Camino de România 7

At a glance

• Start / finish: Sibiu, Piața Huet (on the Camino de România 1) / Gârbova, Gräfenburg (on the Camino de România 1)
• Length: 53.6 km — the shortest of the seven Romanian Caminos
• Duration: 3 stages (27.5 / 14.0 / 12.1 km; Camino Ninja division); can also be walked in 2 or 4 days
• Elevation: ↗ 686 m / ↘ 752 m — two thirds steadily up into shepherd country, then 500 m down over twelve kilometres
• Highest point: 909 m near Poiana Sibiului; lowest point 364 m in the Secaș valley near Gârbova
• Stages: 3 — Camino Ninja system; the association publishes neither stages nor GPX for this section
• Landscape: Cibin plain, foothills of the Cindrel Mountains, shepherd villages of the Mărginimea Sibiului, the Poiana Sibiului plateau, Secaș valley with Saxon wine villages
• Waymarking: none — the association paints yellow arrows on a blue ground, but so far only in other regions; GPS essential
• Traces of St James: Piața Huet, Sibiu — pilgrim shells from graves of the 12th–15th centuries, Capela Sf. Iacob recorded in 1415 (demolished 1898; remains with a depiction of St James in the house at Piața Huet 17 — after Heidrun König, association's information); none between Cristian and Gârbova
• Accommodation: no hostel; rural guesthouses in Sibiel (from 150 RON), Săliște, Poiana Sibiului; ask around in Gârbova
• Connecting routes: Camino de România 1 at both ends; Camino de România 4 ends 20 km before Sibiu in Tălmaciu
• Connection to Santiago: none — beyond Borș there are no routes through Hungary
• Best time: May to October; 15 August shepherds' festival in Tilișca, 28 December young men's gathering in Săliște

Overview

Whoever sets off here does not start near the evidence, but on it. Piața Huet in Sibiu is the one square in Romania where pilgrimage to Santiago becomes physically tangible: in the graves of the old churchyard around the parish church, archaeologists found shell-shaped pendants, the oldest from the 12th and 13th centuries — the association counts four, following the 2007 excavation monograph, „patru pandantive tip scoică (a Sf. Iacob)" — and in 1415 a document records a Capela Sf. Iacob here, demolished in 1898 together with the Priests' Tower. Beneath it lies the rotunda from the end of the 12th century, Sibiu's first chapel, later an ossuary; three metres further on, the vault where Samuel von Brukenthal was laid in 1803. The association says so itself: Sibiu is „orașul cel mai important (până acum)" for the evidence of a Romanian Camino. From this square the Camino de România 7 heads west — not on the main axis across the flat foreland, but south and uphill into the Mărginimea Sibiului, 18 Romanian shepherd villages, more than 200 square kilometres, black-and-white costume, round hat, reverse-glass icons, and a transhumance that has been UNESCO intangible heritage since 5 December 2023.

To be honest, this is a detour paid for in metres of climb: the Camino de România 1 goes from Sibiu to Gârbova to the north via Miercurea Sibiului across the plain; the Camino de România 7 climbs via Cristian, Orlat, Sibiel with its 600 glass icons, Săliște, the „spiritual capital" of the Mărginime with a school since 1616, and Tilișca, where Dacians copied Roman coins in the 1st century BC, up to 909 metres near Poiana Sibiului — founded only in 1537 and turned „într-un timp record" into the shepherds' capital — and then drops twelve kilometres into the Secaș valley to Gârbova, Urwegen, where a Romanesque basilica has stood in ruins since Christmas 1870 and the 13th-century Gräfenburg still has its bacon store. Nothing is marked, there are no hostels, and beyond Oradea no route leads to Santiago. But the Sibiu–Vințu de Jos railway stops in Cristian, Orlat, Sibiel and Săliște — and this route was laid out not by pilgrims but by flocks. It climbs because the grass grows up there.

Other names

The route is called Camino de România 7 — the numbering of the seven Romanian Caminos has been agreed with the association that runs them, with whom we show these pages in cooperation. The association itself names its sections after regions and publishes six GPX tracks — Iași, Neamț, Bacău, Argeș, Brașov, Bihor —, a Sibiu section is not among them; for the Mărginimea variant it has neither a name nor waymarks. The overall project is called Camino de România. You could call this route the Mărginimea variant or the southern variant Sibiu–Gârbova of the Camino de România 1.

