Borșa spreads along the Vișeu valley in northern Maramureș, a long straggling town of twenty-seven thousand with the high, bare ridge of the Rodna Mountains rising to the south. Pietrosul Rodnei, the highest summit, tops two thousand three hundred metres, and the range is a national park with alpine meadows, glacial lakes and a population of chamois. In winter the town becomes a ski resort, with a lift climbing the slopes above the spa suburb of Băile Borșa, where mineral springs rise in the woods.
Maramureș has a distinctive culture that feels older than the rest of Romania. In the villages nearby, wooden churches with slender, steep spires, some of them centuries old, hold painted interiors, and the carved wooden gates are marks of pride. Here, people wear traditional dress to church on Sundays without any thought of putting it on for visitors, and haymaking is still done by hand with pitchforks in the steeper fields.
For the rider, Borșa is the foot of one of the great Carpathian crossings. The road east climbs to the Prislop Pass, at roughly fourteen hundred metres, and drops into Bukovina and its painted monasteries. The ascent is long and well-surfaced with broad bends, and the view back across the green ridges is superb. At the top there is a market of stalls selling honey, cheese and woolly socks, and a small monastery. Fog and cloud come quickly, and in winter snow can close the road, so check conditions outside summer.
Fuel is no problem in Borșa, which has several stations, but there are fewer on the empty stretches beyond the pass. The town also serves local specialties such as sheep's cheese, smoked meats, and the sweet, strong plum brandy known as țuică.
The best months are June to September. Evenings are cool, even in July, and thunderstorms roll across the ridge in the afternoon, so aim to cross the pass in the morning light and be back in the valley before the clouds build.