Cultural Heritage Tour in Țara Silvaniei and Kalotaszeg

ROMANIA

Discover the surroundings of Țara Silvaniei, a historic an ethnographic region in the N-V of Romania, as seen through the eyes of a woman who calls it home.

OPEN DATES for 2026:

16-20 JULY 2026 -unavailable

13-17 AUGUST 2026 - unavailable

3-7 SEPTEMBER 2026 - unavailable

The tour explores traditional textiles, embroidery, wooden churches, village homes, and dowry rooms of a region mostly overlooked by tourism. As well, we will also step into the Hungarian region Kalotaszeg, to learn about the specific embroidery and ceramic of this area.

During the tour, you will meet local elders, women who share their the stories of their textiles, visit wooden churches, local collections and join hands-on workshops to learn embroidery and ceramic decoration techniques directly from our artisans.

Accommodation is provided in a restored traditional house, offering a warm and personal connection to the region and family heritage.

Join Marina from Made in Sat on a personal journey

A young woman and an elderly woman sit outside a blue house, engaging in conversation. The young woman has long brown hair, is dressed in a purple top and khaki pants, and is writing in a notebook. The elderly woman is wearing a blue top, a headscarf, an apron, and floral pants while sitting on a chair. There is a wooden pallet and a leaning stick against the house, with a small round container on the ground nearby.

Visit grandmothers and some of the inspiring women from my village.

Explore their dowry chests and incredible personal textile collections.

An elderly person with wrinkled hands wearing traditional embroidered clothing, folding or displaying colorful embroidered fabric with floral and geometric patterns.
An elderly woman dressed in traditional embroidered folk attire, including a white blouse with colorful embroidery, a black headscarf with floral patterns, and earrings, outdoors with a blurred natural background.

Mothers, artists, storytellers, young wives, housekeepers, creators, farmers, informal teachers, innovators, changemakers, workers, women of the countryside who nurture, build, and inspire.

An elderly woman smiling and waving at a woman with long brown hair, who is standing outside an open door, with sunlight shining through sheer curtains.
Two women, one elderly and one young, wearing traditional embroidered clothing, inspecting embroidered textiles on a table in a cozy room.
A woman is kneeling, smiling, and presenting her hand to a seated older woman who is showing her embroidery. The room is decorated with traditional embroidered textiles on tables and walls.

The multicultural aspect of the region. Țara Silvaniei and Kalotaszeg.

During the tour, we will meet both Romanian and Hungarian grandmothers, who have lived in the same area their whole life, and will share with us parts of their culture, heritage and family history. This way, we’ll have the chance to observe social changes, history and learn about cultural exchange and influences.

Three women gathered around a table, closely examining a piece of embroidered fabric. The woman in the middle, wearing glasses and a white embroidered blouse, appears to be teaching or explaining something to the two women on either side, one wearing a colorful headscarf and the other with bright red hair and glasses.

You’ll have the chance to learn directly from artisans and take home the knowledge of the traditional techniques.

This tour is designed to foster genuine connections between you and the local community.

We believe that meaningful travel is not about the number of places you visit, but about the depth of your experiences.

To ensure that each participant has a truly personalized experience, we are offering only four spots on this tour (on request, with the possibility to bring a partner/family member or friend). The small group size will allow us to connect more deeply with one another and the people we meet along the way.

We are happy to have by our side our partner artisans, the embroidery power-team Viorica Marian and Maria Opriș, the only sheep skin artisan of our region - Viorica But, the inspiring beadsnecklace artisan Florica Gancea, one of the very few men weavers, Ionica Crișan and our ceramic historian and friend Szabo Attila.

Group of women sitting at a table in a wooden room, engaged in a craft activity, with colorful yarns and tools on the table, one woman standing and looking down at the others, smiling.
Seven women, four are sitting at a table and three are standing behind them, smiling and showing embroidery hoops and fabric with stitched designs in a wooden room with a window and artwork on the wall.
People working on a colorful, embroidered leather bag surrounded by various craft supplies on a wooden table.
A person hand-stitches embroidery on a fabric stuffed animal with a needle and colorful thread.

Traveling Supper Club

This tour is hosted in collaboration with our friend Steven Santander from Traveling Supper Club, passionate traveling artist and chef who loves creating authentic culinary experiences.

Lunches and dinners are thoughtfully prepared by them, using fresh local ingredients and a whole lot of care. Steven’s food is bold, colorful and artistic, each plate being a conversation starter for all the participants.

