The eight wooden churches of Maramureș on the UNESCO list are at most two hours apart, yet nobody sees them all: the coaches stop at Bârsana and Șurdești and leave. I made a two-day route starting from Baia Mare, for anyone with a car and patience.

Day 1: the south

Șurdești (the 54-metre tower, the tallest oak structure in Europe), Plopiș (3 km away, almost identical and always empty), Budești (with the chain-mail shirt of the outlaw Pintea) and Desești (the 1780 interior painting, the best preserved). Sleep at Desești or Breb.

Day 2: the north

Bârsana (the old church on the hill, not the new monastery in the valley, though that is worth it too), Ieud Deal (where the Ieud Codex of 1391 was found), Poienile Izei (the hell scenes, painted to frighten, still work) and Rogoz, on the way back, with its outdoor memorial table made of beams.

The key

Most are locked. By the gate there is a phone number or, more often, the village knows who has the key: ask the first person you meet. I waited 10–20 minutes everywhere and left something in the church box each time. On Sunday morning, between 9 and 12, they are open for the service and you see them as they were made to be seen: full, with candles, women in headscarves on the left and men on the right.

What not to do

Flash on the old paintings, a drone over the service, shorts in church. And do not “tick them off”: four churches seen with patience beat eight seen from the doorstep.