Transfagarash road and Balea lake

Transfagarasan road is the most beautiful in the country and is recommended to visit. We drove it from south to north, from Curtea de Argeş to Cârţişoara, with an overnight stay at the best place - near Balea lake. Please note that the road is open only in the summer, usually from July, the current status we checked here.






If the road is closed, then the lake - the main goal of all tourists - can be reached by a cable car (lower station N 45 38.223 E 24 36.390). Check here the schedule and prices. Of course, in this case, access is only from the north.

There are several hotels near the lake:
 - Paltinu Chalet (http://balea-turism.ro/en/Localization-cabana-paltinu)
 - Balea Lake Chalet (http://balealac.ro/en/services-and-prices/)
 - Hotel of Ice (http://www.hotelofice.com/indexEN.html), ice hotel

We spent the night in Paltinu Chalet, use their contact mail to book a room. The prices are moderate, about $65. Here is the view from the window.


The main activity at the top is to take a walk around the glacial lake, see beautiful views and sit in a restaurant with a view of the mountains.


Be sure to climb the mountains. The lake is located in a huge amphitheater and can be seen from different locations. We walked along the top of this amphitheater. The height at the route is about 2400 meters.


Find here more accurate map of the route or download the Maps.Me app and the map of Romania. Hike took us about 3 hours. On the map you can see one more trail, that is located lower and also goes around the crater. It's much easier and will take about an hour.






Route to the highest point of Romania - Mount Moldoveanu (2507 meters), also starts from Balea lake. If you're interested, then read this article.

And in the end a funny video. Popular actor Jean-Claude Van Damme feed dogs on Balea lake.

He was filming a beer commercials there

Getting there: parking coordinates N 45 36.187 E 24 36.846. There is a tourist bus from Sibiu (http://www.baleabus.ro/en/). Considering the huge number of tourists, you can also use hitchhiking.