Travel agencies have come up with special offers and significant discounts and the local authorities have promoted the most beautiful areas of Romania. For starters let’s stop in the Balvanyos all-year-round resort, at 950 meters above sea level, in Covasna County, central Romania. Thanks to the therapeutic qualities of its numerous mineral springs and moffettes, the resort offers tourists opportunities for both treatment and relaxation.
Lorant Balint, a marketing manager with a hotel compound has further details: “Our hotel is located in a scenic environment surrounded by forests, near Saint Ana Lake. It is an oasis of quiet and relaxation in the middle of nature. We provide our customers with a wide range of services. We have wellness and balneal packages and we also offer Saint Valentine packages. For instance, the Sport and Wellness 4-night package is quite affordable. It costs 198 euros and includes the following services: reception, 4 nights accommodation, half-board, unlimited free access to the SPA center, which was opened in May, on an area of 2 thousand square meters. We have 7 pools, 3 saunas, a salt room and a steam bath. The package also includes access to all sports facilities within the hotel compound. We have a multinational sports ground and an adventure park with tracks for both children and adults”.
For the first time at this year’s edition of the fair, Salvamont – the Mountain Rescue Association- had a special stand. Several teams from across Romania participated in the fair to promote the Romanian mountains.
Ion Sanduloiu, a director with Salvamont Arges will next talk about the places of interest for the tourists who choose Arges as their travel destination: “They can see Fagaras Mountains, which are dubbed the Transylvanian Alps. The southern part of the massif, whose highest peaks reach 2,500 meters, is part of Arges County, being a sort of Romanian Alaska. It is a wild, very beautiful area with fauna typical of the temperate climate. Tourists visiting the area can also go to Poenari stronghold that belonged to the Romanian ruler Vlad the Impaler. One of the attractions of Arges County is Valea lui Stan — Stan Valley, which, in my opinion, is the most beautiful canyon in Romania, boasting 8 waterfalls. There are stairs near the waterfalls that allow tourists to enjoy spectacular views of the falls.”
The city of Sibiu was also promoted at the fair. Alin Chipaila, the president of the Sibiu County Tourist Association has more: “Sibiu presented its winter offer and also a novelty, namely that, as of 2019, it will become a European gastronomic region. If I were to describe Sibiu, I would say it is the most beautiful place in Romania, but, of course, I am being subjective. However, the Romanian press recommends the Christmas Fair in Sibiu as the most beautiful. The fair is organized in the Big Square and visitors can discover the taste of winter while relishing traditional products and mulled wine at the wooden houses mounted in the square. Also in the Big Square we will have laser lights projected on the buildings there, which create a special atmosphere. If we don’t have snow, we’ll surely have snow effects projected on the buildings in the square.”
Winter holidays will be nothing but special in the north-eastern city of Iasi, according to Delia Rosu, a representative of the Iasi City Hall’s Service for Community Relations and Public Policies: “By participating in this fair we managed to involve the private sector in promoting tourism. In the month of December we will have a very diversified programme, which is still a surprise, as it has not been made public yet. The city will host an innovative event, a very original concert held shortly before Christmas, given by a big orchestra made up of 40 to 50 members of the Romanian Philharmonics and of the National Opera House. We would also like to work with a children’s choir, and rearrange classical Christmas songs. There will be open-air concerts held by this orchestra for two whole days, so I’m pretty sure we’ll surprise everyone. There has been nothing like it in Romania so far. The projections on the Roznovanu Palace are another first. They will consist in Christmas symbols as seen by local visual artists. The event will kick off on the second weekend of December.”
Braila has been another constant presence at the Romanian Tourism Fair. Reliana Bogdan, head of a travel agency representing the Braila County Council, tells us more about it: “This time our slogan at the Tourism Fair is ‘Braila, a multi-ethnic cultural mosaic’. Our offer consists in short holidays, of two or three days each, which include visits to Braila’s places of worship, giving tourists the opportunity to learn about the many ethnicities that have cohabited here peacefully. There is also a gastronomic component to it. In the summer of 2017 we will organize trips onboard the Ovidiu ship, owned by the Braila County Council, and we offer accommodation in three and four-star facilities. “
Those of you who are interested in spending their summer holidays in Romania should know that early-booking offers are already available.
