Transfagarasan Highway – Romania’s Most Spectacular Road
All the sights and places we visited in Romania have a special charm… But these roads through the mountains, at high altitudes, where nature is almost untouched, are truly spectacular.
Experience Transfagarasan Highway on our Excellent Day Tour from Bucharest!
Transfăgărăşan or DN7C is the second highest highway in Romania after Transalpina.It connects Argeş County, namely Bascov and Sibiu County, Cârţişoara, having approx. 150 km long. Its maximum altitude is 2042 m near Bâlea Lac.
The construction of the road began in 1969 at Ceausescu’s initiative and ended in 1974, but its completion with asphalting took place in 1980. Unfortunately, many human lives were lost during the construction due to the difficulty of this project.
The road is very beautiful from Arges County to the Vidraru Dam that rises majestically above. A few kilometers before the dam is the Poenari Fortress, where you must climb no less than 1480 steps.
Poenari Fortress
There are many places in Romania that deserve our attention. Some even deserve our whole physical effort. When you combine sport with a visit to a fortress, you can only get something good. Coming from Curtea de Arges, just 5 km from Vidraru Dam, at 850 m altitude, there is a mysterious and legendary tourist destination.
Should I climb up or not?
This will be the first question that will probably arise in your mind. Because you can not see much from the bottom of the forest, something will tell you that it deserves all the trouble. From the first step, a billboard will inform you that a zig zag through the forest follows. More specifically, you need to climb 1480 steps. (I did not count them but our travelers did it and it was exact)
The road is not at all difficult to walk. With the bottle of water after us and equip just as we went on the road. The warm season, the sun, the friendly weather, the tranquility of the forest, the sake of travel and rediscovery through our eyes, perfectly spiced our adventure up.
When we started to breathe harder, we reached the top. There will be two impaled turks in front of you plus a hangman, a guillotine and an ax hub that once had a clear mission. Avoiding the scary details around you, you enjoy the fantastic landscapes that opens to the Arges Gorge.
Legends of the Fortress
The Poenari Fortress is also known as the Fortress of Vlad the Impaler or the Fortress of Negru Voda. The fortification of Poenari, during its existence, was used as a place to shelter the voivode and treasure of the country, but also to imprison the guilty.
Legends related to the fortress say that the nobles who planned the killing of Vlad the Impaler, considering him a too authoritarian leader, were forced by him to climb and work on the construction of the fortress.
The second is related to the wit of the leader, who during the battle with the Turks in 1462, tricked them by hitching the horses backwards, then retreating to the fortress, being considered his second residence.
It is also said that Anastasia, Vlad Tepes’s wife, committed suicide in the Poenari Fortress, jealous of being informed that Vlad wanted to marry Katharina, his mistress from Brasov. Anastasia was the niece of the Queen of Poland, and jumped from one of the towers of the city.
The road through the forest up, the legends of the fortress and the top view gave us a sense of gratitude, for it was worth every beat of the heart. After the Poenari Fortress we ventured to the Vidraru Dam, which is just 5 km from the fortress.
Vidraru Lake
The dam was built for power generation, irrigation and flood prevention. It is located between the Ghiţu Mountains and the Fruntea Mountains, where the lake gathers the waters of the rivers Capra, Buda and other direct tributaries such as the River Doamna, Cernatul, Topologul etc. The lake has a total area of 893 ha, a length of 10.3 km, a circumference of 28 km and a maximum water depth of 155 m and the height of the barrier is 166 m.
The construction of the Vidraru Dam began in 1960 and lasted five and a half years. To build the dam, 42 km of underground tunnel was needed, 1,768,000 m³ of rock were escaped, 930,000 m³ of concrete was poured and 6300 tons of electromechanical equipment were installed. This is considered by the experts to be true jewelery engineering.
After the dam, the road passes by the lake and winds down beside the beautiful forests of the area. From here on the views become truly spectacular…
The Transfagarasan Highway
Transfagarasan is the road between the mountains of Fagaras, starting from Bascov, Arges County, and ends near the village of Cartisoara, Sibiu County.
With a length of about 152 km, part of DN 7 C, the road connects the two historical provinces of Muntenia and Transylvania.
Along this route, different locations have been built that offer accommodation at the highest standards and at competitive prices.
TRANSFAGARASAN HISTORY
Most people think it was the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who had the idea of building a road over the mountains. The true is that there were sketches and plans made before 1960 that contained the details of a road that was among the mountains of Fagaras.
The works started in December 1969, on both ends of the south, the officers of Regiment 1 Ramnicu Valcea, and from the north of the 52nd Regiment Alba Iulia. They were joined by civilian workers especially attracted by a consistent salary at that time.
The road was completed on September 20, 1974, at Ceausescu’s inauguration. Originally, the alpine route would bear his name, but he refused, and so his name became Transfagarasan.
The Views
At high altitudes, with no trees, the views are special, especially in the areas where you can see the winding portion you just climbed. You can stop in different places to enjoy the panorama and take pictures (the camera does not have to miss this trip). Climbing the serpentine, you will also pass by the Capra Waterfall.
At some point, you will enter the Balea tunnel, which does not look good, but at the exit you will discover the beauty and color of Balea Lake. It is a more crowded summer area, there are parking and cottages with traditional products and souvenirs.
Lake Balea is the largest glacier lake and one of the most beautiful in the Fagarasian massif. Let your eye fall on a stretch of more than 45,000 sq. M. of water that once was an island that approached the shore by a small isthmus. Now the island and the isthmus have turned into a peninsula that carries behind one of the most sought after cottages in the Fagaras Mountains.
It is worth visiting these beautiful places around the lake and the Balea waterfall. They are some of the most beautiful, not only from these mountains, but from the entire Carpathian chain.
Lake Balea is a glacier lake (formed in a glacier circus) located at an altitude of 2,040m in the Fagaras Mountains, Sibiu County.
When to Visit
The Transfagarasan Highway is closed for quite a long period throughout the year due to the capricious weather and snow that begins to fall early and melts late. In one year, in June, the snow reached approx. 5 m and could not reach Bâlea Lac, than on the side from Sibiu, with the cable car from Bâlea Cascadă. This is also true in the winter, when many tourists go to admire or sleep in the Ice Hotel.
Both in Vidraru and other areas along the way, but also in Bâlea there are possibilities for accommodation and dining. If you are looking for a rather shorter tour, we recommend our Amazing Day Tours from Bucharest. See all details here: Transfagarsan One Day Tour
From now, I will just let you admire other pictures I have made on Transfagarasan:
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