Fagaras Mountains

The longest continuous ridge in the Carpathians (72km long by some 40km wide) is Romania’s highest, topping out at Moldoveanu at 2,544m and running above 2,000m for more than 50km. It has superb walking, some claim Romainia’s finest mountain trekking.

The mountains host famously diverse ecosystems, from superb and often untouched forests to gorgeous alpine meadows, to the cliffs and crags of the highlands. Some tremendous gorges wind out of their flanks. Its rocks are mainly gneisses and schists.

The wildlife is of continental importance: in the forests and mountains, a superb array includes brown bears as well as wolves, lynx, deer and boar. The vegetation is similarly diverse, from the varied mainly deciduous forests, to the high meadows and rocky wildernesses, to the flowery delights of the hay meadows.

You can make a quite demanding hut-to-hut traverse of the range in some 5-6 days, some 87km in total. Logistics are not easy though: you will have to carry your own food and the huts are not huge (10-15 people) so you can find them full, so bringing a tent is advisable July-October. Some difficult, cable-and-chained sections.

There are numerous ways to approach the range for day walks, whether to climb the summits or to make gentler explorations, from the south and (rather more, and shorter) the north – and from the Transfagarasan Highway (a fantastic road in its own right as well as good access). You can drive to foothill villages and head up tracks and paths from there.

There are places to stay in the foothill valleys, and in the mountains are huts of varying size but usually spartan in style. There are some more comfortable chalets, too.

Bradt’s Transylvania is the guidebook, packed with valuable information, although little detail on walking routes. Find relevant books on Amazon. https://www.summitpost.org/f-g-ra-mountains/154116 is good on the Fagaras.

This page is at an early stage of development. Please help us by recommending your best walks, making suggestions and sending photos! Thank you!

For more information and photos, including detailed practical information and some warnings, see our Transylvania and Carpathian Mountains walk page.