Apafi Manor

The moment you enter Apafi manor you notice its good vibe.

There is one elegant living room where you will enjoy slowly cooked traditional food together with your friends; Regine's cooking is one of our main assets. The living room is linked to an even more charming library with a variety of good books.

Apafi is generous enough to allow you throw a party and have some personal time at once. Bedrooms are cosy and invite you to take your time; silence is guaranteed all day, every day.

The manor can be booked for minimum 2 persons and can host a maximum of 9 people. The good part is that you will have the entire house and garden to yourself, regardless of the number of people in your group. So you will not have to share the place, but you will pay only for the exact number of people staying there (2 to 9, depending on your group).

Above the small village of Mâlâncrav, right next to the stronghold Evangelical church with beautiful Gothic murals, the Apafi Manor has, since 2007, been receiving guests in its exemplarily restored rooms, becoming a standard for the recovery and protection of local heritage architecture. This is due to the initiative of the Mihai Eminescu Trust which, in 2000, with the help of the local community, took over the decayed building, previously owned by the state during the Communist period, and started an ample process of recovery, involving experts from many fields.

The manor, as well as the whole village, belonged to the Apafi noble family. In the 18th century, when they had no more heirs, the manor has been taken over by the Bethlen noble family. Throughout time, the Apafi house has been changing its shape and was several times renovated in 1830 the owner of the time, Graf Haller. In 1920 the manor was transfered to the Saxon community, then transformed into the cultural house of the village, then seized by communists in 1949.

After discovering in the archives of the Hungarian state several detailed inventories that marked the changes brought to the Mâlâncrav estate between 1679 and 1778, German architect Jan Hulsemann and contractors Fritz Klutsch and Ernst Linzing brought the manor back to its original 18th century aspect, using traditional techniques and materials. Once the architecture and finishes were restored, British designer David Mlinaric was in charge of the interior design, respecting the same spirit: most of the objects inside the rooms of the manor – weave work, lace work, furniture pieces and ironware – are of local provenience, either originally found inside the manor, or brought from the nearby villages.

The five generous rooms, each with its own bathroom, as well as the kitchen, elegantly combine traditional furniture pieces with more modern ones, using a soft, natural color scheme. Nevertheless, the library remains the central space of the manor. Here, the decorative frieze was re-painted by two British artists and the interior design includes furniture pieces, books and paintings, most of them donated by Mrs. Ilinca Bossy.

Regine and Nelutu, the family taking care of Apafi manor, live in the same village and will be around if necessary.

Apafi manor is placed in Mălâncrav, an authentic Saxon village in Transylvania. Here still lives the biggest rural community of Saxon people in Romania.

The closest international airport is the one in Sibiu (1 hour 30 minutes from Malancrav). Bucharest is 4 hours 30 minute away.

Local, authentic experiences you can book while staying here: bread making workshop, guided walk through the surrounding forests and rolling hills and dinner cooked by shepards at a sheepfold nearby. To get such an experience, send us an e-mail.

Also, please note that is best to drink the water your host brings to the house, rather than directly from the tap.

The only mobile network working here is Digi.