Borșa is twenty minutes drive from Cluj-Napoca, but it feels much further. The road climbs through orchards, past two small wineries with hand-painted signs, and arrives at a hilltop village where everyone still keeps a few rows of vines behind the house. The Conacul sits at the edge, white-washed, with a long verandah looking south to the Apuseni foothills.
Anca’s kitchen. She cooks rarely — three or four nights a week, mostly when there is a group — but when she does, it is extraordinary. The wine list is short and personal, mostly from Liliac, Crișana, and a tiny natural winery in the next valley that we will not name yet. Booking dinner here is reason enough to come.
- ·Wi-Fi (200 Mbps)
- ·In-house chef on request
- ·Wine cellar
- ·Library
- ·Verandah dining
- ·Garden
- ·Vineyard walks
Tudor inherited the half-ruined manor from a great-aunt in 2015. He and Anca, who had been running a small restaurant in Vienna, moved back the same year. Anca cooks for guests on request — a single tasting menu, six courses, using mostly what is grown within ten kilometres.
A few of the sights within easy reach of this house.
~14 km awayThe cultural capital of Transylvania — Hungarian baroque, the country's best food scene.
~33 km awayA 13th-century salt mine that looks like a Bond villain's lair — boats, a Ferris wheel, underground.
~79 km awayA 75,000-cubic-metre glacier inside a limestone shaft — Europe's second-largest underground ice block.
~81 km awayA high karst plateau in the heart of the Apuseni — sinkholes, springs, scattered shepherd huts.