tymes tours
travel agent & tour operator in Timişoara, Romania
sightseeing tours, cultural trips, nature tours and active travel
Tourism is our passion
homepage & news
Welcome to the site of Tymes Tours! We are a tour operator and travel agent with the headquarter in Timişoara, Romania. Tymes Tours was established in 2004, so we look back on eight years of experience in organizing tours in Romania, whereas the personal experience is much longer.
Our task: to organize high-quality tours in Romania. Our customers: travel agents from the whole world, companies (foreign or based in Romania) and individuals or private groups.
We are highly pleased to notice the evolution of the modern tourism: people want to travel in smaller groups (travelling in large groups, by huge buses is slowly getting out of fashion...), they want to visit smaller regions instead of whole continents in one week; the modern traveller wants to experience much more of the visited sites, wants to interact with the locals and find out more about their way of living, instead of running between countless "must-see" spots. This trends correspond 100% to our philosophy, and You, dear guests or business partners, should make full profit of it.
In our tours we mix Romania's best features: nature, history, monuments, traditions and, last but not least, people. And the things which don't belong to the country's best features, are not just hidden under the carpet; every country under the skies has its shadows... But: travelling means altogether a positive, enlightening experience.
Time is a big issue nowadays, and creating a site is a time-consuming task; this site is not finished yet, so we'd be glad to receive a visit from you from time to time, just to check on what has been updated in the meantime.
Tourism can sometimes be
a heart-breaking experience...
The old woman on the left, now in her eighties, is one of the Germans who left the Banat region of Romania in the stormy days at the end of the WWII. She came back for the first time 2009 (together with her daughter) to visit the village of Ofseniţa, where she had spent her childhood. In the meantime, the village became almost deserted, most houses lie abandoned or ruined. At the visit of the church, they discovered that the roof of the nave has collapsed, bushes are now growing between the church entrance and the altar.
Such experiences can also not leave us ice-cold; we're only human. As tour operator, Tymes Tours makes such travel experiences possible by arranging the matching customized services (accommodation, meals, transportation, guiding) for each situation, accordingly.
Even for large groups, we prepare tour packages far from the standard.
German tourists taking a bus round trip have the chance to visit a "real-life" sheepfold, meet a shepherd and taste some Romanian cheese. This is not usual for the "industrial" tourism in the region, the crowds of tourists visit here almost exclusively churches and monasteries. Which are nice, in deed, but by far not the only interesting spots of the area.
A large group of students from Croatia, also on a bus trip, visit the former Cistercian abbey of Cârţa (Kerz) in southern Transylvania. Compared to the nearby Saxon fortress-churches, not so many visitors come here. The Lutheran priest Michael Reger is a wonderful host for tourists of all ages, being an excellent history- and story-teller.
Quotes on Romania & Romanian tourism...
Prince Charles' connection to Romania is pretty famous worldwide. His first visit took place 1998, many more followed on an almost yearly basis. He is especially interested in the former Saxon villages in south-central Transylvania (he bought and restored several old houses and manors in Viscri / Deutschweisskirch, Mălâncrav / Malmkrog and Zălan / Zalanpatak), but also visited (and did a lot of botanical hiking) parts of Bucovina, Maramureş and Wallachia. Prince Charles even used his political influence to protect the area of central Transylvania from grand-scaled projects, aimed to develop the mass-tourism: he convinced the Romanian president Iliescu to drop the idea of the "Dracula Park" (a huge fun park proposed near Sighişoara) and also convinced the government to adopt slight changes to the route of a highway, in order to protect the traditional country side.
... have a glimpse into our recent tourism activity
news & info on what we did & where we travelled in the last few months
March – April – May 2012: Nature in spring in the Banat – "Explore the Carpathian garden!"
People who love nature, love it in all seasons. But for the people wishing to meet rare European species, a tour during the spring months is the best opportunity when it comes to the regions of Banat and the neighbouring Oltenia. We made several nature trips this spring: to the waterfalls of Beuşniţa, in the Cerna Valley, in the Danube's Gorge (in the Iron Gates of the Danube) but also in the picturesque hills of the Banat region.
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March 2012: High season for city tours of Timişoara – from the British ambassador to large groups
After a winter, which proved to be way colder than the average, the spring (finally) arrived. With our city tours we could clearly register the "spring's awakening", Timişoara showing itself in the best colours in the time of magnolias' blossom. As guests for the city tour we had some important people – we should mention His Excellency Martin Harris, UK ambassador in Bucharest, on the first place, but also many engineers (which arrived to Timişoara for visiting local companies) and "real" tourists, i.e. guests which came for the solely purpose of visiting.
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March 2012: Info-trip through the DKMT-Euroregion, route for wine and gastronomy
How does our region stand when it comes to good wines and food? We had the chance to have an in-depth look at this features within a project of tourism promotion of the DKMT-euroregion. Let us explain: this euroregion comprises parts of the border areas of Romania, Hungary and Serbia (the Banat is an essential part of the DKMT-euroregion), and the promotion of the region as a travel destination was themed on a route of wines and gastronomy. This was an excellent opportunity for us to stay tuned to the latest developments on this topic in the Banat region.
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Nov. 2011: Calendar 2012 with images of the Secession (Art Nouveau) in Timişoara
Our hometown Timişoara counts the highest number of monuments in Romania, many of them belonging to the Art Nouveau style – rather called "Secession" here because of the Austrian historical background. However, this true treasure is virtually unknown on national and international level, also most of the locals are unaware of it. The high-quality pictures of the calender depict parts of spectacular façades, but also some nice interiors.
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Nov. 2011: Logistic services for an event of the County Council
The ADETIM (local development agency) of the Timiş County Council hosted a pan-European RENREN-meeting focused on renewable energy implementation. We were required to ensure the logistics for this event, including dinners, wine tasting, city tour and a set of informative materials on Timişoara and the region. The accomplished task strengthens our market position in the field of event organizing for administration bodies.
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Oct. 2011: Info trip for an active tour (hiking & horse riding) in Cerna Valley
We constantly improve our offer of active tours in the Carpathians. The region of the Cerna Valley is, from a pure natural point of view, perhaps the most beautiful in the Carpathians; it also hosts old, tiny settlements scattered in an unusually wild environment, where only few people are (still) striving to make a living. This is the perfect area to hike by foot and on horse, and this "soft tourism" also sustains the fragile (to non-existent) economic life of the inhabitants.
[ more pictures coming soon! ... ]
tymes tours is owned by SC Tymes Globetrotter SRL
Str. Lisabona nr. 7/1A, Timisoara, RO 300603, info@tymestours.ro
Tourism licence no. 3196/2004