Huedin is a small, busy town on the main road from Cluj to Oradea, and it is the place where many riders turn south into the Apuseni. It sits on the Crișul Repede, in a basin known in Hungarian as Kalotaszeg and in Romanian as Țara Călatei, a region famous for its folk culture, its elaborate embroidered costumes and its painted wooden church ceilings. The town itself has a mixed population of Romanians, Hungarians and Roma, and the Calvinist church in the centre, a fortified building with a painted ceiling, is a reminder of the area's Hungarian Protestant heritage.
Huedin is also known for something unexpected: the Roma mansions. On the edges of town and along the main road, some Roma families have built huge, ornate houses with tin roofs folded into towers, spires and pagoda shapes, often decorated with silver and gold. They are a statement of success and status, and they make a startling sight among the more ordinary houses. Take a moment to look, discreetly; people live in them.
From Huedin the road south toward Beliș and the Transursoaia climbs into the Vlădeasa and Gilău mountains. The first part runs through rolling farmland and small villages, with gentle curves, then the road climbs into forest, with the bends tightening and the views opening up over the hills. The surface on the main road has been improved, but side roads can be rough. The main road through Huedin itself, the E60, is busy with lorries and traffic between Cluj and the Hungarian border, and overtaking can be risky, so be patient.
Stock up in Huedin: the stations, supermarkets and cash machines on the main road are the last easy ones before the mountains, where services thin out fast. The town is not a tourist destination in itself, but it has a few cafes where you can sit and watch the world go by. Cluj-Napoca, about fifty kilometres to the east, is the big city of the region, with everything you could need.
In summer the basin is warm, but as you climb toward Beliș the air cools and the forest closes in. Spring and autumn are good times to ride here, with fewer tourists and pleasant temperatures. Watch for horse carts and slow-moving farm vehicles on the smaller roads.