The Transfăgărășan, from Sibiu to Curtea de Argeș

A road across the Carpathians

The Transfăgărășan crosses the Făgăraș Mountains, the highest range in Romania, from north to south. On the north side, it leaves the plain at Cârțișoara and runs straight towards the mountains. Past Bâlea Cascadă, it climbs in tight hairpins up a glacial valley. At the top, near Bâlea Lake, you look back down the road you came up. The pass is at 2,042 metres.

A tunnel runs under the ridge. You go in in Transylvania and come out in Wallachia. The south side is longer and goes down through forest over many viaducts. The road then runs along Vidraru Lake, crosses the dam and passes below Poenari Citadel.

The loop starts from Sibiu, a Saxon town whose roofs are dotted with small dormer windows, and returns there by the Olt valley, another great passage through the Carpathians.

Officially, 40 soldiers died building it; the workers spoke of hundreds. The Bâlea Tunnel, 884 metres long, was for a long time the longest road tunnel in Romania.

The Vidraru Dam is a little older. This 166-metre arch dam, brought into service in 1966, holds back a lake ten kilometres long. In 2009, on the British programme Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson called the Transfăgărășan “the best road in the world”.

The Argeș valley, legends and kings

Above the Argeș, Poenari Citadel sits on a rocky spur. You climb up by 1,480 steps. Vlad III, known as the Impaler, restored it in the 15th century. According to tradition, he sentenced boyars to work on it. It is also said that his wife threw herself from the ramparts into the river to escape the Turks. Bran is presented as Dracula’s castle, but Vlad’s fortress is Poenari.

Further down the valley, Curtea de Argeș Monastery was built from 1512 to 1517. According to the ballad, its walls fell down every night, and the master builder Manole is said to have had to wall up his own wife alive. So that he would never build anything more beautiful elsewhere, the prince is said to have had the scaffolding taken down. Stranded on the roof, Manole is said to have tried to fly away on wooden wings. Restored by the Frenchman André Lecomte du Noüy, the church is the resting place of Kings Carol I and Ferdinand I. Michael I, who died in 2017, lies in the new cathedral next door.

What not to miss

1. 1SibiuThe Large Square, the Brukenthal Museum, opened in 1817, and the cast-iron Bridge of Lies.
2. 2Cârța AbbeyA Cistercian abbey in the line of Pontigny, in Burgundy; its choir serves as the Saxons’ church.
3. 3Bâlea WaterfallA waterfall in the forest, a 40- to 50-minute walk from the Bâlea Cascadă chalet.
4. 4Bâlea LakeA glacial lake at 2,034 metres, with its chalet; in winter, you go up by cable car.
5. 5The Vidraru DamA dam 166 metres high, which you drive across along its crest.
6. 6Cozia MonasteryFounded in the 14th century on the banks of the Olt by Mircea the Elder, who is buried there.

The Transfăgărășan in pictures

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The ramparts of Poenari stretched along the ridge, above the Argeș valley.

Food of the Carpathians

You start with a ciorbă, a sour soup, then come sarmale, stuffed cabbage leaves, and mici, small grilled sausages. For dessert, papanași are fresh-cheese doughnuts, served with cream and jam.

By the roadside, shepherds sell their sheep’s cheeses, fresh or smoked. The inns of the Argeș valley serve trout. Sibiu salami, a dry-cured sausage, has held a European geographical indication since 2016. Țuică is a plum brandy.