Transylvania has always attracted a certain ‘type’ of Brits. That said, those who weren’t on Dracula’s tourist trail were overwhelmed by the biodiversity of the Carpathians (their forests contain the highest number of brown bears in Europe) and the simple delicacy of rural life. Here, mornings rise with the jingle of cowbells, farm-to-table traditions prevail, and walkers rest their weary heads in beautifully decorated guesthouses, their bellies warmed by dumpling soup.
As Europe’s last great wilderness, Transylvania attracts the unpretentious, the philosophical, who would rather eat local lamb over open flames with fellow wild lovers than sip champagne for a photoshoot on the Côte d’Azur. However, Madonna’s eldest son, Rocco Richie, recently broke from the Transylvania convention by sharing photos on Instagram of him riding his motorbike to the “crazy place”. Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has done the same. He allegedly eschewed the area’s low-key attractions, throwing a Halloween party at Bran Castle (the residence of Count Dracula in the Bram Stoker novels), where he is said to have invited his tech billionaire friends and celebrities, including Peter Thiel and Angelina Jolie.
Rocco Rich recently shared
/ PAIn general, though, Transylvania is where discreet wealth, aristocrats and their yogi offspring seek refuge from the hordes of Range Rovers, tacky gates and tidiness that ruin the Cotswolds hedges. Here, Old World rhythms and rituals of wearing linen smocks still prevail. King Charles prophetically snapped up several rural properties; where fading aristocracy could travel back in time to an unspoiled England of yesteryear; and the landscapes where travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor fell in love and Romanian princess. “Paddy” and our king are clearly on to something.
This year, more bespoke, back-to-nature slow travel tours have popped up in the dedicated WhatsApp group, and the wellness center has moved east to the nostalgic, misty forests and wildflower meadows of Transylvania.
One of the main reasons for Romania’s “slow burn” in the tourism world is its long and obscure chapter behind the Iron Curtain. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Romanian nobles of the Austro-Hungarian Empire fled Romania for their own safety, returned to their hometowns, and took back the piles of rotting towers. These include the Zabora family (one of Romania’s oldest Sekeli families), who converted the castle into a hotel with 124 acres of meadows and Carpathian forest, and the Counts of Beslen, who founded the village of Chris.
The latter has been a painstaking restoration project since the late Count Miklos Bethlen returned in 1967 to his childhood home, soft valleys and clear lakes. Count Miklos restored his crumbling family castle with his wife Gladys and breathed new life into it. Saxon houses, abandoned huts, granaries and schools dot the village. These aesthetically friendly hideaways, which now form Bethlen Estates, still retain their rustic, minimalist style. They entertain guests after a hearty dinner of beef stew and orchard pudding in the kitchen barn. From here, guests can embark on a guided Carpathian adventure. Bear sightings are common, and horseback expeditions can skirt the edge of a glacier or delve into a bobcat-infested forest.
Transylvania is for the non-flashy, philosophical type who would rather mingle with other feral lovers
Those who are captivated by the Saxon austerity and untamed forests of Transylvania often also have the plum accent or ecological enthusiasm of our kings. The then-Prince of Wales was first captivated by Transylvania in the early 1990s under the direction of artist and author Jessica Douglas-Home. She founded the Mihai Eminescu Trust, initially to preserve Transylvania’s Saxon heritage under the dictatorship of President Nicolae Ceausescu, and has since worked to revive Saxon architecture and culture. One of these is No 163 Viscri, a traditional farmhouse and surrounding barn, bought by the King in 2011 and subsequently converted into a museum. The sale has enabled the Trust to restore adjacent buildings in the village. It also taught the locals how to use them as guesthouses for income while preserving their cultural identity.
Madonna’s eldest son, Rocco Ritchie, recently broke from Transylvania’s routine by sharing pictures on Instagram of his motorcycle ride to the ‘crazy place’
Then King Charles turned his attention to Earl Karnoki’s manor in the Zaran Valley. He snapped up a private nature retreat and restored it with a team using traditional methods and materials. Insiders say the king likes to make an annual pilgrimage here (he owns more than 10 properties in the area). One of the estate’s walking routes follows in his footsteps, covering the forested hills around Zalampatak, with guides identifying rare flowers and offering picnics.
King Charles’ passion for Transylvania is well documented, possibly related to his kinship with Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), allegedly in Bram Stoker’s The novel Dracula is based on him. But it’s more likely to be his nostalgic longing for a bygone era of rural rhythms – his determination to return parts of the UK to an idyllic pastoral landscape through rewilding and agroecological projects.
Oli Broom, founder of The Slow Cyclist travel agency, shares the king’s love for Transylvania, its deep sense of history and pristine, unspoiled scenery – “You can still be here Walk or cycle without hitting any fences for more than six days.” Bloom, who founded The Slow Cyclist more than a decade ago, didn’t over-hype it, given the company’s popularity with an exclusive network of low-key British landowners (“down-to-earth types”) with ecotourism at their core.
Private groups of like-minded Sloaney guests peddle miles through ‘Lost England’, stopping at the Saxon Inn for a traditional smoked clam stew and delicious pancakes. In summer, they might meet shepherds in the mountains, surrounded by huge collie dogs, protecting the flock from bears and wolves. They’ll also traverse an idyllic landscape of sparkling rivers and lily-of-the-valley meadows before reaching the next time-warp village.
“It’s hard to find this connection to nature in the UK right now,” Bloom laments. “Living in a cabin in the Cotswolds, in some woods, all is well, but it’s not sincerely As wild as this…we saw eight bears the other day. ”
Bloom has noticed that his clients are increasingly craving “away from the crowd” experiences rather than a hint of “scene.” They were drawn to the eerie, evocative landscapes of Transylvania, where bell towers pierced the low-hanging clouds of the valley, and the snow-capped Carpathians loomed menacingly in the distance. This is essentially time travel, helping to build out Transylvania’s rural economy in villages untouched by modern times, allowing it to thrive in its current form rather than being left behind.
The wilds of Transylvania and the pristine forests of the Carpathians are so precious that several conservation-minded billionaires are in on the act. These include Danish entrepreneur Anders Holch Povlsen, whose conservation work is well documented across Scotland, and Swiss businessman Hansjörg Wyss, both Everyone is a board member of Carpathia. The foundation aims to protect much of the Carpathian forest from illegal logging.
Beyond billionaire conservationists, Britain’s low-key aristocrats and their kings, Transylvania’s bucolic purity attracts a wellness crowd bent on grouping on the region’s lyrical natural beauty and unrivaled sense of peace. retreat. One of the most popular attractions is Akasha in the fairy-tale village of Pestra. The resort is not far from Bran Castle (the legend of Dracula) and the hauntingly beautiful Bucegi Mountains, and the unspoiled setting of the Piatra Creurui National Park is integral to its mission Part of: Harnessing the healing power of nature. This is achieved through meditation and yoga, overlooking idyllic valleys, hiking and horseback riding into the mountains, and detoxifying the body with seasonal vegetarian food picked from the surrounding fields. Oddly, the trust fund yogi, who had previously booked a retreat in the Balearic Islands, came to the Carpathians on the recommendation of a friend to recharge his batteries and avoid the crowds.
Those looking for a more convivial lifestyle can explore Transylvania’s thriving wine industry and visit ancient cities such as Brasov, Cluj-Napoca and Sibiu. Creative interpretations of traditional cuisine are being created here, followed by a spa bath afterwards. They will join well-defined tribes that now often incorporate the pressures of modernity, albeit quietly, into the region’s medieval customs and unspoiled wilderness.