Fall’s Delicious Tastes and out Of Season Prices Make for Great Vacations

New options for tourists are available in the fall, as festivals connected with gathering the harvest start their season too. On top of that, going for a holiday in the rural area may bring not only the cultural experience but also the benefits of the fresh air, fresh milk and home-grown food sknown as organic, in other parts of the worldt.

This week-end, for instance, the Festival of Cheese and Plum Cherry will take place in Rasinari village, Sibiu County. Folk dances and music will lead the party, and a raffle will end it, with the option to win a free week-end at one of the farms housing tourists.

If two days of feasting on cheese were not enough, then you may embark on a tour of The Cheese Country, in Brasov County, which is a tourist program offered by the local subsidiary of the National Association of Rural, Ecological and Cultural Tourism sANTREC, www.antrec.rot The program includes visits to the Bran Castle, the Ethnographic Museum, the medieval fortress of Rasnov, the peasant fortress of Prejmer. Five sorts of different cheeses may be served at breakfast, and chicken, lamb and pork grill make the supper menu. The farms, rated at two daisies for the level of comfort they provide, take 5 to 7 euros per night per person, breakfast included; at three daises comfort rate, the charge is 8 to 10 euros, and at four daises - 12 to 14 euros.

Those who are not so much into cheese, but into wine, could choose for The Wine Road tourist program which offers wine tasting at vineyards in Panciu, Tifesti, Jaristea and Odobesti for groups of at least eight people. A wine testing session of four to six wines goes between 5 to 6 euros, and a Champaign testing session costs 7 euros.

Accommodation is available at farms in the area, members of the ANTREC network, and costs between 17 to 34 euros per night, pending on the number of daises the farm got.

Prahova County provides opportunities for short vacations too, at Lepsa or Gresu, for instance. Prices per room at a farm of the ANTREC network go between 17 and 34 euros. Wine tasting is on offer at the vineyards in that region too. And a five-night stay-over at Cheia, with full board and wine tasting included, costs 135 euros.

Another high point on the festival agenda is the Festival of Cabbage Rolls, taking place in Praid, Harghita County, between 23 and 25 September. The village brass band will open the festivities, and the teams entered in the competition for making the tastiest cabbage rolls will parade. A soccer championship played with cabbages instead of balls will take place; Cabbage Gentlemen and a Cabbage Rolls Princess will be selected too.

A special offer, called "Vacations in the Countryside", is valid between 12 September and 1 November. Tourists would pay between 30 to 35 euros for a five-night accommodation at farms of the ANTREC network in the counties of Tulcea, Neamt, Dambovita, Covasna, Cluj, Prahova, and Suceava. The price of meals is not included. Some of the villages included in this program are Durau, Ceahlau, Agapia, Farcasa, Almas, Pietrosita, Baile Balvanyos, Crisan, Ciocanesti, Sadova, Cornu, Breaza, and Cheia.