I visited all 8 components of this WHS by car in 2023 and if you have the time all are worth a visit for their interior as well as their exterior paintings. Apart from the one in Probota (road was still being paved when I visited), all locations are easily reachable by car on newly paved roads.

The Painted Church of Probota is not visible from outside as it is within a very high fortified monastery so make sure to check the opening hours before you visit. It is now run by a few dedicated nuns who look after the huge restored monastery, the foundations of an old monastery and its church. The best views are from on top the 6 meter defensive walls and towers. Not much of the exterior paintings remain but the interior paintings are truly beautiful. The most interesting interior painting is the votive painting in the nave.

By visiting uninscribed painted churches and monasteries (some are tWHS like Neamt) you'll be able to appreciate the great efforts during restoration of the paintings of the inscribed churches to remove the layers of black soot and wax from the countless candles lit inside over the years. Moreover, what I initially thought was an ugly reconstruction of some of the churches' enclosures with reinforced concrete and a crafty way to ensure collecting entrance fees (especially in Probota and Voronet), seems to be an essential layer of protection against the winter blizzard currents which have significantly eroded the exterior paintings there. Apparently these enclosures were dismantled in the past with the intention of "unblocking" the view of the churches in their natural surroundings; however, this lead to the almost immediate loss of the exterior paintings on at least one side of the painted churches.

The other 7 components are easier to visit in a loop using Suceava as your base. The painted church in Suceava is the largest and perhaps the one that has the most urban setting when compared to the others. Like the one in Probota, little is left of its exterior paintings, so its highlight is definitely its interior paintings. Quite close by, is the church of Patrauti, perhaps the smallest of the lot, which represents a valuable model of the Moldavian medieval era with high Gothic window frames (opened by the nuns using a long wooden stick) and facades symmetrically decorated under the cornice with ceramic friezes. The only exterior paint left is near the main entrance, just opposite a new wooden church and monastery on the other side of the road, which is where you have to go to seek the key if the church is closed. The interior paintings here are more impressive than the ones in Suceava and Probota and the highlight here for me was the mounted procession on the nave.

Another base you can use instead of Suceava is Gura Humorului. It is quite busy in summer with vans and buses as it the main (or only) stop for tourist groups in the Bucovina valley, visiting the painted churches of Humor (without a tower above the nave) and Voronet (with a tower above the nave). The exterior and interior paintings of both these churches are exquisite. The interior ones of Humor worth mentioning are those of the founders' portraits in the recesses of their burial place, and the Pantocrator, the Nativity of Jesus and the Baptism of Jesus paintings in the naves and narthex archway. The exterior ones of Humor are mostly on the southern facade and are the oldest frescoes in open air in the Bucovina valley. The highlights worth mentioning are the image of the Holy Mary holding her Child, the Siege of Constantinople (a historical error done on purpose) and the Last Judgement (a recurring theme if you visit all the locations). The interior and exterior paintings of Voronet are among the best restorations with literally every wall covered with paintings. The impressive blue colour of the exterior paintings gave birth to the phrase "Voronet blue", on par with the Veronese green and Tizian red. Quite close by the churches of Humor and Voronet, is the almost forgotten pretty church/chapel of Arbore. A cow chained to the ground was left grazing the small grounds here and it certainly happy to see me approach the church as the first visitor early in the morning. The highlights here are the multipictorial paintings on the western facade as well as the interior multipictorial paintings of the nave and narthex.

My personal favourites, for their architectural variety, their natural surroundings and the sublime interior and exterior paintings, are the painted churches of Moldovita and Sucevita. The exterior paintings of the church of Moldovita are quite similar to those of Humor but they have been preserved on all the facades of the church. My favourite exterior painting of Moldovita is the Tree of Jesse guarded by chieftains of the twelve Israel tribes. The interior paintings are also of top quality and a number of comparisons have been made to the icon painters of Novgorod of the 15th century (the Complaint of Jesus on the northern wall, the Last Supper, the Praying Virgin and the Crucifixion of Jesus are among the best interior paintings, although like Els I really loved spotting the unique tiny details such as a handful of nuns or the peasants' attire).

Last but not least, the painted church of Sucevita is situated at the highest altitude of all locations and lighting is best before sunset. From outside it resembles the fortified churches of Transylvania with its several gatetowers or a medieval citadel with a princely house, the monks' cells and a small chapel and cemetery just behind it. My favourite exterior painting of Sucevita and of all the painted churches of Moldavia is that of the Staircase/Ladder of St John Scararul also known as the Staircase/Ladder of Virtues) on its northern facade. It represents the spiritual climb up, guided by faith and good deeds, through which man could reconquer the paradise lost. The monastery's museum contains one of the richest and most valuable medieval art collections of Moldavia, for example the tomb covers or rugs of the princes Ieremia (1606) and Simion Movila (1609), considered as embroidery masterpieces and at the same time among the most successful secular portraits of the time, and the epitaph embroidered with 10,000 pearls. Inside the church, the votive paintings of Ieremia Movila and family and of Gheorghe Movila in prayer in the nave are those that stood out the most especially after having visited all 8 locations.

This is by far Romania's best WHS and it was a treat to visit all locations. Other uninscribed locations worth visiting in the area are Neamt (tWHS), Putna and Dragomirna. Being quite close to the Ukrainian border, tourist numbers seem to have dropped slightly, although the only signs of the war in Ukraine were the long convoys of aid by road and rail. After my near miss of Lviv from Zamosc, Poland, the Residence of Bukovinian & Dalmatian Metropolitans (near Chernivitsi) is yet another miss of Ukraine's WHS nearby, this time from Romania. Both would be relatively easy visits on a road trip but it'll be a visit (hopefully) for the near future. All 8 locations have brown signs displaying the UNESCO symbol (the one in Arbore is upside down like in Mazagan/El Jadida in Morocco as well as old information boards.