A Taste of Rural Life for Real, While Vacationing

Are you in for an "active vacation?" Not to worry: the owners of boarding houses in the rural areas will take you mowing, hay harvesting, or cow milking. You are also in for a bonus: a trip in the mountainous region in an off-road vehicle. The land of Tara Motilor is a world forsaken place in the heart of the Apuseni Mountains [in western Romania] and the location to spend your dream vacation. If you are into discovering traditions passed on from our forefathers do not miss the Aries Valley and the beautiful villages of Albac, Garda and Arieseni.

You may be accommodated in boarding houses or vacationing villas, but the best option for a taste of the real life of the people there is to become their live-in guest.
Thus you will get a marriage of both tradition and full modern amenities.
And, if you are willing to share the experience, your hosts will show you how to milk a cow, harvest the hay, collect mushrooms, wild strawberries and bilberries.

Such a vacation is not very expensive either. One night per person costs from 200,000 to 400,000 lei [5 to 10 euros].Breakfast for one is between 2 and 3.75 euros. Lunch goes around 4 euros and dinner is around 3 euros. One dish likely to be on the menu is the famous "virsli", that is Transylvanian sausages.
Thus, a final calculus of costs for a week-end up into the mountains would put you in for a some 1.5 million lei [around 37.5 euros] expense.

Taking your kids with you on this trip would not add too much to the final pay-check, as accommodation for children under 10 is half the full fare, and zero for children under four.
Your pets could also join you, since the people there are willing to accommodate them too, with plenty of space for your dog or cat to play.

The entertainment menu is rich too: fishing in mountain springs, horse back riding lessons, hunting, boat rafting on Aries River and mountaineering.
You can take short trips to the famous caves of Biserica din Colt [the Church on the Corner], Ursilor [Bears] and Focul Viu [the Live Fire], to the Scarisoara glacier, the Ponoarele fortress and the Varciog water-fall.

And if you are not in the mood for hiking to all these locations, a 1.2 to 1.5 million lei [30 to 37.5 euros] expense will put you in an off-road vehicle taking up to seven people on tourist tours.