Show notes
When you think about Transylvania the name Dracula comes to mind. But did you know that Transylvania was originally part of Hungry and only incorporated into Romania after World War one. More importantly Romania is home to the Via Transilvanica long distance hiking trail which was officially launched on the 8th of October 2022. At that time the trail was 1400km but at the time of this interview covers just on 1600km in distance. The aim of this trail was to give travellers the chance to discover various parts of Romania in quite a unique way – different regions with their history, people, culture, landmarks, and stories. On launching it was designed to be the trail that unites.
In today’s episode we catch up with Alin, one of the team involved in creating this trail, along with Siobhan and Geoff, two Australian Hikers who undertook this walk to get different perspectives on this relatively unknown trail.
Podcast Overview
In this episode we discuss the 1600km Romanian based Via Transilvanica:
- Podcast Introduction (time index 0:01:39)
- First up, Siobhan and Geoff give us a bit of background on your hiking experience. (time index 0:02:57)
- Key hikes
- What sort of hiking do you like to do?
- First up, Siobhan and Geoff give us a bit of background on your hiking experience. (time index 0:02:57)
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- Now we move onto Alin, what’s you hiking background and what is your connection to the Via Transylvania trail? (time index 0:04:47)
- Key hikes
- Your connection to the trail, how did that come about?
- Now we move onto Alin, what’s you hiking background and what is your connection to the Via Transylvania trail? (time index 0:04:47)
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- Back to Siobhan and Geoff (time index 0:17:47)
- How did you decide to do this trip?
- Is this a seasonal trip?
- Shoulder seasons are the best
- First up give us a bit of an overview to this trip
- About 80 days to do this walk
- Back to Siobhan and Geoff (time index 0:17:47)
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- What was the elevation changes like on this trail? (time index 0:20:57)
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- Vegetation (time index 0:22:09)
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- Wildlife (time index 0:23:38)
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- Logistics and planning (time index 0:26:31)
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- Navigation Apps
- Far out
- Mappi
- Navigation Apps
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- Getting to Romania (time index 0:30:47)
- Airfare to Bucharest about $2,300 each
- Daily cost about $50/day
- Paid accomodation and food/couple
- Camping in Romania?
- Public land but need to be bear aware
- Bear bags
- Public land but need to be bear aware
- Camping in Romania?
- Paid accomodation and food/couple
- Logistics and planning (time index 0:26:31)
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- How easy was it to get to the trailhead? (time index 0:34:21)
- Train
- How easy was it to get to the trailhead? (time index 0:34:21)
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- Gear and food (time index 0:35:13)
- Carrying full gear
- Standard hiking gear
- Trail runners
- Sleeping bag
- Food readily available and excellent quality
- Carrying full gear
- Gear and food (time index 0:35:13)
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- Take us through a typical day on trail (time index 0:39:06)
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- Temperatures (time index 0:42:01)
- Warmest around 28 degrees Celsius
- Coldest temperatures around Light frosts towards the trip end
- Temperatures (time index 0:42:01)
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- Other thru hikers (time index 0:44:02)
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- What were the trip highlights? (time index 0:44:57)
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- Trip negatives (time index 0:48:09)
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- How did you find Romania? (time index 0:49:17)
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- Who would you recommend this walk to? (time index 0:50:09)
- Age, fitness, experience
- Who would you recommend this walk to? (time index 0:50:09)
One final question
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- What’s your next great hiking adventure? (time index 0:52:15)
Closing discussion from Tim and Gill
- Final thoughts (time index 0:53:03)
Close (time index 1:04:39)
Resources
Via Transilvanica Website
Via Transilvanica Youtube video
Geoff and Siobhan on the trail YouTube video
Geoff, Alin, and Siobhan. Putting faces to names (image by Geoff Luscombe)
Indicative trail map.The website also has an interactive map for trip planning (image From Via Transilvanica website)
Trail Guidepost. Approximately every 1km (image by Geoff Luscombe). These sculptural trail markers weight in at 230kg each!
Rural Romania (image by Geoff Luscombe)
Rural Romania (image by Geoff Luscombe)
Trail markings (image by Geoff Luscombe)
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Publishing date
25 February 2026