Three bowls of traditional Mexican dishes on a striped orange and pink tablecloth. The central bowl contains orange-colored soup, possibly a lentil or squash soup, topped with small fish and black pepper. The top left bowl contains a mixed bean and vegetable dish, and the top right bowl contains a bright orange hummus-like dip garnished with black sesame seeds and topped with dark roasted vegetables.
Three plates of roasted sweet potatoes topped with strawberries and nuts, and a bowl of hummus garnished with paprika, all on a white tablecloth.
Two women smiling and enjoying a meal at an outdoor dinner table with candles and a variety of planted foods, during sunset in a garden or backyard.
A rustic blue wooden chair outdoors on green grass with small yellow flowers, holding a plate of raw carrots on a pink-hued puree with black seeds.
Four painted cards on a table with red and white striped cloth, depicting colorful still life scenes of food and wine arrangements.
A rural landscape with rolling hills, scattered houses with red and white roofs, trees, and open fields under a clear blue sky.
A woman with tattoos on her arms, wearing denim overalls and a choker, holds an elaborate, colorful, beaded headdress on her head while smiling outdoors in a garden under a green leafy tree.
Three women having a picnic in a lush green yard with a large tree, hanging bucket, a hammock, and a glass pitcher of dark-colored beverage on a table.

ITINERARY & DATES & PRICING

Day 1

We’ll meet in Cluj-Napoca and travel together to Salaj region, visit a wooden church, have lunch cooked by a grandma, visit an open air museum and local textile collection.

Day 2

Visit a Hungarian grandma, see her house and make traditional csigo pasta together, followed by a visit to a Romanian traditional blue house, weaving demonstration and lunch in the courtyard of a small home farm.

Day 3

A day for practicing and learning together with local craftspeople, participating to workshops of sheepskin embroidery and embroidering birds from local textiles with Haba la Jibou (women embroidery club).

Day 4

Visit a craftswoman in a near-by hamlet creating beautiful beads jewelry specific to the region, attend a paper flower making workshop, meet grandmas and learn from their craft in making home decorations.

Day 5

Traveling to Kalotaszeg, a Hungarian region near-by, stopping to visit craftspeople, admire the architecture and impressive dowry rooms of Hungarian grandmothers, ending the trip back in Cluj-Napoca in the late afternoon.

Availability

16-20 JULY 2026 -unavailable

13-17 AUGUST 2026 - unavailable

3-7 SEPTEMBER 2026 - unavailable

Accommodation structure and pricing:

  • individual room - 1500 euro / person

  • friends room - 1350 euro / person (if you are sharing the room with a friend/partner. We have one room available with two single beds, and two rooms available with one double bed).

    (a 500 euros non-refundable deposit is requested in order to book the spot)

    The price includes:

  • transport from Cluj-Napoca train station - Tara Silvania & Kalotaszeg during the whole trip - Cluj-Napoca train station / airport

  • lunches and dinners included, prepared by Traveling Supper Club, grandma meal, local farm ingredients for a shared breakfast, local alcohol tasting - visinata and palinca

  • 4 nights accommodation in a traditional Romanian house

  • access to all the activities, visits, workshops, materials

  • local guide Romanian- English

  • welcome gifts with souvenirs from the local artisans

Join us!

Testimonials

A young woman with blonde hair standing in front of a wooden wall, wearing a traditional embroidered blouse with purple and pink patterns.

Madalina

“Participating in the tour was a unique opportunity for me to discover Sălaj, new ethnographic areas and to meet people who keep traditions and crafts alive. Every moment, from visits to the homes of the locals, access to their lives, objects and stories, to the workshops of embroidery, lacemaking, pottery or the tour of the wooden churches, seen from a new perspective, was a fascinating foray into the cultural heritage of the region.

It was not just a glimpse into the past, but also a change of attitude: I went with the thought that I would connect spiritually with a culture and be part, even for a few days, of a way of life that is slowly but surely disappearing. However, I left knowing that we all have the opportunity to actively contribute to preserving local traditions and cultural richness, by exposing them, documenting them and then promoting them (I know for sure that I will use the sewing techniques learned here for a quilt in the future).

It's something you can't easily replicate on your own, you effortlessly access a type of experience where time dilates and you manage to use every moment meaningfully and enjoy authentic connections, both between participants and organizers (thank you), and with people in the community.”.”

Rose

“Meet lots of interesting talented people and indulge yourself in Romanian rural life and culture. If you are interested in embroidery, weaving, spinning etc, and traditional skills and you would like to eat Romanian home cooked food, this is a fabulous opportunity. I was inspired and energised by my tour, every day was full of interest.”

A smiling woman with shoulder-length gray hair wearing a blue top and a beaded necklace, standing indoors with decorative textiles in the background.