Top Bucharest Day Trips - page 11

After a discussion with our guide Beatrice we had already done Constanta and the Black Sea on the cruise ship we had just left and being extremely creative Beatrice decided we should see some of the mountains. She took us to Snow Island and to Peles Castle (?) which we absolutely loved. We had a delicious meal in a local restaurant which she highly recommended and saw the monastery’s which we found very interesting. We found that Beatrice’s knowledge of the area and Bucharest was extensive, she was delightful company and we had a thoroughly enjoyable day in her company. I could not recommend her more highly.

It was an early start but I’m glad that we went on this day trip. It took about two hours to get to the mine on the mini bus. We stopped once at a convenience station on the way where you could go to the loo or get something to eat. The mine itself was fascinating. You are driven all the way down to it in a tunnel. No need for hard hats or gear etc. You are then pretty much delivered in the main tourist gallery of the mine which is huge. The ceiling is at least 50 metres high so not the claustrophobic experience you might imagine in a mine. The colours were amazing. You can do a lot of walking around and there is a cafe where some pizzas are available etc. The cafe was not extensive but perfectly fine. There is a good amount of time to walk about, eat and relax in the mine and then it was time to go back up to the surface, buy some souvenirs and salt and then go back on the bus (there was no stop on the way back). For me and my wife it was an interesting and novel day out as we had never been down a salt mine before. One of our group had already been down a salt mine and was slightly disappointed.

As a fan of old school Dracula travelling through the Carpathian Moutaina and walking Bran Castle was an absolute dream (Spoiler I know Bram Stoker was never actually there and neither was Vlad Tepes. But the pure inspiration!) Definitely recommend this tour.