Yes, we have made the difficult decision to suspend Romanian tours in 2017, and we are not planning any in 2018 either (which does not mean that we will not tour Romania unofficially, in small scouting groups). We reserve the possibility to reenact our Romanian tours in the future, if the circumstances change.
Exactly three months ago we’ve tried to give an analysis of what is going on in Romania, and the future of offroading in this, probably most popular European country for organizing offroad tours (we’ve covered the theme in this post). In the meantime we haven’t become much smarter or better informed about the subject, so the essential dilemmas still exist. There have been people doubting that there is any truth in what we’ve written, with the key argument “but tour operators are conducting business as usual in 2017?”
Well, if you analize the Romanian tour market carefully, it’s not exactly “business as usual”, or at least not the way it was done some years ago. Of course, the big tour operators, especially those whose main focus of business is on Romania and Carpathian tours, have a vital interest to keep the tours functioning as normal as possible, hiding all the efforts they’re investing to achieve that. But subtle changes in the tour spectre can be seen.
Continue reading Offroad in Romania revisited – safe or forbidden?
Written by
Aleksandar Veljković
The Romanian Carpathians have been a European top destination for offroad and overland touring in the past decade, especially for tourists from central and eastern Europe. The beauty and wilderness of those mountains became so famous, that merely mentioning the magic word “Carpathians” or “Romania” was the selling point, no need to do any further marketing. On top of the beautiful nature and desolation, it offered the people everything that they didn’t have elsewere in the EU countries anymore, and more than anything, it was a possibility for a relaxed exploration and wild camping virtually anywhere outside of the national parks. However, very few people were aware that a law practically forbidding public traffic on forest roads and in the wild had been passed in Romania all the way back in 2007. And nobody knew that simply because Romanian forest authorities never really cared to implement that law. But it looks as if those things are going to change. It’s only a question of time…
Continue reading Offroading in Romania – beginning of the end?
“Don’t live the same year 75 times, and call it a life.”
Yes – every new year is a new chance to add meaning to our lives with new adventures in places you haven’t seen before. And we offer to take you to those places, because we know where they are. Every season we explore and discover new ones, so even the tours that seem to be the same in our calendar are never the same as they were last year – every time we make them we try to achieve a higher level of traveller’s bliss, always adding to them something new and different 😎 Take a look at where and how we’ll be taking you in 2017… Continue reading Where are we taking you in 2017?
Yes, we haven’t found time to mention any of our tours since Homolje Gold Rush this past spring – and there’s been some… 12 or 13 of them inbetween, if we count both the official and unofficial ones. We’ve been in Serbia (all over), Romania and Montenegro, and that won’t be the end of the list. So let’s make just a quick run through the places we’ve visited in 2016. But first…
The video from the Serbian Snow Adventure we owe you. Almost 8 months delayed, but better late than never 🙂 With a bit of luck, the rest of the video material from this season will be processed as the new winter approaches. So here it is, enjoy! 😎
Huh, that was really intense, wasn’t it? And where have we been doing during the spring and summer season?
This February has been a very active month for us. First we’ve (in cooperation with Rustika Travel) successfully conducted Serbian Snow Adventure, and a week later visited our friends from Jeep Club Romania (AJCR) who celebrated their 4th anniversary in Baia de Fier in the Carpathians, from February 12th to 14th.
The endlessness of the Carpathian mountain ridges is nowhere so grand as it is in the southern Carpathians… Between Tirgu Jiu in the South, Sibiu in the East, Caransebes in the West and Sebes in the North lie around 10.000 square kilometres of endless mountain ridges, where fairy-tale-like pine forests roam in with striking green pastures, roaring mountain rivers, emerald lakes… It’s simply the perfect 4×4 adventurer’s playground, where you can reach numerous 2000+ m peaks on wheels, enjoy fantastic camping spots, and where every day is a new challenge. Enjoy your Classic Carpathians adventure there!
More info and application form in the tour announcement on Rustika Travel website.
The south Carpathians are a classic, but if you’ve already seen them, you’ll want something different. And western Carpathians are different indeed. There you don’t get the endless 2000+ m ridge journeys, but instead you dive into the enchanting, rich forests, that hold a lot of mystery, surprises and serious offroad challenges, making it a daily randezvous with the unknown. From the forests, rivers and waterfalls of Cheile-Nerei national park and Anina mountains in the south, to the enchanting rocky peaks and caves of divine beauty in the Apuseni nature park. Western Carpathians are the hidden gem of Romania, waiting to be revealed!
More info and application form on the tour announcement page on Rustika Travel site.
Objavili smo prvi video iz našeg novog ciklusa 4×4 staze Balkana. Greben Carkua je bez sumnje jedna od najživopisnijih ofrouderskih trasa u južnim Karpatima, tako da smo sigurni da će ova video priča biti vrlo nadahnjujuća svima onima koji žele da počnu da istražuju to fascinantno divlje prostranstvo. Uživajte u gledanju, a ako vam se dopadne greben Carkua, pridružite nam se na turi Transilvanija 2015, jer ćemo proći upravo tuda!
