Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Only five daily trains clank out towards Sighişoara (1½ hours, 6 lei) - at research time
they left at 6am, 2.30pm and 10.20pm.
Odorheiu Secuiesc to Târgu Mureş
CORUND
Twenty-five kilometres north of Odorheiu Secuiesc, this small village is basically a one-
street gauntlet of stalls hugging the road. Expect to buy authentic embroidered chemises,
woolly socks, waistcoats and felt hats, as well as animal-skin rugs and green, brown and
cobalt-blue pottery.
Buses to Sovata go through here from Odorheiu Secuiesc.
PRAID
Eight kilometres north of Corund on the road to Sovata, Praid is home to a
salt mine
(
0266-240 200;
www.salinapraid.ro
;
Str Állomás 44; adult/child 20/12 lei; 8am-2pm
Mon-Sat, 10am-1pm Sun summer, 8am-12.45pm Mon-Sat & 10am-12.45pm Sun winter)
, a
bizarre underground world with a church, sculpture, swing sets, slides, a cafe selling soda
and beer, and internet access(!). Locals come for extended underground treatments for
bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses at the base, 120m below the surface. A bus leads
down dark tunnels - it's almost apocalyptic.
There's a saltwater outdoor pool a couple of hundred metres west of the entrance to the
salt mine.
SOVATA
Forty kilometres north of Odorheiu Secuiesc and 60km east of Târgu Mureş (but some-
where between St Moritz and Blackpool), with its green saltwater lakes surrounded by
lush vegetation and forests, Sovata has a touristy feel. The most popular spot is
Lacu
Ursu
(Bear Lake; mid-Jun-Sep)
, enjoying a steady temperature of between 30°C and
40°C. People have been coming here for the lakes' restorative properties - said to cure in-
fertility - since the 19th century, and with its faded summer villas lining the road, the
place has the air of a lost snapshot from a Chekhov play.
Sovata Tourist Information Centre
( 0265-577 421;
www.sovatatravel.ro
;
9am-9pm Jun-Aug, to 5pm Tue-Sat Sep-May)
, 3km northeast of the crossroads and 750m
from Lacu Ursu, helps find homes, hotels and
pensiunes
. It rents bikes for 20 lei per day.