The landscape has a name of its own: Mărginimea Sibiului, the „borderland of Sibiu", the shepherd villages between the Sadu and the Săliște at the foot of the Cindrel Mountains. And the places carry three names: Sibiu is Hermannstadt, Nagyszeben; Cristian is Großau, Kereszténysziget; Gârbova is Urwegen, Szászorbó — first recorded in 1291 as „Wrbow". One note to avoid confusion: the waypoint Vale is a district of Săliște, not a separate village, and the railway halt is called Sibiel hc.

Who it's for – and who it's not for

Ideal if you are walking the Camino de România 1 and, between Sibiu and Sebeș, would rather see shepherd villages than plain: 53.6 kilometres instead of the northern ones, but 686 metres of climb and a plateau at 900 metres. Ideal for two to three days out of Sibiu, with the train back — the Sibiu–Vințu de Jos line stops at five waypoints and at Miercurea Sibiului on the Camino de România 1, so you can switch variants along the way. Ideal for anyone who wants three collections on a single day's walk: glass icons in Sibiel, Dacian coin dies in the Brukenthal, the bacon store of Gârbova. And ideal if the evidence interests you: the starting square is the find spot.

To be honest, though, it is not for you if you expect waymarks: there are none, you walk with the waypoints of our route data. Not for you if you are looking for St James along the way — between Cristian and Gârbova no patronage, no hospice, no pilgrim badge is documented; the evidence lies at the start, the end of the route is a blank. Not for you if you underestimate stage 3: 12 kilometres, but 600 metres of descent with no village in between, shepherd dogs included. And not for you if you want to reach Santiago: the Camino de România 7 is a variant within a network that the association itself calls „a white spot" on the European pilgrim maps. Gaps like that you plan away beforehand, not on the way.

Route & landscape

You start on Piața Huet beneath the 73-metre tower of the parish church and leave Sibiu westwards via Turnișor into the Cibin plain. After ten kilometres Cristian, Großau, recorded in 1223 as „Insula Christiani", with the fortified church of St Servatius, a double defensive wall and around 80 stork chicks a year; then Orlat, where the 1st Romanian border regiment was based for 87 years and the municipality claims the first paper mill in south-eastern Europe. From here the land rises: Sibiel with the icon museum, Vale, Săliște — the railway ends for you here, 47 to 57 minutes from Sibiu.

The second half is shepherd country. Via Galeș to Tilișca, below Dealul Cățănaș with its Dacian fortress, via Rod up onto the plateau of Poiana Sibiului, 900 metres, wooden church of 1766, obelisk for 82 fallen, „Nu plângeți eroii / ci slăviți-i" — the highest point of the route lies here at 909 metres. Then everything tips: twelve kilometres and more than 600 metres down into the Secaș valley, out of the Romanian shepherd villages into the Saxon wine villages, to Gârbova at 394 metres, where the Camino de România 1 meets you again coming from Miercurea Sibiului. Surface: village tarmac and field tracks on the plain, pasture and forest tracks on the slopes, sheep paths on the plateau; water in every village, nothing between Poiana Sibiului and Gârbova.

Stages, terrain & difficulty

We divide the route into 3 stages — Camino Ninja system, because the association publishes nothing for this section; all that is documented are distances between places (Cristian 10, Săliște 21, Tilișca 26, Poiana Sibiului 35 kilometres west of Sibiu). The kilometres are estimated from our chain of waypoints and calibrated to the 53.6 kilometres of our route data. Difficulty: moderate — steadily up, once steeply down; the challenge is navigation, dogs and the beds in Gârbova.

1. Sibiu – Săliște (27.5 km) — Cristian, Orlat, Sibiel, Vale; fortified church, icon museum; railway alongside. Longest stage.
2. Săliște – Poiana Sibiului (14.0 km) — Galeș, Tilișca, Rod; Dacian fortress, climb to 900 m.
3. Poiana Sibiului – Gârbova (12.1 km) — highest point 909 m, then 600 m descent into the Secaș valley, no village in between; Gräfenburg, connection to the Camino de România 1.

Two days also work: Sibiu–Săliște 27.5 and Săliște–Gârbova 26.1 kilometres. If you want the museums, take four: Sibiu–Orlat 17.0, Orlat–Săliște 10.5, then 14.0 and 12.1 — every variant adds up to 53.6. The elevation splits roughly into 250 m on stage 1, 380 m on stage 2 and 600 m of descent on stage 3; shepherd dogs accompany the flocks on the plateau — stand still, stick down, let the shepherd call them off.

