BUCOVINA EXTENSION

Day 1 Cross the Carpathians

Cross the Carpathians on a day-long excursion with your private driver, stopping to explore en route. Around three hours from Sibiu, Sovata and Praid are known for their salt mines, where you might head underground for lunch. In the Bicaz Gorge, the road wends its way between moss-covered mountain faces into Bucovina. On the way, Neamț County is dotted with monasteries that set the scene for your time in Sucevița, a small village where you will stay at Casa cu Cerbi, a traditional house that has been respectfully restored with recovered furniture, old carpets and local photography.

Overnight: Casa cu Cerbi

Day 2 Bucovina's Monasteries

The 15th and 16th-century painted monasteries throughout Bucovina are UNESCO heritage sites, and their frescoes are wondrous to behold. The Eastern Orthodox Sucevița monastery is a Byzantine and Gothic structure covered in ornately detailed frescoes, some typically Moldavian, thanks to the boyar family that built it in 1585; a little further north, the Moldovița monastery is a Romanian Orthodox example from 1532 that is no less colourful and striking. Fully appreciating these scenes demands inspecting them up close.

Lunch might be in Moldovița, a picnic from local markets, or at your next destination, Gura Humorului. Here, two further monasteries boast even more impressively preserved murals, some from the 1400s. Return to Suceava for a night at the modern Hotel Sonnenhof, with Austrian flair, a beautifully kempt summer garden and restaurant with an international flavour.

Overnight: Hotel Sonnenhof

Day 3 Suceava and fly home

Take some time to learn some of Suceava’s interesting central European legacy and about its varied rulers – from Stephen the Great to the Habsburgs – before your flight home.