Most travel articles about Transylvania focus on the same things: Dracula's castle, medieval fortresses, picturesque villages. All worth visiting — but none of them get your heart rate up. Here's what actually happens when you take a buggy tour through the hills above Cluj-Napoca.
The Setup
You arrive at BuggyZone's base in the Livada Steluța area, about 15 minutes from the city center. The vehicles are already lined up — a mix of 2 and 4-seat buggies, all looking like they mean business. You get a helmet, gloves, and a 10-minute briefing from your instructor. Accelerate here, brake there, follow the leader, don't panic in the mud. Then the engine starts and you pull onto the first trail.
The First Five Minutes
The trail starts gently — a dirt track through open fields, the city still visible in the distance. You're getting used to the controls, testing the steering, figuring out how much the buggy moves over uneven ground. Then the first hill appears. The buggy climbs it without effort. From the top, you can see across a wide stretch of Transylvanian countryside. You stop. Take a photo. Wonder why you haven't done this before.
The Middle Section
This is where the tour gets interesting. Forest tracks, steep descents, and — if it's rained recently — the mud. The buggy handles it easily, but you still feel the slides, the corrections, the controlled chaos of driving something powerful on unpredictable terrain. The instructor knows exactly when to push the pace and when to let people catch up.
The Viewpoints
The 2 and 3-hour tours reach hilltop viewpoints where you stop the engines and just look. Cluj-Napoca laid out below, the Apuseni mountains visible in clear weather, forest on three sides. It's the kind of view that makes you realize most tourists are missing half the city.
The End
You return to base. Return the helmet. Your clothes may have mud on them. Your face probably has a smile on it. Several people ask immediately if they can go again.
Practical Details
- Packages: 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours
- Price: from 400 RON / buggy
- Location: 15 min from Cluj-Napoca city center
- No experience required
- Available year-round (weather permitting in winter)
- Buggies fit 1 or 2 people; ATVs available for solo riders
