Hiking in Romania's Apuseni and Retezat Mountains

Week 1: Padis Plateau in the Apuseni Mountains

We spent the first part of our trip on the Padis Plateau in the Apuseni Mountains. Also called the Bihor or Bihar Mountains, this karst (limestone) region in the Western Carpathians has rolling forested hills studded with caves and potholes. The settlements in this natural park are traditional villages and their flocks of sheep are taken onto the hills for summer grazing under the ever-watchful eyes of the shepherds and their dogs.

The elevation of the Padis Plateau is in the range of 1300–1500m. It is famous for its karst landforms: caves, springs, sinkholes, poljes, dolines and river-cut gorges. These geological landforms were the focus of our explorations over the week as we made day hikes from a comfortable base in wooden cabins in the Padis hamlet at the roadhead. Paths were generally well-signed and waymarked with coloured symbols. Here are some of our walking routes exploring the Padis Plateau.

Padis – Poiana Ponor – Lumea Pierduta

We set off from our cabins down a muddy track past several summer huts selling various local fruit cordials and distilled liquors. The route descended steeply into Poiana Ponor, a large grassy depression (a polje). This was fed by a substantial river emerging from the Ponor spring, which we followed until it disappeared into a sinkhole to join the Ponorului cave system. Here a large party of Romanians were practicing single rope techniques (abseiling and prussiking) on the cliffs above as part of a week-long caving course. We stopped for coffee at the Cabana Cetatile Ponorului, a mountain hut run by the Romanian Speleological Association, and then headed up a forest track leading to the climb up to Lumea Pierduta. Lumea Pierduta, or 'the Lost World' is a dense area of mainly beech woods with several impressive cave entrances hidden deep in the trees. Thankfully the caves are linked by a well waymarked path, which eventually led us back to Padis.

Cabana Scarita – Groapa de la Barsa – Piatra Galbenei – Cetatile Ponorului

The jewel in the crown of the Padis Plateau is undoubtedly the Pestera Cetatile Ponorului. This is the greatest karst phenomenon in Romania: three enormous linked dolines (sinkholes) to a depth of 120m with a huge cave portal at the foot of their cliffs. The portal leads to a large underground river that is linked to another big cave entrance and can be viewed from several exposed balconies above. These features completely dwarf anything you might see in the limestone areas in the UK, such as the Yorkshire Dales or the Mendips.

We drove to Cabana Scarita and walked up into the beech and spruce woods of the Groapa de la Barsa, visiting several cave entrances on the way. A couple of these were glacier caves with massive ice plugs, including Ghetarul Focul Viu. Known as 'the Living Fire ice cave', the cave is named for the unusual lighting effect created when the sun comes down a shaft above. After marvelling at these glacial caves, we climbed up to the viewpoint of Piatra Galbenei (1234m) and had lunch looking out at the verdant treescape that stretched from the Galbenei gorge in the south to Padis in the north.

Suitably refreshed, we headed down to the Cetatile Ponorului dolines and cautious peered over the impressive cliffs at the first viewpoint. Traversing the rim, we joined the path down a steep, loose and muddy slope. Aided by various fixed chains, we reached the doline floor next to a large cave entrance. We donned our head-torches and descended to a river on its journey to the Galbeni gorge. There was too much water to proceed upstream to the next cave entrance. Returning to daylight the same way, we took the path up the scree slope into the second and bigger doline. We were blown away by the sheer size of the 70m high cave entrance, set at the foot of the surrounding cliffs of this massive depression.

After trying to do justice to this scene with our cameras, we climbed back out by another chain assisted path. On our way back to the car, we stopped at one of the Glavoi campsite café-shacks for a delicious snack of fruit teas, pancakes, and langos (a kind of waffle) with cheese and cream.

Glavoi – Cetatile Ponorului – Cheile Galbenei

Having seen the river in the Cetatile Ponorului caves, we were keen to visit the Galbenei gorge to see it reappear in daylight and make the famous chain-assisted traverse above the river. We parked at the Glavoi campsite and walked around the northern path around the viewpoints, over the Ponorului dolines and up to the impressive Bortig pothole. From there, we descended through beechwoods to the substantial rising at the head of the Galbenei gorge.

The beautiful path climbed above multiple waterfalls and cascades before heading down to the river, where we traversed the left wall of the canyon using a series of stemples and chains. Mid-way through lunch, the rain started. We climbed through a short section of cave and back to the river for a final aided section up to a car park and a long slippery climb up through wet meadows. The rain finally eased off as we reached a wooded ridge and headed back to our car, parked conveniently by one of the refreshment café-shacks.

Week 2: Retezat Mountains

We spent the second part of our trip in the Retezat Mountains. This is a region in the western part of the Southern Carpathians (sometimes called the Transylvanian Alps). Higher than in the mountains in the Apunseni, the mountains here rise to around 2200–2500m and are covered by lichen-covered granite boulder-fields.

With pristine glacial tarns in the valleys, grassy alpine meadows used for summer grazing by sheep and cows, and zones of spruce fir forest and dwarf pines higher up, the Retezat is an unspoilt National Park. The walking here was more challenging than at Padis, reminiscent of Scotland’s rocky ridges and the Pirin Mountains in Bulgaria.

