Forbes’ 11 Reasons To Love Transylvania

Forbes’ Ann Abel makes a compelling case for Transylvania beyond Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” in a well written travel post.

“Quick: If I say Transylvania, what comes to mind? 

I’m going to guess that it has sharp teeth, a cape and a thick accent. And the funny thing about that is that Bram Stoker never visited Transylvania, nor even Romania at all. And yet the author was captivated by the name—which means “across the forest,” as the region is surrounded by the Carpathian and Apuseni Mountains—and the place’s reputation for lush forests and deep nature (and also some impaling, but more on that later).

Anyway, Stoker chose Transylvania as his setting for Dracula, and more than a century later, the association still sticks. I’d guess that’s why Romanian entrepreneurs Raluca Spiac and Alexandra Da Sacco, and the latter’s husband, Giulio Da Sacco, chose to call their luxury, bespoke travel company Beyond Dracula. 

“Giulio and Alexandra were on their uninspired honeymoon in Bhutan—uninspired in the sense that they went in the off season and they were cold and it was rainy,” says Spiac. “A couple of times they had this thought: We’re here in this place with untouched nature and access to an authentic way of life. We have this in Romania, but no one really knows about it and definitely no one pays the amount of money they pay to go to Bhutan for it.” 

Continuer reading [here]