Gilău is a market village on the Someșul Mic, the first real settlement west of Cluj-Napoca on the road toward the Apuseni mountains, and the place name La Castel says it plainly: there was a fortification here, and there still is one, layered through the centuries. Under the later castle grounds, archaeologists found a Roman auxiliary fort guarding the valley route into Dacia from the west, and the medieval and early modern castle that followed sits on the same strategic ground. Rome, Hungarian nobles and later owners all made the same calculation about this spot.
The village of about seven and a half thousand people has fuel, shops and places to eat, which makes it a useful stop rather than just a sight. From here the riding gets good quickly. Head upstream and the road climbs toward the Gilău lake and the Tarnița reservoir, with views over dark water, and the mountain roads beyond lead toward Mărișel and Beliș through spruce forest and open plateau farmland where haystacks stand in neat rows. Downstream, Cluj is a twenty-minute run, with all the traffic that implies.
The Apuseni roads are a mix. Some are newly laid and fast, others are rough, and the higher ones can hold snow late into spring and see fog roll in without warning. Cows, sheep and logging trucks are the main hazards. Summer is the obvious season, but September is better: quieter, clearer, and the forests start turning toward autumn colour on the high ground around Mărișel.
This is also a region of strong local food. Apuseni villages are known for smoked cheese, polenta with sour cream and cheese, and hearty soups, and the road-side stands sell honey and forest berries in season. Gilău sits on rides that also take in Roșia Montană, the old gold-mining landscape with Roman galleries that is now on the UNESCO list, so think of this stop as the gateway: a last solid meal and a full tank before the roads tighten and the villages thin out.