Surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains in the heart of the Romanian countryside, there’s more to Transylvania than vampires and folktales. This picturesque landscape of wild forests and rolling hillsides is a playground for outdoor enthusiasts and culture vultures, with dozens of small villages and miles of hiking trails to be explored. But where to stay?
In the village of Cris, mother and son team Gladys and Nikolaus Bethlen – the latest generations of a family whose history dates back almost 800 years to the time when Count Miklós Bethlen founded the village and established Bethlen-Cris castle – are acquiring and renovating a collection of crumbling historic buildings and turning them into country escapes. Working with local designers Stefanie de Castelbajac and Melanie Etten-Ruppell, the Bethlens are restoring the 300-year-old buildings to their former glory and creating Transylvania’s first rural luxury escape.
From next spring, visitors will be able to rent the four-bedroom Caretaker’s House and the two-bedroom Depner House for exclusive use, or pick from the four beautifully designed rooms at Corner Barn. The houses and guestrooms will be finished with antique kilim rugs, white-tiled wood-burning stoves and Tom Dixon lighting, with modern sculptural staircases made by local craftsmen and original wooden beams preserving the character of the buildings.
Guests can dine in the comfort of their house or visit the Kitchen Barn, where resident chef Tatiana will prepare hearty breakfast and delicious evening meals using organic produce from the family’s farms, orchards and forests, as well as fresh fish plucked from nearby rivers, served with quality local wines. The surrounding landscape is a blank canvas for adventurous souls, with guided hikes, cycle trips and horseback rides offering glimpse of the Romanian countryside, and visits to local wineries, bear-spotting expeditions and tours of nearby UNESCO sites promising to make Transylvania a trip like no other.
