Transfagarasan Road & Balea Lake - Private Tour from Bucharest

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. The ruins of Poienari Fortress stand high on a cliff overlooking the Arges River, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. Built at the beginning of the 13th century by the first Walachian rulers, the castle changed names and residents a few times over the decades; eventually, it was abandoned and left in ruins. Vlad Tepes ( Vlad the Impaler) recognized the potential of the location and upon taking over the throne, he ordered that the structure be repaired and consolidated, turning it into one of his main fortresses. When the Turks attacked and captured the castle in 1462, Vlad escaped via a secret passageway leading north through the mountains. Although the castle was used for many years after Vlad's death in 1476, it was eventually abandoned again in the first half of the 16th century and left to the ravages of time and weather. In 1888, a major landslide brought down a portion of the castle which crashed into the river far below.

   15 min

2. Vidraru Lake and Dam - built between 1960 to 1966, for the production of electricity, irrigation and flood prevention, being now an excellent place also for recreation, tourism and sports, eg Bungee jumping extreme sport. The dam stood at its completion, measured at height, in 8th place in Europe and ranks 20th in the world. Thousands were drilled underground galleries of 42 km long, was excavated one million cubic meters of underground rock, was poured nearly one million cubic meters of concrete, and human sacrifices have cost over eighty lives. Between Fruntii Mountains and Ghitu Massif, in lake waters gather rivers Capra, Buda and several direct tributaries - Raul Doamnei, Cernatul and Valsan, Topologul, Valea lui Stan and Limpedea River, which have a total flow of about 5.5 m3 / s . The lake surface is 893 ha, length of 10.3 km, the maximum width is 2.2 km inValea Lupului - Călugărița zone and it has a circumference of 28 km and water depth is 155 m high near curved dam of 166 m, with a crest length of 307 meters. The volume of water is 465 million m³., the normal retention level beong of 830.00 meters above sea level.

   30 min

3. Transfagarasan is the best road in the world or at least so said Jeremy Clarkson in a Top Gear episode. Still, it offers so much more besides the amazing driving experience. It’s, first of all, a major creation of the communist regime and its obsession with oversized infrastructure projects. The road is 90 km long and connects the south of Romania with Transylvania. 6,500 tons of dynamite were used to break the Fagaras Mountains, the tallest in Romania. It reaches its highest altitude of 2,042 meters close to Balea Lake. This makes it the second-highest road in the country after Transalpina (2,145 meters).

   3 h

4. ocate alongside the "Transfagarasan" mountain road (otherwise know as DN7C) , the Capra Waterfall is a landmark along a a landmark road. The view is spectacular, altitude is 1650 m, the height of the waterfall is about 35 m .

   15 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 9 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Bucharest

• Its from-price is close to the median of the 1326 experiences we list in Bucharest.
• It is longer than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 279 of 1326.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Bucharest

Belle-époque boulevards, Orthodox churches and communist-era monuments meet around a busy old town in Bucharest, Romania's capital.

The vast Palace of the Parliament, among the largest administrative buildings in the world, dominates the centre as a striking legacy of the Ceaușescu era. Calea Victoriei, the grand avenue, leads past the domed Romanian Athenaeum concert hall, the former Royal Palace that houses the National Museum of Art, and Revolution Square, where the events of 1989 unfolded.

Top-ranked sights in Bucharest: Palace of Parliament (Palatul Parlamentului), Revolution Square (Piata Revolutiei), Arcul de Triumf (Arch of Triumph).

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