Description

We are delighted to offer our clients this high quality butterfly to Romania in summer 2025…

On this exciting new trip we expect to see some of the best butterflies of Europe, and to enjoy the authentic traditional villages, unspoiled rural landscapes and stunning medieval towns that showcase the real Transylvania. Bordered on three sides by the Carpathian Mountains encompassing one-third of Romania, and against a backdrop of breath-taking scenery, we expect to see a wonderful variety of butterflies including the much sought after Danube Clouded Yellow, Camberwell Beauty, Purple Emperor, Poplar Admiral, Swallowtail and a host of fritillaries, blue, coppers and satyrs.

There are several more reasons why we believe this is the best butterfly tour you will find in Romania:

• It is a 9 day trip, giving you more time in the field and a more relaxing holiday
• No more than 6 guests in the group mean viewing and photography opportunities will be maximised for everyone
• 2 expert guides with decades of tour leading experience and a vast bank of knowledge about butterflies and other wildlife. They can also give a lot more attention to each of our guests with such a small group size

Our adventure covers parts of Apuseni Mts., remote Bucovina, the Eastern Carpathians, from where we explore several distinctive habitats, including cold bogs, volcanic, dolomite and limestone slopes, high mountain pastures, and the two largest gorges of the country. For nine magical days, we will deliberately lose ourselves in a Europe unfamiliar to most travellers. Apart from the great butterflies and wildlife, we will taste the freshest ethnic dishes and local wines served by proud village hosts. We will see diverse ethnic groups, each with their own architectural style, traditions and dress. Charcoal makers and sheep-cheese makers decorate the roadside, and we will take magical butterfly-walks rewarded with picnic lunches in the meadows of the famed Transylvania.

Romania has 179 butterfly species, making it one of the richest faunas of Eastern Europe, with 16 designated Prime Butterfly Areas, covering some 120,000 hectares. The north and western part of the country has a very central European character, while the southern and eastern part are drier, with aspects of steppe and mediterranean vegetations. Because nowadays land use is still very traditional, many species that are threatened in most of Europe still have good—albeit often local—strongholds in Romania.

Our goal on this tour is to see the last European populations of Danube Clouded Yellow, now on the brink of extinction, and to encounter some currently under-recognised, but very distinctive endemics, like the Transylvanian Turquoise Blue, and the runcensis form of Black Ringlet. We’ll also see a great variety of other species including Titania’s Fritillary, Camberwell Beauty, Purple Emperor and Poplar Admiral. Hopefully we can also see Violet Copper, which has only 2-3 populations in Transylvania.

We expect places to go quickly on this tour so please register your interest or book soon to avoid disappointment!