You start on the evidence — and walk the way of the sheep

The Romanian Camino has an evidence problem, and this route begins at its solution. From the Middle Ages there are documents about pilgrims for Transylvania — in 1385 Peter Sparnau and Ulrich von Tennstädt passed through Brașov, Sibiu, Cluj and Oradea on their way back from Jerusalem; in 1521 György Czompol and his wife Skolasztika from Cluj went on pilgrimage to Santiago and founded a chapel on their return —, but only one place with finds: Sibiu. In the graves around the parish church on Piața Huet lay shell-shaped pendants, pilgrim badges of St James, the oldest from the 12th to 13th centuries, others from the 13th to 15th. The association counts them, following Maria Emilia Crîngaci-Țiplic's excavation monograph „Sibiu, Piața Huet" (2007), as „patru pandantive tip scoică (a Sf. Iacob)" — four; a more recent study speaks of a single shell amulet. To be honest, the number is disputed, the find is not. And the square offers more: in 1415 the city's heritage inventory records a Capela Sf. Iacob here, demolished in 1898 together with the Turnul Preoților; beneath it the foundations of a rotunda from the end of the 12th century, Sibiu's first chapel, later a cemetery chapel with ossuary; in 1510 the deposed Wallachian prince Mihnea cel Rău was murdered here, in 1592 Count Albert Huet set up the library in the chapel, in 1803 Samuel von Brukenthal was placed in the vault beside the pulpit. Whoever sets off here does not start near the evidence — they start on it.

Then the route leaves the evidence and follows the flocks. The Mărginimea Sibiului is not pilgrim country but shepherd country: 18 villages whose inhabitants „continuously crossed the Carpathian Mountains", keeping the link between the Romanians north and south of the range — since 5 December 2023 this transhumance has been UNESCO intangible heritage, Romania's tenth element on the list. Poiana Sibiului, where the route reaches its highest point, was founded only in 1537, because Romanians were moving to higher ground, and became „într-un timp record, o adevărată «capitală» oierească": here, between the wars, Romania's first savings and credit bank for sheep farmers was set up, here the Shepherds' Union had its seat. And one shepherd from here shows what sheep were worth: Hagi Nicolae Ghișe-Poenarul entered a monastery and donated 15,000 gold pieces, 500 sheep and 15 horses — with which, in 1853, the first stone church of the Cocoș monastery in Dobruja was built, as the building inscription says: „s'a zidit în anii dela Christos 1853 … cu cheltuiala Domniei Sale D-lui Hagi Nicolae Ghișe-Poenarul". This route was laid out not by pilgrims but by flocks. It climbs because the grass grows up there.

In between lie three collections that no other Romanian Camino has on a single day's walk. In Sibiel, in 1969, the priest Zosim Oancea and the village founded the museum of reverse-glass icons, around 600 pieces, „cea mai mare expoziție de icoane pe sticlă din Transilvania" — peasants who painted saints on glass. At Tilișca, on Dealul Cățănaș, the archaeologist Nicolae Lupu found 14 coin dies in a single vessel in the 1960s, a 15th turned up later: Dacians copying Roman coins because they were better known than their own money; since 12 June 2026 the exhibition „70 de ani de cercetare arheologică în cetatea dacică de la Tilișca" shows them in the Brukenthal history museum in Sibiu — that is, at the start. And in Gârbova stands the Gräfenburg, built in the 13th century by a Count Daniel against Turkish attacks, one of the last surviving noble castles in Transylvania, with gate tower, keep, tunnel and the historic bacon store where the Saxons kept their provisions; above it the Romanesque basilica of 1280, a church until Christmas Day 1870, when the roof burned. Dacians forged Roman coins here, peasants painted saints on glass, Saxons stored bacon in a castle. St James has nothing to do with any of it — and saying so honestly is stronger than bending anything. His next piece of evidence waits beyond the finish: the St James chapel of around 1420 in Sebeș, 20 kilometres further along the Camino de România 1.

