Get picked up from your hotel in Brașov and travel by eco-friendly hybrid vehicle eastward through the Țara Bârsei plain, with the Bucegi and Ciucaș massifs marking the horizon ahead.

Your first stop is Prejmer, just 17 kilometers from Brașov. The fortified church here is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest of its kind in southeastern Europe: a Gothic structure begun by the Teutonic Knights in 1218, ringed by circular walls that reach nearly 12 meters high and up to 5 meters thick.

Inside, explore a maze of over 270 rooms on four levels — shelters and storage spaces where entire Saxon families took refuge during the repeated Ottoman raids that swept through the region between the 13th and 17th centuries. The village of Prejmer was destroyed more than 50 times during that period; the fortress was almost never taken.

Your guide will bring this history to life as you walk the corridors, climb to the battlements, and step inside the Gothic church, whose gilded altarpiece — the oldest triptych in Transylvania, dating to around 1450 — remains remarkably intact. Prejmer is also the only fortified church in Transylvania to earn three stars in the Michelin Green Guide.

From Prejmer, continue southeast along the Buzău valley toward Vama Buzăului. Here, at the Valea Zimbrilor reserve, come face to face with the European bison — the heaviest land mammal on the continent, once extinct in the wild and now the subject of an active Carpathian rewilding program.

The reserve has grown steadily since its founding in 2008, with bison brought from Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and France; a herd of over 30 now roams its meadows and woodland. Walk the perimeter path at an unhurried pace, observing the herd — and the deer, reindeer, and mouflon that share the reserve — with your guide providing context on the conservation effort and the animals themselves.

A short drive from the reserve brings you to the Urlătoarea Waterfall — locally known as the Screaming Waterfall, named for the sound the water makes as it spills from the mountain. This is one of Romania's most unusual natural phenomena: rather than a single cascade, dozens of linear springs seep directly out of the reddish limestone face and spread across its surface in a constant, unbroken film of water. The flow has remained unchanged for centuries.

A 10-15 minute walk through mixed forest along the stream brings you to the foot of the falls, where you can step onto the rock face itself and, with the right footwear, walk on water. Wooden benches and tables line the path — a natural place to stop and take in the quiet of the Ciucaș foothills before the drive back to Brașov.

If you would like to make an afternoon of it, a traditional lunch at a local gastronomic point in Vama Buzăului can be arranged. The village is known for its farm-to-table cooking — expect hearty Transylvanian dishes made from ingredients grown and raised in the surrounding hills. Each guest settles their own bill directly.