The 9 Best Guided Tours In Cluj Napoca

Are you planning a trip to Cluj but don’t know what to visit? Maybe it’s your first time in Romania or you have just never been to Cluj before. But don’t worry as we’ve prepared a list of the best guided tours you can have. Explore the city and its surroundings with a local guide and make the best of your experience. Culture, architecture, love stories, legends, museums, mountains, horseback riding, the Cluj area includes them all, so which ones will you try?

Free walking tour by Cluj Guided Tours

First to discover is the historical centre of what used to be called ‘The treasure city of Transylvania’, during medieval times. The enthusiastic team of guides from Cluj Guided Tours will be happy to share the story of their city. Starting in the heart of the city, the tour walks you through the 2,000 years history of Cluj, marking the most important landmarks past and present. Sprinkled with legends and good humour, the tour is informative and enjoyable and saying ‘goodbye’ to your guide at the end of the tour will not be easy.

Get in touch with Cluj Guided Tours and its guides will tell you all you need to discover in the city.

Duration: 2 hours

Starting point: Meet your guide in the Union Square, in front of the Matthias Corvin statue. Look for the green t-shirts.

Contact: +40 745 043 025, clujguidedtours@gmail.com

1. All day tour by City Tours & Events

Culture, exotic plants, old houses and local experiences in just one day spent in the heart of Transylvania. How about a full day of stories about Cluj and Transylvania?

The tour starts with a walk in the historical centre, discovering its centuries-old history and customs, the local culture and the vibrant city that Cluj is today. At noon, your guide will take you to one of the best traditional restaurants for a well-deserved meal. Try the local dish ‘Cabbage à la Cluj’ or the delicious sarmale. Eat well, as Cluj awaits you with more places to discover. The afternoon starts with a visit to the largest botanical garden in Eastern Europe, a little paradise with exotic plants and rare flowers. The ‘botanic lesson’ is followed by an incursion into the traditional Transylvanian architecture at the open-air Ethnographic Museum. Between old houses, water mills and workshops, architecture and practices will be unveiled before your eyes. The day will end with a panoramic view over the city.

Duration: all day

Starting point: Meet your guide next to the old Benedictine monastery

Contact: +40 745 555 077, office@citytoursevents.com

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNjlqKnBQYx/?tagged=varzaalacluj

2. Love stories by Cluj Guided Tours

Today, love is romantic and movies, songs, poems are written about it. But in the past, love had no or little value. There are a few love stories that defeated the midst of time, the prejudices and cruel laws of a society that denied this pure emotion over the centuries. Find out the stories that won over arranged marriages and discover Cluj’s Romeo and Juliet. Your guide has selected for you the most beautiful love stories so you can fall in love with the wonderful city of Cluj.

Duration: 2 hours

Starting point: Meet your guide in the Union Square, in front of the Matthias Corvin statue. Look for the green t-shirts.

Contact: +40 745 043 025, clujguidedtours@gmail.com

Museums tour by Retro Travel

Between national painter’s work of arts, odd medicine and miraculous plants, traditional clothes and tropical plants, discover the city in a different way. Take your specialized guide and explore the museums of Cluj. You will get a better understanding of Romanian culture and discover the history of Transylvania. Uncover the evolution of the national arts during the last five centuries in the 18th-century baroque palace of the Art Museum and find out what were pharmacists used in the 16th-century as a remedy for the period’s diseases at the Pharmacy Museum. Learn about the customs and the traditional costumes of the Romanians from Transylvania at the Ethnographic Museum. And why not let your guide introduce you to some basic botany knowledge while visiting the Botanical Garden? The choice of what to discover is yours.

Duration: 4 hours, depending on how many museums you want to visit

Starting point: Contact the guide for the meeting point

Contact: +40 264 450 452, office@retrotravel.ro

Capital of Modern Arts tour by City Tours & Events

Melting arts, cinema and modernity, this tour will take you through what has been dubbed ‘one of the 12 cities, which will shake up the art world in the 21st-century‘. Starting with the University headquarters and the Local Arts and Design University, you will visit the creative spaces of Cluj, where artists such Victor Man or Adrian Ghenie started their careers. Next stop, the Paintbrush Factory, an arts and exhibition centre that is in a continuous process of renewal and recreation of the ‘modern art’ concept. The tour ends with a visit to the TIFF Cafe, home to the biggest cinema festival in Eastern Europe, the Transylvanian International Film Festival.

Duration: half day

Starting point: Contact your guide for the meeting point

Contact: +40 745 555 077, office@citytoursevents.com

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUw34igjiuq/?taken-at=774913325

Dog-friendly walking tour by Cluj Guided Tours

If you just cannot get separated from your furry friend, take him for a guided tour in the first dog-friendly tour of Cluj. The tour follows the green spaces of the city, mainly crossing the parks and the Somes River banks, in the areas where you and your dog can walk safely and enjoy the tour. Don’t forget to take the dog’s leash, his vaccine book and garbage bags for his needs.

Duration: 2 hours

Starting point: Contact the guide for the meeting point

Contact: +40 745 043 025, clujguidedtours@gmail.com

3. On the footsteps of communism by Cluj Guided Tours

Discover the marks of communism in Cluj Napoca and how people used to live in communist times. From big grey buildings to marks of the resistance or even the death of those who opposed communism, your guide will introduce you to the way of life, the architecture, and the stories of the 40 years that followed the Second World War in Romania.

Duration: 2 hours

Starting point: Meet your guide in the Mihai Viteazul square, in front of the Mihai Viteazul statue.

Contact: +40 745 043 025, clujguidedtours@gmail.com

Monument to the Communism victims © Dennis Jarvis / Flickr

Horseback riding and archery tour by TerraMont Carpati

Every weekend, TerraMont Carpati is preparing an escapade in Cluj’s surroundings, in the Apuseni Mountains. If you up for some adventure and a full day spent in the middle of nature, then they’ve got what you need. And you don’t even have to know how to ride before the tour. The trip includes the transport, an instructor for riding and archery, the horses and a local guide to make sure you will have an unforgettable experience. The trip is organized on weekends but, depending on the weather, it may be replaced with another activity.

The association organizes different excursions in Cluj’s surroundings, including hiking, camping, horse riding, archery. Contact the team for more information.

Duration: all day long

Starting point: Contact the guide for the meeting point

Contact: +40 752 452 555, office@terramontcarpati.com

One day trip in the Apuseni Mountains by Clubul Montan Apuseni

If you like slow walks in the mountains, discovering new plant and animal species and making friends, then you should book a trip to the Apuseni Mountains with a local guide. Sculpted in limestone, the Apuseni Mountains landscapes are breathtaking and an enjoyment for the viewer’s eyes. With deep valleys, sharp edges and beautiful forests, the mountains invite you to discover their hidden wonders. Take a map to trace your route and a picnic to eat in the middle of the mountains. Your guide will always be there to take care of you, present the marvels of Apuseni Mountains and introduce you to the locals’ lifestyle.

Duration: all day long

Starting point: Contact the guide for the meeting point

Contact: +40 744 776 393, clubapuseni@gmail.com

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