Highlights along the way

• Piața Huet, Sibiu — parish church (14th c., tower 73.34 m, 192 steps to the platform), Ferula with 67 gravestones, Brukenthal vault (1803); find spot of the pilgrim shells (12th–15th c., Crîngaci-Țiplic 2007); Capela Sf. Iacob recorded 1415, demolished 1898; 12th-century rotunda; Muzeul Național Brukenthal, Romania's oldest museum institution (public since 1817). According to Heidrun König (2000), remains of the St James's Chapel survive in the house at Piața Huet 17, with a depiction of St James; the Brukenthal Museum holds a life-size 15th-century statue of St James (association's information).
• Fortified church of Cristian (Großau) — recorded in 1223 as „Insula Christiani"; 13th-century Romanesque basilica, St Servatius, 1480–1495 hall church by Andreas Lapicida, double defensive wall, Baroque altar 1729; from 1756 Landler settlers from the Salzkammergut; around 80 stork chicks a year; key: Ev. Pfarramt Turnișor, +40 269 228 865.
• Orlat — Cetatea Scurtă with a Roman post (106–271), destroyed by the Tatars in 1241; Salgó castle (13th c.); 1764–1851 seat of the 1st Romanian border regiment; according to the municipality, the first paper mill in south-eastern Europe in 1534.
• Muzeul de icoane pe sticlă „Pr. Zosim Oancea", Sibiel — founded 1969, around 600 reverse-glass icons, „cea mai mare expoziție de icoane pe sticlă din Transilvania".
• Săliște — old administrative and judicial seat, town since 2003; school documented since 1616, twelve members of the Academy; oldest church of the Mărginime (1674); memorial houses of Ioan Lupaș, D. D. Roșca, Onisifor Ghibu; 28 December „Întâlnirea cetelor de juni".
• Tilișca — Dacian fortress on Dealul Cățănaș (flourishing from the 2nd c. BC), coin-die find (14 + 1) by Nicolae Lupu; medieval castle on Cetate hill; church of Sf. Arhangheli (1782) on a wooden church of 1684; ethnographic museum since 2003; 15 August Sărbătoarea oierilor.
• Poiana Sibiului — 900 m, first recorded 1537, shepherds' „capital"; wooden church Adormirea Maicii Domnului 1766 with frescoes by Simion Zugravul (1771) and Vasile Muntean (1801); obelisk 1923 for 82 fallen, „Nu plângeți eroii / ci slăviți-i"; Romania's first sheep farmers' credit bank.
• Gârbova (Urwegen) — 1291 „Wrbow"; 13th-century Gräfenburg with keep, gate tower, tunnel, bacon store, bell storey 1879; hill church, Romanesque basilica 1280, a ruin since Christmas 1870; Lutheran church of around 1500 with Baroque altar; Cetatea Urieșilor (14th c.); wine and brandy; key: Ev. Pfarramt Apoldu de Sus, +40 269 534 109.
• Sebeș (Mühlbach) — 20 km beyond the finish on the Camino de România 1: St James chapel of around 1420 at the parish church, the network's next piece of St James evidence.

How pilgrims reach this route

The Camino de România 7 is a variant, and both ends lie on the same axis: Sibiu and Gârbova are waypoints of the Camino de România 1. Coming from the east — via Brașov, Șoarș and Agnita, on the Camino de România 1 or its southern variant, the Camino de România 6 —, you reach Sibiu and stand on Piața Huet with a choice: north via Miercurea Sibiului or south through the Mărginime. Coming from Wallachia on the Camino de România 4 through the Olt gorge to Tălmaciu, you have another 20 kilometres of Camino de România 1 to Sibiu and can turn onto the Camino de România 7 there — the way from the Olt pass into the shepherd villages is the old trade route to Sibiu that the association writes about.

Without a Camino: Sibiu has an international airport (SBZ), long-distance trains from București, Cluj and Budapest, and has been tested as a Capital of Culture since 2007. If you don't want to begin at the start, take the Regio Sibiu–Vințu de Jos to Cristian, Orlat, Sibiel or Săliște and join there — the railway stops at five waypoints of the first stage.

Continuing on?

Yes — in Gârbova you are back on the Camino de România 1, and the next piece of St James evidence lies 20 kilometres further: via Câlnic with its peasant fortress and Sebeșel to Sebeș, where the St James chapel of around 1420 stands at the parish church, which the association explicitly counts among the St James churches of the Romanian lands. On via Alba Iulia with its cathedral founded in 1009, Turda, Cluj — where in 1349 an indulgence from Avignon was issued for the St James chapel — and the karst of the Crișul Repede to Oradea, where the Camino de România 3 comes in from the Banat. Backwards, to the east, lie Brașov with the Camino de România 2 and Moldavia with the Camino de România 5. If you want the loop, walk from Gârbova back to Sibiu on the Camino de România 1 via Miercurea Sibiului — two variants, one weekend.

To Santiago, nothing leads at present. Beyond Borș near Oradea the Romanian network ends; as far as Budapest there is no marked Way of St James, the association calls Romania „a white spot" on the pilgrim maps and has been working on it since June 2024 within the Camino Europa Compostela federation. If you want the Compostela, you fly — the Camino Francés is reachable from Sibiu with a flight to Spain. The marker in Iași says 4,500 kilometres; the Camino de România 7 delivers 53.6 of them and the one square where the shells were found.

