Connecting Romania to the European long-distance footpaths network

Through the project, we intend to increase the flow of domestic and foreign visitors to poorly developed mountain regions in Romania. We also considered the improvement of the national path system and its connection to the European long-distance trail network as well as the adoption of efficient organizational techniques, solutions and measures for the maintenance of the mountain infrastructure. Through all these initiatives, we aim to step up the promotion of hiking as a form of tourism. In order to transfer know-how and experience in the development of the hiking network, a visit of the SKV delegation to Schweizer Wanderwege in Switzerland and 3 SWW visits to SKV in Romania took place. We walked 2,704 km for the documentation of the trails and we defined the E3 and E8 trails from Romania, with a total length of 2,000 km. We reconditioned and marked / re-marked 428 km of E3 and E8 trails, with 2,144 volunteers, taking 1,495 voluntary work days. SKV’s experience has been disseminated through 23 local workshops, attended by 444 people, as well as through 4 seminars attended by 413 students. We also implemented 11 mountain education activities along with 536 pupils. The “Via Carpatica” expedition brought a lot of notoriety to the project and practically made the “connection”, which was originally intended to be exclusively theoretical. The expedition has occupied an important and appreciated place among local, regional, national and international actions and has paved the way for new far-reaching projects. In 2017, at the “European Ramblers Association” Conference in Braşov, SKV and SWW presented the collaboration between the two project partners as an example of good practice between 2 ERA member associations.

Executive AgencyCarpatina Ardeleana Association of Tourists SKVPartnersSchweizer Wanderwege - Swiss Hiking Trail FederationContract NumberPF 15ComponentPartnershipsCountySibiuImplementation areaNationalThematic areaSustainable rural developmentImplementation period01.03.2015 - 28.02.2018Budget of the project (CHF)268,451Swiss Contribution (CHF)241,566Project websiteviacarpatica.wordpress.comExecutive Agency websitewww.skv.ro