On the Road with Flip Byrnes

travel.com.au Roving Reporter

Flip Byrnes arms herself with garlic and heads for the powder heaven deep in Transylvania, Romania.

I ditched my 50 million kg of snowboard baggage in the hotel room in Romania, walked into the restaurant and they’re playing Men at Work “I Come from the Land Down Under”. Welcome to Transylvania! I was armed with garlic and had been warned of men in bars with pointed teeth…..

Right, down to business. Favourite Ski Resorts in The World. Chatel, France, Portillo, Chile and now Pioana Brasov, Romania. Oh, and Gulmarg, India, once I had 3 months to recover and my bowels started passing solids again.

But Romania has just topped the list of secret-gem-ski-resorts. Maybe it is the 8-euro lift ticket, one hell of an epic powder day, Dracula’s Castle nearby, the fresh local salmon for dinner and the hotel puppy, but it is an absolute “winner”.

Hmm, snowboarding waist deep fresh or wallowing in a cheapo fine hotel with a view of an ancient castle? There have been worse predicaments my friends, there have been a veritable alphabetical catalogue of ‘worse’.

The day started with my introduction to Popo, who the resort hooked me up with and has been skiing this mountain since he was 3. He was my personal Messiah of Powder and his mission for the day, should he choose to accept it (and he did) was to show me every secret stash on the mountain. This resulted in 6 solid hours of non-stop riding, a tumble that almost resulted in concussion (helmets) and ingesting about 2 tonnes of powder.

We also picked up some other riders during the day; Romanians are friendly and a breath of fresh air after the sometimes frigid receptions of Western Europe.

I was so zonked by the end of the day that the ski school were treated to the odd sight of us walking through the forest home, Popo carrying my board and me trailing 2metres behind eating an entire box of take away pizza.

If you are after a budget ski vacation, this is as good as it gets. Apart from the cheap lift tickets, meals at the ANA Hotel Brasov round out to be around 10 euros (including the salmon) and there you can also rest your weary head for 70 euros. Plus don’t forget the ANA Ski School – it’s the way to go.

Plus, one of the jewels of Romania, the medieval town of Brasov, is just a stone throw away. Surrounded by mountains and boasting the “smallest (cm) street in Europe” (Rope St, or, as my guide says, “String St”), it is worth aimlessly wandering the pedestrian streets, checking out the fresh fruit market or there is always Karaoke in the Irish Pub. Combine that with a trip to Dracula’s Castle (Bramms’ Castle) only 40 minutes away and even if you don’t like sliding you’ll find enough entertainment.

It was tempting to stop a little and cool my heels, but I had the excitement of an overnight train journey involving pop up basins and bunk beds ahead, before hitting my next destination, Budapest, Hungary.