Built by Ceausescu as a military route across the Carpathians, the Transfagarasan rises to 2,042 meters through tunnels, viaducts, and hairpin turns. Jeremy Clarkson called it "the best road in the world." Open only June through October.

Stops on This Tour (10)

1. 1
   Curtea de Arges — Monastery The 16th-century monastery's white marble facade inspired a legend — Master Manole walled his wife inside to ensure the building would stand. Romania's Gothic masterpiece.
2. 2
   Poienari Fortress The real Castle Dracula — Vlad the Impaler's mountain stronghold perched on a cliff above the Arges River. The 1,480-step climb deters all but the most determined visitors.
3. 3
   Vidraru Dam A 166-meter concrete arch dam holding back Vidraru Lake. The Prometheus statue at the dam wall symbolizes the energy harnessed from these mountain waters.
4. 4
   North Ramp — First Hairpins The serious climbing begins. The road corkscrews upward through beech and spruce forests. Watch for shepherds moving their flocks across the road.
5. 5
   Balea Cascada (Waterfall) A cascading waterfall beside the road as the treeline thins. The Fagaras Mountains — the highest range in Romania — tower on both sides of the narrowing valley.
6. 6
   Tunnel at the Summit — 2,042m The road punches through the mountain ridge via a 900-meter tunnel. Ceausescu ordered it built after the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia — a retreat route through the Carpathians.
7. 7
   Balea Lake A glacial lake at 2,034 meters, cradled in a cirque of rocky peaks. In winter, an ice hotel is carved from the frozen lake — Romania's only such structure.
8. 8
   South Ramp — The Switchbacks The southern descent unleashes the road's most dramatic hairpin turns. The engineering here is astonishing — soldiers carved this into sheer mountain walls in the 1970s.
9. 9
   Cirtisoara Valley The road straightens as it descends into pastoral Transylvanian valleys. Medieval Saxon fortified churches dot the surrounding villages — UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
10. 10
    Sibiu — Piata Mare European Capital of Culture in 2007. Sibiu's old town features unique "eye" dormers on the rooftops — windows shaped like half-open eyelids watching the streets below.

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