Maramures Tour

The unique Merry Cemetery - Sapanta, Maramures - Romania

Maramures Tour

Availability - All year round


Time - 2 days


Distance - 430km – 720km of scenic roads and beautiful landscapes


Group size - from 2 to 7 or private


Price range - 100 - 180 Euro/ person

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Maramures tour itinerary:


Day 1:

Suceava
With an estimated population of 100,000, Suceava is the largest city and the seat of Suceava County. Once the capital of Moldavia, for nearly 200 years the city of Suceava was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia and the main residence of the Moldavian princes (namely between 1388 and 1565). Today is an excellent starting point to visit the north of Romania, especially the painted monasteries of Bucovina but not only. The town has some noteworthy attractions of its own, Saint George's Church (the monastery of St. John the New of Suceava), a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Bucovina village museum (open-air museum), with its valuable old wooden bucovinean houses and traditional items exhibits, and Suceava's main tourist site, is the 14th-century citadel.
Prislop Pass
1400 m altitude
Dragomiresti village
We will visit the museum of the peasant woman from Maramures.
The wooden church from Bogdan Voda
Built in 1718, the Wooden church of St. Nicholas from Cuhea (today: Bogdan Voda, Maramures) is located in the middle of the village, specifically in the middle of the old cemetery. This is unusual for a church in Maramures style to be situated on the hill. The walls are built of carved beams, without decorations, the only exception being the twisted rope carving, which surrounds the church. The interior walls were painted in 1754 at the order of Vasile Sapantan, the noble founder.
The wooden church from Ieud
The upper church of Ieud, inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List, is made of fir tree wood. Historians have failed to agree on the date of its construction. The most cautious suggest the 17th century. Others date it as far back as 1364 and deem it to be the oldest in Maramures. The interior frescoes were made by Alexandru Ponehalski, one of the most active church painters in Maramures. The painting in the pronaos depicts the Last Judgement, where the blaze of the inferno is about to engulf the sinners. In the attic of the church, an important discovery was made: the Codex of Ieud, a document dating from 1391, which is generally considered to be the oldest example of written Romanian.
The wooden church of Poienile Izei
The UNESCO designated wooden church at Poienile Izei, “Pious Paraschiva”, is one of the most beautiful and well-preserved monuments in all of Maramures. The church was built in 1604 and is covered in the interior with spectacular frescoes. It contains several scenes of the Last Judgment on its “pronaos” (walls). The scenes depict images of terrible punishments for sins: the liar hanged by his tongue, the witch gored by cows for casting a spell on them, the farmer plowed by two devils for stealing his neighbor’s land, the mother forced to swallow her aborted baby, and the person who sleeps while the priest is preaching, is forced to lay on a burning bed and endure the devil’s violin.
Botiza
We will stop overnight in the small traditional village called Botiza one of the prettiest in all of Maramureş and the site of some of the region’s best homestays.

Itinerary:


Day 2:

