Hello and good day to you. What a crazy weekend I had myself with my partner. I made her a surprise and I booked a trip to one beautiful touristic attraction about one hour away from my hometown in Romania - the Dinosaur World Transylvania, in Hunedoara county near Hateg.
It is interesting that I used to live here for a part of my life and I knew that there were some major discoveries in the past near Hateg where it was found different dinosaur fossils in some archaeological/paleontological diggings. And guess what, following this concept, in 2021, they opened a theme park (unfortunately, this is a star below Jurassic Park 😅, no living dinosaurs)
The theme park is called "Dinosaur World Transilvania" or "Dinosaur Transylvania" (referring the Y to I in Transylvania for an accurate translation) and is one of the very few dedicated theme parks on the Romania territory (note the below screenshot, marked with red is this park location and with yellow a few other similar themed or amusement parks - I could be missing one or two more, but to refrain, that would be it)
The entrance to the park is paid with free parking inside the park and outside the park. The price for an adult is 30 RON ($6.37), for children between 3 and 12 yo is 25 RON ($5.31) and under 3yo is free.
This price excludes any current activities which are a whole lot including horse riding and hot air balloon rides. (according to their website, the hot air balloon will take you up to 50 meters in the air for about 10 minutes), however, the balloon was not present during my visit there.
Furthermore, I want to share my personal experience of visiting this theme park based on real paleontological findings in the area. The theme park refrains to a small area where dinosaur fossils were found.
But before to get there, let me share with you my trip and experience and what I've seen.
The journey there was not difficult at all with the car. About one hour drive (I wasn't the driver) from my home place, is to be found this theme park. Close to the area, I was able to see two beautiful things:
The first one it was a stork nest on the top of a electricity pillar. In Romania, this may be pretty common for the storks to make their nests like this one.
And yet, the second thing was a STUNNING landscape with snowy mountains in the background.
The below mountains area is called the Retezat mountains and there is a national park and some stunning places to visit both during the summer and during the winter (ski resorts).
Once arrived there at the Dinosaur Transylvania, you can park your car both outside the main gate (the above one with the sign) or inside, before getting into the paid area of the park itself. A guard there will guide you (pinpoint) towards the cashier.
After you arrived inside, you have a dozen options to do. But one of the most common ones is exploring. For those with children, there are tons of activity games and they can even ride some dino sculptures which some represent the 1:1 ratio of a real dinosaur.
The ones in the enclosures are not to ride, but some of the big ones are free to ride. A bit cloudy description, I know. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the big dinosaurs that can be ridden by children (even adults) as continuously there were all occupied.
Many of the representation of the dinosaurs and other animals are in fact wood sculptures done and signed by a Romanian sculptor, Gabriel Cernat, which also competed on Romanian got Talent in 2018 (ext video)
Some other sculptures are of metal (in fact, I found only one, there could be more though).
But moving on, there is a lot more to explore in the theme park: there is a restaurant (we gonna go there a bit later) some recreation area with hammocs, themed-benches to sit and live animals (not dinosaurs hehe).
My partner, @maxideea getting attack by an angry wooden bear 🙃
Moreover, in the nearby forests, you can also find some hatched eggs
Okay, moving on towards the animal farms, there are a few donkeis and bizons by the left end of the park
Going back, you can also see a horse (for riding) some ponnies, dwarf goats, alpaca and more. I think for close-up watching of the goats and alapcas (or even petting?) you may have to pay as there is gate access towards all the animals.
The area has a massive restaurant where they serve food (barbeques) and beverages, and there are also a few gift shops. There is also a wooden tower with free access where you can have a clear view over the valley.
Okay. One more point I want to cover is that there are signs around the park both for direction, information and about the dinosaurs displayed. The signs are both in Romanian and English, therefore, if you want to have a little extra read, I am going to post here a few of them.
I just hope the images are clear enough for reading.
In the meantime, one more thing to mention is that, a species of dinosaurs, Hatzegopteryx thambema, one of the largest flying reptiles discovered, was in fact discovered here in this area and takes the name of the nearby town, Hateg.
Okay, now what about a bit more of my personal point of view of the place?
Well, it's a so-so. If you are travelling from afar, maybe doesn't worth so much visiting but if you are nearby in the area (100 miles radius I would say) it definitely worth visiting. But why?
Is newly open and there are a lot of areas in construction, it looks it will be a few more years maybe until they extend the park and the constructions are finished (probably hotels, new areas etc). The zone is part under UNESCO agency and it looks like is going to be a massive touristic attraction in the following years. Only that for now, at least, is a bit early to visit even if it's open to the public and there are lots of visitors.
The food is slightly overpriced for the Romanian market (hence the area, it makes sense) but still underpriced for the European Market value.
Overall, I can say that it was a beautiful experience with this trip and because I am somehow a local, it definitely worthed it. If you are into paleontology, definitely worth more, or if you have children because they will have some fun there.
I will also link to their website (english version) for more information about the area if you are ever interested in visiting it (please note: NO AFFILIATE OR ANYTHING WITH THE PARK, this is for information purpose only)
I had this trip with my partner, @maxideea, which is also a member of HIVE. She also posted a similar thread on different group to avoid duplicacy, and if you want to also have a look into her post, you can check it here: Do you want to see dinosaurs?
I also have to apologise if with some images I went a bit overboard with editing. I took the photos with both my iPhone and my Nikon D750 + 105mm lens and edited.
I have to thank you everyone for all your support and I hope to see you soon around. Take care and stay safe!
Hiya, @lizanomadsoul here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #1551.
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