Stumbled randomly upon this when I was searching books about Vlad the Impaler at the local library's website. Hopefully this will confirm my idea of the beauty of this region. Maybe I'll even get around going there someday.

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Was surprised how varied the Transylvania region really is. There's something for everyone: not just villages, but also towns with movie theatres and cafés. The food sounds delicious and the castles are gorgeous. I need to make a mental note that whenever I'm going to go there, I have to stay at boarding houses so that I can taste the delicacies you can't have from restaurants and get to mingle with the locals. As long as they won't kill me with their homemade liquor!

The guide itself is brilliant and extremely comprehensive. I can't make any comments about how dated the information is, but I don't think it should be part of the rating anyway, since every single guide in the world is prone to be dated at some point. Mallows travelled extensively in the Transylvanian region and seems to know a lot about the culture and customs. However, it wasn't said with most of the places whether they are flocked by tourists or by locals.

I can't quite grasp the function of the 'buying property in Transylvania' -section in a travel guide. I would have also wanted some more information about travelling off the beaten path, and how difficult travelling is if you can't rent a car. Now the author seems to presume that everyone will rent a car. Besides, the roads sound hellish so I wouldn't do that even if I could. In any case, those are just small things that I can get over with.

Bradt Guides overall seem to focus on the more unusual countries, or those that not everyone may think about when planning a trip. I mean, North Korea? So, if all Bradts are as comprehensive as this one, I will definitely turn towards them the next time I get excited about a particular country.