romanian karst landscape.

Enjoy some final time on the pristine powder, then after a spot of lunch, head back to the airport in time for your flight home.