The wooden church of Rozavlea
Built in 1717, recalls to local people the times when there were “cnezates" and voivodeships. The church took part in the local traditional events. Since the old church was burned to the ground by the Tartars, it can be said that this church was brought from another location in Maramures. The Rozavlea wooden church is a symbol of the village, which blends the faith with the tradition, the bad with the good, and the new with the old, although it was built and painted by anonymous artisans.
Barsana Monastery
The Barsana Monastery is located at the southern end of the village and merits a visit by travelers. Within the confines of the monastery, visitors will be hard-pressed not to feel the emotion and pulsing life of the mountains, flowers, fields, and hills of the area. Spectacular views of the surrounding countryside and stunning wooden architecture make the monastery one of the most special places in all of Maramures. Most of the buildings within the monastery complex are open to the public. Barsana is also home to Teodor Barsan, a famous handicraftsman in wood, whose work is renowned all over Maramures and beyond. His son, Ioan Barsan, has inherited his skillfulness and carries on the old handicraft to his day.
Sighet Communism Memorial (Optional)
This isn’t a pretty place nor a joyful place. But it is perhaps the most explicit example of how people endured communism. To say it is a moving experience understates the elemental truth of what went on in this prison. Ask anyone in Sighet and they can tell you a personal story of the influence this prison had on their family. Ask anyone in Romania, and they can tell you of a friend, family member, or important person who spent perhaps their final years of life in this prison. It is not a pretty place nor a joyful place. But all must experience it, so humanity can remember how it feels to be confined, tortured, forced to do hard labor, interrogated, and finally murdered because of what one thought or said.
Elie Wiesel memorial house (Optional)
In this house from Sighetu-Marmatiei, the Nobel Prize Winner, Elie Wiesel has spent his first 15 years of life. In 1944, Elie Wiesel together with his family and other 38.000 Jewish people from Maramures was deported to Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Buchenwald by the Natzi regime. In August 2002 Elie Wiesel himself opened the doors of the memorial house. Here you can find a big collection of photos, furniture, and other personal things that belonged to the Jewish community from Maramures.
Sapanta Merry Cemetery
The village of Săpânța, located just 4 kilometers south of the Ukrainian border is world-famous for its original “Merry Cemetery”: a special kind of graveyard, with wooden crosses, painted in vivid colors. A particular blue, called „Sapanta blue” rules over all the other colors. Stan Ioan Patras, the author of this cemetery, carved the first cross in 1935. He died in 1977 and his creation was continued to this day and carried on by Patras’s apprentice, Dumitru Pop. Each cross is different: the carved images naively catch one of the deceased lifetime’s characteristic attitudes, while the epitaphs are short poems, deprived of the usual cliches and full of substance, written in the first person like a confession of the deceased himself.
Monastery of Sapanta Peri
very close to Sapanta village there is the Peri Monastery which has the tallest wooden church in the world, 78 meters tall. The monastery was newly erected in 2003 to replace a very old one, destroyed and plundered by the Hungarian Protestants in 1703.
Sighetul Marmatiei/Suceava
The tour can finish in Maramures or you can return in Suceava

Maramures tour price:

1    pers - On request
2    pers - 180 Euro/person
3    pers - 120 Euro/person
4-7 pers - 100 Euro/person

What's included:

- Licensed english speaking tour guide;
- Private transportation with modern vehicle (AC);
- Pick up and drop off from your hotel.
- 24/7 Assistance

Not included:

- Accomodation in a lovely homestay in Botiza village with half-board: dinner&breakfast with local products;
- Lunch;
- Entrance fees;
- Personal expenses.

Maramures Tour description:

Maramures Tour is a 2 - day private tour that will allow you to step back in time and discover the soul of rural Romania. The region of Maramures preserved the culture, traditions, and lifestyle of the peasants from a romantic era of simplicity, pride, and moral values.

To get to Maramures we will travel on picturesque mountain roads, rolling hills with meadows full of wildflowers, and charming small villages. Once there you will be impressed by the Wooden Churches (UNESCO World Heritage), with their "maramuresan Gothic" architectural style, they can reach more than 50 meters (165 ft) with their interiors painted with biblical scenes in a naif style by the local painters in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Maramures is a very unique region and you will be very surprised when you will discover the Merry Cemetery of Sapanta, a one of a kind cemetery with its vivid colors, where each cross has different carved images and a short poem written in the first person, like a confession or a life story.

To have a complete experience in Maramures Tour you must try the traditional dishes, meet the locals and learn more about the traditional crafts. In order to do all these things, we recommend choosing a homestay in a small village instead of a hotel.

Tour FAQ:

Is this a private or a group tour?

Usually this is a private tour. However if we have specific requests from our guests we can provide a small group tour or a shared tour.

What time do tours start?

The best time to start this tour is 09.00 am, but we can also start at a mutually agreeded time.

Which are the pick-up and drop-off places?

We can pick-up you at your hotel or any other point in Suceava city and dop-off you at your hotel in Sighet or Suceava and not only.

How long does the tour take?

The tour takes approximately 2 full days but we can adapt to fit 100% your individual requirments.

How should I dress?

There is no formal dress code.

When do I have to pay?

You have to pay 30% in advance (wire transfer) and 70% you will pay to the tour guide when you will start the tour.

What currency can we use?

For our tours we accept both Euro and the local currency known as Leu or Ron, but for all the other expences we recommend to use the local currency.

The homestay is the only option for the accommodation?

No, that is what we recommend but if you don't like the idea of a homestay we can chose a 3 or a 4 stars hotel.

When is the best time of the year to visit Romania and Maramures region?

We recommend taking advantage of any chance to visit us, since each season is great in its own way to visit Romania.

Optionals:

Remember all our tours can be customized to fit 100% your individual requirements.