Itinerary

1. Cluj - Pietroasa:

   • Upon your arrival, your Curly Guide and your bus driver will wait for you at the airport (with a traditional welcome drink ) or they can pick you up from your hotel in Cluj-Napoca or Oradea. 

   • Travel by bus to Pietroasa town where your accommodation is located at a family-run guesthouse or pension, with rooms having outstanding views of the mountains.

   • At dinner, enjoy a BBQ and a campfire where Curly Guide will inform you about the activities of the next days and the rules of the national park.

2. Padis - Hiking Day

   • Wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning and after that, you will have breakfast.

   • Around 8 o'clock, start hiking. This hike is a circuit which means it will start and end at the same place. 

   • The hike starts from the Park Ranger’s Hut near the camping place. At some point, you will have to leave the main road and follow the trail to Balcoanele Ponorului. This section should take approximately 30 minutes of walking. After Balcoanele Ponorului, the path will intersect with the trail that leads to Galbenei Gorges and in about 1 hour, you should reach one of the local highlights, Avenul Borţig (Borţig Sinkhole). Being 54 meters deep, at the bottom, it houses Romania’s second-largest glacial.

   • Continue your hike for about 30 minutes more until an intersection, in 5 minutes from here you will reach Izbucul Galbenei (Galbenei Spring). The Galbenei Spring represents the starting point of the gorges and you will have to go up and around it to reach the other side. With some resting time and plenty of pictures, the estimated time is around 2 hours.

   • When you reach the Evantai Waterfall, you will have only a few sections of cables to cross left and then the road will take you on a trail through the forest.

   • After a sustained climb, you will reach Poiana Florilor where the slope of the path goes back to a normal angle and here you'll take advantage to have lunch.

   • After about 2 hours, you should reach another glacial, Focul Viu. From here, you will return to the camping place at Glăvoi where good cold beer is waiting for you :) 

   • From here, you will take the minibus to your accommodation where you will be served a traditional Romanian meal.

3. Padis - Cave Day

   • After the hiking day, you will visit 2 of the most beautiful caves in the country: The Bears Cave and Meziad Cave.

   • Wake up at 9 am and after breakfast, you will head by minibus to Chiscau village to visit the Bear Cave. The visit will take 45 minutes The cave has a length of 1500 m and is structured on two distinct levels. The cave shelters beautiful structures. What makes it famous is actually the remarkable paleontological deposit – the bones of Ursus Spealeus.

   • Close to the cave is an Ethnography Museum "Horea and Aurel Flutur" with a collection of 2000 objects that you will visit.

   • After that, you'll head to Padurea Craiului Mountains where you will visit Meziad Cave! It is undoubtedly one of the most visited caves in Romania. It is an objective both for speleologists and regular tourists. One of the oldest caving tourist objectives in Romania, having been added to the tourist circuit since the beginning of the twentieth century.

   • For these 2 caves, you do not need special equipment; you will visit them in regular hiking clothes, and the temperature in the cave is between 10 to 12 degrees Celsius.

   • After visiting the caves, you will dine at a traditional Romanian restaurant and then, you will return to your accommodation.

4. Padis - Hiking Day/Cetatile Ponorului

   • Today, you will hike to Cetatile Ponorului (Ponorului Fortresses).

   • Wake up at 9 am and after breakfast, you will go for 5 hours round trip to the most impressive karst phenomena in Eastern Europe. This is worth visiting not only for the 3 gorgeous sinkholes and the surrounding wild forest but also because here is one of the biodiversity hotspots of Apuseni Natural Park. In the Southern part, the route climbs on the steep slope of a torrential valley towards 4 viewpoints (two above Sinkhole III and two above Sinkhole II) which allows the contemplation of the impressive karst system of The Fortress of Ponor, from high above. Cetăților Valley ends at the bottom of a 100 m tall wall with a cave entrance of 70 m height. Thanks to this geological formation, it is easy to surprise any tripper with its breathtaking grandeur. 

   • Once arrived in Padis, you will visit the Padis Visitor Centre of Apuseni Natural Park- a place where visitors will get information about caves and karst, flora and fauna of the area and the need for conservation of these natural features of the area. A self-guiding interpretive trail near the building gives visitors the opportunity to discover and better understand the karst formations in the area. The panels displayed on the route will complete the information about the area. Within the center, there is also a presentation room where multimedia projections or other presentations related to the Apuseni Natural Park are being held.

   • Return to your accommodation in Pietroasa and you will get a warm meal.

5. Padis - Ruginoasa Hole and Ice Cave Scarisoara

   • This day is planned to be a relaxed one. A lazy morning and a slow breakfast are just the perfect starts. Today, you will travel to Vartop Pass where you will make a short hike to Ruginoasa Hole. When it comes to the beauty of nature, the "Rusty Pit" - Groapa Ruginoasa - is definitely worth visiting. The hike to this place is through a beautiful forest uphill and is like 800 - 1000 m from the main road. The climb is considered light - but keep in mind we have to cover nearly 300 m of difference in altitude. Groapa Ruginoasa got born through erosion of the mountainside due to the water going through the clay/kaolin mountainside.

   • After Ruginoasa Hole, you'll go for lunch at a local Romanian guesthouse in Garda town.

   • Afterwards, you will hike around 2 hours and then after an easy walk through forests and village, you reach the cave. The glacier entrance (1165 m high) is made through an impressive sinkhole with a diameter of 60m; descending 48 meters, on the bottom of a great abyss, you'll walk over a surface of 70,000 cubic meters of ice, 23 meters thick. Obviously, the glacier temperature is constantly below 0, so in the summertime, while descending, there might be a temperature difference of 25 degrees or even more. The most impressive ice structures are found in the second chamber of the cave - named "The Church", where the ice formations reach over three meters high, with diameters of 15-30 cm. For this cave, you do not need special equipment and you will visit in regular hiking clothes. 

   • The last night of accommodation will be in Arieseni town where you will have a free program and a traditional Romanian meal. The plum brandy ("tuica") or wild berry brandy ("afinata") will surely be on the table.

6. Padis - Cluj

   • Have breakfast together and talk about the wonderful places you've been, about the next trips you will plan, and you will leave the Natural Park with a smile on your face and with a story that your future nephews will want to hear about it! 

   • Back to your accommodation or airport in Cluj Napoca or Oradea.