Maramures
Romania · 350 m
Description
Maramures (Maramureș) is the corner of Romania that industrialisation never reached, a valley system in the far north where carved wooden gates stand in front of ordinary farmhouses and eight wooden churches with shingled spires forty and fifty metres high are on the UNESCO list. Sunday services are still full and still in the old dress. The Merry Cemetery at Sapanta paints each grave marker with a picture of how the person died and a rhyming verse about their faults, which is either the most cheerful graveyard in Europe or the bluntest.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 2 to 4 days (optimal 3 days)
Travel season
Best time to visit: May – September
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Merry Cemetery of Sapanta
- Wooden churches of Maramures (UNESCO World Heritage)
- Barsana monastery and its wooden spires
- Mocanita steam train up the Vaser valley
- Carved wooden village gates
- Sunday service in traditional dress (every Sunday)
- Horinca plum brandy and the village stills
- Sighetu Marmatiei memorial to the victims of communism
- Breb and the unpaved farming villages
- Creasta Cocosului rock ridge walk
- Rodna and the Prislop pass road
- Weaving and woollen craft of the valley villages
Getting there
- Airports:
- BAY