Driving the Transfagarasan Highway of the Transylvanian Alps

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
8
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
1
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
8
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
7
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
6
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
9
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
80 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
53rd/453
Top 20%
continent
Europe
country
Romania
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$70 ($30-$80 in 2021 prices)
Time of year visited
September
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Driving Forests Mountains
All Tags
Cliffs Isolation Lakes Wildlife - Bears
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Summary

Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear called this “The best road in the world” and you can see why.  Looking from above it looks like a child’s perfect Scalextric set as it impossibly winds up over the Transylvanian Alps and leaves you marvelling at the effort and engineering skill that have been put into making it.  Great fun to drive and a must if driving your way from Transylvania to Bucharest

Highlights
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#1 Driving along the famous racing-track-style curves of the final ascent to cross the Transylvanian Alps

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#2 Seeing some of the local wildlife along the way!

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#3 The northern route which is bizarrely less driven, yet equally superb as you wind through the forest

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#4 Seeing the Poienari Citadel - the legitimate castle of Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula

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#5 The unusual Byzantine churches and monasteries in Curtea de Arges’ Princely Court

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#6 Stopping in some of the pretty stopping places for food along the Northern section of the Highway

Travel Tips

  • Drive both sections – many people only do the famous drive from Sibiu to Lake Balea and then return, but the remainder of the road is equally stunning and is a no-brainer if making your way to Bucharest.  Plus, it is quite a lot quieter
  • Sites to stop – the Southern half of the road has two places in particular worth checking out.  Firstly, Poienari Citadel which is the legitimate castle of Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula, and a far more menacing location compared to the more famous Bran Castle on the other side of the Alps.  Secondly, Curtea de Arges’ Princely Court has some fabulous interior paintings in its church and its stunning white marbled Monastery
  • Wildlife – perhaps this is pure luck, but we had two occasions seeing brown bears on the road.  Very chilled just watching the traffic go by and certainly added to the mountain vibe
  • Time to drive – the road itself is only 150km / 94miles long, but it will take around 3.5hours with all the wonderful twists and turns
  • Accommodation – there are various places to stay along the road, but bear in mind that most of these places are along the flatter parts at the start and finish.  Options look to be very limited near the highest points, but the Cabana Balea Lac in particular looked a good option
  • There is no public transport over the road, and it is closed from October to mid May
  • If you’re crossing the road, most likely its part of planned trip around Romania.  See this travel entry for a 6 day itinerary for Romania and the Transylvanian region.  Real highlights are in Transylvania and in particular the Fortified Saxon Towns around Sighisoara
Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores you see above are really the point of this whole site, rather than just the individual travel review you're seeing above.  They fit into a much bigger summary of 20 years of travel, across 100+ countries, from dirt-poor backpacking to the luxury end, rushed weekends to months on the road.  Every one of the 500+ experiences have a "wow factor" score and a few other scores that add up to a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score.  For more info, have a look at the About page for the travel philosophy that drives them.

But, more importantly, have a play with the map above and on the Home page to see which of these experiences rank as really Maximum Wow-factor all the way down to the proper "Gash".

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