Iacobeni is a long village in the valley of the Bistrița Aurie, the Golden Bistrița, in the western corner of Bukovina, and it sits at the point where the road from Vatra Dornei heads off toward Cârlibaba and the Prislop pass. The river earned its golden name from the gold that was once panned from its gravels, and the valley around Iacobeni has a long history of mining, especially for manganese and iron, worked since the days when Bukovina was an Austrian crown land. The old mine workings and the ruins of industrial buildings can still be seen around the village, softened by grass and forest.
The village itself stretches along the road and river, with wooden houses, a church and small farms, and the steep forested slopes rising on both sides. This is the meeting point of several cultures: Romanians, Ukrainians, Germans, Jews and others all lived in Bukovina under the Habsburgs, and the region still has a slightly different feel from the rest of Romania, with neat villages, painted houses and a tradition of fine embroidery. The famous painted monasteries lie further east, around Gura Humorului and Suceava.
For riders, Iacobeni is the start of one of the great roads of northern Romania. Heading west along the Bistrița Aurie, the road follows the river through a narrow valley, with forest and steep slopes on either side, to Cârlibaba and then climbs up to the Prislop pass, at around fourteen hundred metres, which links Bukovina with Maramureș. The climb is long, with a mix of sweeping and tighter bends, and the views from the top over the Rodna Mountains are superb. Large parts of the road are newly surfaced, yet timber lorries are a fact of life in these forests and they drop bark and mud on the bends.
In the other direction, Vatra Dornei, about ten kilometres to the south-east, is the nearest town of any size. It is an old spa resort, famous for its mineral springs and the Dorna bottled water, with a casino building from the Habsburg era and plenty of places to stay and eat. It is the sensible place to fill up, as there is little in the way of fuel further west until you reach Borșa on the Maramureș side. In Iacobeni itself you will find a grocery and a simple bite, nothing more. In winter, the valley is very cold, and snow can block the higher roads.