Abrud is the old capital of the gold country, a small mining town on the river of the same name at the eastern foot of the Apuseni, and it has the faded grandeur of a place that once had more money than it does now. Its streets have churches of several faiths, Orthodox, Catholic, Reformed and Unitarian, built by the Hungarians, Germans and Romanians who came here for the mines, and some of the houses on the main square still show the ornate facades of the nineteenth century. Today it is a quiet town of around six thousand people, surrounded by green hills that hide the scars of centuries of mining.
The Golden Quadrilateral, the area between Abrud, Brad, Zlatna and Săcărâmb, was for a long time the most important gold-mining region in Europe. The Romans called the area around nearby Roșia Montană Alburnus Maior, and they dug galleries into the hills by hand, using fire and water to crack the rock. Those Roman galleries, along with later Habsburg workings and the whole mining landscape, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021, after years of protests against a planned open-pit mine that would have destroyed them. Roșia Montană is only a few kilometres from Abrud, and the mining museum there lets you walk into the ancient tunnels.
For riders, Abrud is a crossroads. To the north, the road leads to Câmpeni and the Arieș valley, the main route through the Apuseni. To the south, it climbs over the hills toward Brad and the Crișul Alb, curving through forest and meadow. To the east, the Transapuseana heads toward Zlatna and Alba Iulia, with long climbs, descents and plenty of bends. Main roads are mostly decent and side roads rough, and the hills generate their own weather, with fog and drizzle possible on any summer day.
The town has fuel, small supermarkets and a cash machine or two, which in this part of the Apuseni counts as abundance. It is not a tourist town, but there is a certain charm in its slightly worn streets and the sense of history all around. Câmpeni, a few kilometres to the north, has more services if you need them. Look for traditional Moți dishes, such as polenta with cheese and sour cream, on local menus.