We've created a tentative itinerary for Bulgaria and Romania after reviewing the posts here - thank you to those who made suggestions - it really helped to get us started on a plan.
We plan to travel May/June and will rent a car in Romania and take the bus or train in Bulgaria - if feasible (still researching options). We'd like to know if the times we're proposing are about right - we like to settle in a bit once we arrive in a place. It would also be helpful to know if there is a destination that we could consider deleting. We're not so much beach types so we're skipping the Black Sea region. Our interests are food, wine, a little hiking and museums.
We're not sure how to route our flights but might try to fly direct Atlanta to Munich or Frankfurt and to Cluj-Napoca from there. Then fly home from Sofia (or vice versa.) Any thoughts on routing from Atlanta would be helpful.
Romania:
Fly into Cluj - (3 nights)
Maramures Region--base in Sighetu? - (3 nights)
Timisoara - (3 nights)
Sibiu- (3 nights)
Brasov - (2 nights)
Bucharest (Drop Off Car) - 3 nights
Bulgaria:
Ruse - (2 nights)
Veliko Turnovo - (3 nights)
Plovdiv (4 nights)
Sofia - (4 nights)-day trip or overnight to Rila Monastery