The Retezat features a main ridge stretching east to west that hosts the two highest peaks: Varful Peleaga (2509m) and Varful Pelusa (2508m), and a series of ridges and valleys extending north from this main ridge. From our base at Cabana Pietrele (1480m), we had a choice of routes to access sections of the main ridge using either valley or secondary ridge paths. This involved 1100–1300m of ascent each day.

We reached our base at Cabana Pietriele after a two-hour hike from the roadhead at Carnic. Situated beside the Stanisoari river, the sleeping arrangements were basic – small two-bed communist-era huts – and the main hut offered a good but limited menu of food and drink. The Cabana generator ran from 8pm to 10pm in the evening for lighting and so we could charge mobile phones.

With camping nearby and an adjacent villa, Pietrele was busy all week with good-natured hikers and backpackers of all ages from Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic. We were the only English visitors that week. All paths were well signed and waymarked. Fortunately, the weather was good, with just one afternoon thunderstorm when we already were safely down in the valley. Note that the forecasting apps that we consulted were completely unreliable for Retezat weather. Thunderstorms were predicted everyday bar one, which was the only day we had a storm!

As well as abundant wildflowers, we saw plenty of wildlife during our stay in Retezat. We saw marmots (introduced to the Retezat in 1973 from the Austrian Alps), chamois, black squirrels, an eagle, several kestrels, lots of frogs, plenty of butterflies and just one horned viper.

Cabana Pietrele – Varful Mare

The most eastern peak we could reasonably access was Varful Mare. Rising to 2463m, this was our objective for the second day. Another early start saw us in the spruce fir forest going up and down moraine remnants now deeply dissected by rivers draining the Pietrele, Rea and Galesului valleys. Gaining the latter, we progressed up the valley to Lacul Gales, a sizeable glacial tarn. A steep climb up to the Saua Varful Mare col led to a rocky scramble up the south ridge to the Varful Mare summit and another spectacular view. Our eyes were drawn to the jagged crest of the Portile Inchise (Closed Gates) ridge linking the col below us to Varful Pelusa, the second highest peak in the Retezat. The map indicated a difficult path up the peak and we watched two hikers appear and disappear as they scrambled along the route. We returned by our ascent route, spotting some marmots above the lake and admired a flock of 35 rams in superb condition after their rich grazing in the alpine pastures. Near the end, we crossed the stream for a small diversion to visit the small Taul dintre Brazi tarn to complete another varied and enjoyable day.

Cabana Pietrele - Varful Pelusa - Portile Inchise ridge

Previously seen from Varful Mare, we kept the last section of the main ridge for our final day on the hill. We ascended Valea Rea under blue skies, passing a sizable flock of sheep and their two shepherds to reach the Saua Peleaga col. From there, we turned east to climb Varful Pelusa (2408m) and stop for lunch. The thin mist patches blowing in and out of the ridgeline added visual interest. At the summit, there was a plaque dating 4th August 1968 that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Romanian Miners Union.

The less experienced members of our party viewed the next section along the 600m long Portile Inchise ridge with some trepidation. We descended a cabled section before tackling a long ascending Grade 1 scramble. While exposed sections required care, we all enjoyed the airy route. At the Saua Varful Mare col, we saw an eagle soaring above us. We dropped into the Galesului valley, pausing to watch the antics of three marmots before reaching Lacul Gales for a breather. Our day finished with the now familiar routine of descending through the dwarf pines and spruce fir forest back to the Cabane for a celebratory beer and our final dinner.

Cabana Pietrele - Carnic

We walked back down to Carnic and drove to Sarmizegetusa to visit the partly excavated ruins of Ulpia Triana, a sizable city that was the former Roman capital of Dacia. After wandering around the large amphitheatre, gladiator school, temples, and forum in 35°C temperatures, we retired for a late lunch in some shade and began our return to the UK.

Reflections on our trip to Romania

The concept of visiting two contrasting upland areas of Romania worked well and allowed us to visit towns and cities like Arad and Deva as part of this trip in July 2018. Both Apuseni and Retezat had enough variety for a full week’s activity from each of our fixed bases, making them excellent choices for a fortnight’s combined holiday.

The Padis Plateau guarded many of its secrets under a cloak of trees, and the karst features we visited were world class. There were plenty of 'must-do' exceptional days out: the Cetatile Ponorului dolines, the Cheile Galbenei gorge and the Cheile Somesului Cald gorge with its dramatic start with a through trip of Pestera Radesei cave.

The Retezat Mountains were similarly a great place to visit. With it's glaciated granite landscape sprinkled liberally with pristine tarns and lakes, the area has many similarities with more familiar mountain landscapes like the Pyrenees, including the Aigüestortes National Park and Andorra.

Romania is still a comparatively inexpensive place to visit, with a variety of flight options from the UK. English is widely spoken, especially by the younger generation, and everyone was friendly and helpful. Our accommodation was modern in Padis and basic but adequate in the Retezat. We ate well – the food provided was plentiful and appetising. The fruit tea and local beers were excellent! Many locals travelled with supplies of their home-made ţuică spirit and often pressed generous measures on us to taste it. Most claimed that it was made by their grandmother to a secret family recipe. Taken in moderation, it was usually excellent – so get out there and try it for yourself!