Southwestern Transylvania is an extraordinary region. Rich with folklore and legends, with giants building castles on top of mountains and fairies guarding mineral springs, the landscape is breathtaking. From Rapolt, we can explore the Dacian, Roman and medieval Transylvanian past, or choose to hike the amazingly beautiful Gradiste and Retezat Mountains, or seek the ancient mineral and thermal springs…

          This region is the heart of both the Dacian Kingdom with its capital at Sarmizegetusa Regia and surrounded by the strongholds of Blidariu, Costesti and Piatra Rosie, and of the last (and greatest) Roman conquest in Europe, the Dacian Provinces with their capital at Sarmizegetusa Ulpia Traiana.

          This Daco-Roman landscape is complemented by a majestic medieval array of castles and mountain top fortresses, such as the great Corvin Castle and the breathtaking Colt Fortress, or beautiful medieval churches built with from Roman monuments, such as the very eclectic Densus Church. Small villages with a long history display their “scars of time”, their stone paved roads, old water mills, traditional architecture and abandoned medieval churches.

 

Modern Germisara and Aquae

          During the hot summer days, we can enjoy the newly built waterpark just a few kilometers from our sites, or take the weekend to relax at the spa complex of Geoagiu Bai or Calan Bai, the modern versions of the Roman bath of Germisara and Aquae.

          The proximity of Simeria and its central railroad station offers easy access to other great Transylvanian cities, such as Sighisoara (Dracula’s birth place), Brasov (and its nearby Bram Stoker’s Bran Castle), and Sibiu (with the largest museum complex in Transylvania), and all their riches.

Roman Provincial Home



Sarmizegetusa Ulpia Traiana



Dacian Sarmizegetusa Regia



Germisara - Geoagiu Bai



Aquae - Calan Bai