The Transfăgărășan Highway

Romania. It doesn’t really sound like a beautiful touristic nation. Oh but it is. What you need is a decent comfortable grand-touring sports car, preferably rear wheel drive and some form of navigation, otherwise you’ll get lost in gypsy, amish country. If you are awesome enough you could find a grand-tourer with GPS. Do get yourself a tall gypsy hat to blend in if navigation goes wrong.

I’ve gotten my hands on this gorgeous two door, 4.7 litre, 454 horsepower V8. Yes. It is a Maserati GranTurismo, in white. Stunning. But it can’t just be any rear wheel drive that packs more than 400 horses. It has to be comfortable for long distance travels with bumpy roads. If you drive these roads in a Porsche for example with hard suspension made for a track, your pelvis will shatter. Gran turismo conveniently means grand tourer in Italian.

This drive includes the incredible Transalpina and Transfagarasan highways, both cross the stunning Carpathian Mountains. The Transalpina is National Road 67C. Its highest altitude is on the Urdele Pass at 2145 metres above sea level. The Transfagarasan is National Road 7C and is 2034 metres above sea level at its highest point. So naturally this means they are closed during the winter months because of snow. So make sure you get your timing right otherwise you’ll have travelled to the other side of the plant only to see a ‘road closed’ sign.

I would recommend doing the Transalpina first from north to south, then across to the Transfagarasan, from the south to the north. One, because the Transalpina was built first during the reign of King Carol II in the early 20th century. Two, because there is a story that the Transfagarasan, which was built under Nicolae Ceauşescu in the seventies to be better than the Transalpina. But the true story is that the Transfagarasan was built for easy military access incase the soviets invaded. Why else?

The starting point for my trail is from a small town called Saliste which is about 20 kilometres west of the city Sibiu. After driving through a few towns you will find the tight and twisty roads. Follow the 106E signs until an intersection where you head south following the 67C sign. The roads from here to the Oasa lake aren’t that great, but they only get better.

Eventually you’ll come to an intersection where you go right, and then left about a kilometre later. From here though, the Transalpina turns to gold as you begin to climb. As the road continues to climb and climb, you will eventually realise that you are on top of the Carpathians, looking down at Romania. Along the top of the ridgeline there are a string on towns before you descend this amazing road. There are twists and turns up and downs and before long this incredible highway deposits you in the town of Novaci. You are now at the end of the Transalpina.

Get across to Curtea de Arges and from here follow the 7C, north. This is the start of the Transfagarasan. The roads do start off a little ‘straight’ but soon the mountains will come in to view and before long you’ll be climbing. A few tunnels and hairpin turns later and you’ll find yourself at the colossal Vidraru Dam. At 166 metres high it is sure to bring out the person scared of heights inside of you. It was built in the 1960’s to produce hydroelectricity. There is also a statue of Prometheus above the dam.

From here the road goes twisty through the bush as it follows the perimeter of Lake Vidraru. There are some pretty badly repaired roads along here, I’m calling them worse than freshly repaired roads in New Zealand. You can bypass this part of the drive by going on the other side of the lake, however this road is narrow and unpaved. However it does take you to some amazing lakeside accommodation amongst no civilisation, such as Hotel Valea cu Pesti and Hotel Cumpana. After some miles of this ploughed road through the bush, it starts to really turn good, with steep climbs and hairpin turns on smooth roads.

As this road climbs passed FreshPark Snow Park it just gets better and better. You then get to the point where you think you are on top of the world. But then you drive into the mountain side through a kilometre long tunnel. When you are eventually spat out by the tunnel there is civilisation. A snow resort with markets selling local goods and three or four hotels, only accessable in winter by a very long gondola.

When you drive past the civilisation, you get the impression that you are about to drive off the edge of the planet. This is the perfect photographing opportunity, because the view down is unreal. Here you get a glimpse of the road that looks like a single piece of spaghetti that god dropped on the Carpathian Mountains. There are hairpins, sweepers and sheer drops sure to get your adrenalin pumping.

Just when you think its over, it isn’t. The road goes back into the bush and continues to wind its way along the mountain range slowly heading down towards Highway One. Just look out for cows, as they aren’t surrounded by fence. They do wander along the road at times. Eventually you’ll get to red-house town and then Highway One and the traffic. This is journeys end and therefore time to go home and brag about driving the best roads.

If time is on your side, you should by no means bypass all of Romania and take the shortest route to the start of the Transalpina. The rest of Romania is well worth seeing. There are old style buildings in very old towns which once had a high reputation centuries ago. And don’t be afraid to pull over, get out of your car take one of the many amazing short bush walks. You need to get over there and experience Romania for yourself.