Preparation & practical matters

Best time: May to October; June and September for the plateau, 15 August for the shepherds' festival in Tilișca. Poiana Sibiului at 900 metres can have snow in April and November. Waymarking and navigation: none. You walk with the waypoints of our route data and offline maps; the easiest way is to plan it directly in the Camino Ninja app together with your stages and accommodation. Ask the association (office@caminodesantiago.ro) for the latest — its yellow arrows on a blue ground, „săgeata galbenă pe fond albastru", so far stand in other regions. Credencial: „un fel de pașaport de pelerin", issued by the association since 2018, 10 RON (approx. €2), by e-mail from the association; stamps in parish offices, town halls, museums. Language: Romanian; German among older people in Sibiu and the Saxon villages, English in the city. Emergency: 112. The association confirms: you can ask for a stamp wherever you stop — but there are no custom pilgrim stamps like on the Camino in Spain or Portugal; the only stamp made specially for pilgrims is at the hostel Casa Genoveva in Câmpulung Muscel (Camino de România 2). Contact: if you want to walk the route, write to the association at office@caminoromania.org — it puts you in touch with its local representatives, who can tell you about accommodation, the route and everything else; their contacts are also listed at caminodesantiago.ro/contact/.

Accommodation: No hostel. Rural guesthouses in Sibiel (15 houses, from 150 RON), Săliște, Tilișca and Poiana Sibiului; in Gârbova ask the municipality or the Lutheran parish of Apoldu de Sus, the day before — or continue to Sebeș. Food: shops in every village, inns in Săliște and Poiana Sibiului; nothing on stage 3, carry water. Shepherd dogs: normal on the plateau — stand still, don't run, stick down, let the shepherd call them off. Packing list: light shoes with grip for the descent, rain gear, offline maps, power bank, cash in lei. Membership: APCS annual fee 50 RON (approx. €10), students and pensioners 25 RON (approx. €5), as of September 2026.

What the route costs

To be honest, this is a weekend with museum tickets. All amounts as of September 2026, exchange rate 1 EUR ≈ 5.0 RON. Documented: guesthouse in Sibiel from 150 RON (approx. €30), mostly 150–220 RON (approx. €30–44) per room; APCS membership 50 RON (approx. €10). Guide values: hotel in Sibiu 300–500 RON (approx. €60–100), guesthouse in Săliște or Poiana Sibiului 150–250 RON (approx. €30–50); set lunch 35–60 RON (approx. €7–12), coffee 8–15 RON (approx. €1.60–3); museums (Brukenthal departments, Sibiel, Tilișca) 10–40 RON each (approx. €2–8); Regio Săliște–Sibiu at CFR tariff, 5–72 RON depending on class — individual fares were not available at the time of writing. Churches free, fortified churches for a donation or a small fee.

Realistic daily budget: frugal with guesthouse and self-catering 150–220 RON (approx. €30–44), mid-range with guesthouse, a hot meal and one museum 220–320 RON (approx. €44–64), comfortable with a hotel in Sibiu 400–600 RON (approx. €80–120). For three stages reckon roughly 500–1,000 RON (approx. €100–200) on the ground; the flight to Sibiu comes on top.

Getting there

To the start (Sibiu): Sibiu airport (SBZ), five kilometres west of the city, with connections from Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom; Sibiu station with long-distance trains from București (around six hours), Cluj and Budapest; coaches from all over Romania. Piața Huet lies in the upper town, 15 minutes on foot from the station.

Along the way and from the finish (Gârbova): the Regio Sibiu–Vințu de Jos stops at Turnișor, Cristian Sibiu, Orlat, Sibiel hc and Săliște (four trains a day, Săliște–Sibiu 47–57 minutes) and on at Miercurea Sibiu on the Camino de România 1. From Gârbova bus or taxi to Sebeș (around 20 kilometres) or Miercurea Sibiului (rail); Sebeș has rail and bus connections to Sibiu and Alba Iulia; Sibiu airport 60 kilometres.

• Romanian railways: bilete.cfrcalatori.ro — CFR Călători, Sibiu – Săliște – Miercurea Sibiu
• Info: caminodesantiago.ro — Chronicle, credencial
• Sibiu airport: sibiuairport.ro — getting to the start
• Fortified churches of Cristian and Gârbova: kirchenburgen.org — Stiftung Kirchenburgen, keys and opening
• Brukenthal Museum: brukenthalmuseum.ro — Casa Altemberger, coin dies of Tilișca