Rucăr sits right where the Dâmbovița comes out of the mountains, a long village of wooden gates and tin roofs strung along the valley floor at the southern foot of the Rucăr–Bran corridor. Behind it the land climbs fast: Piatra Craiului's limestone ridge to the north-west, the rounded bulk of Leaota and the Bucegi to the east, and between them the saddle that has carried traffic between Wallachia and Transylvania for as long as anyone has bothered to write things down.
That saddle is the reason to be here. The DN73 leaves Rucăr and climbs in a series of open, well-cambered bends towards Podu Dâmboviței and the high pastures around Fundata, then drops to Bran and its famous, overmarketed castle. It is one of the friendlier mountain roads in Romania: the surface is decent, the corners are readable, and the views across hay meadows dotted with shepherds' huts are worth slowing for. The catch is traffic. Trucks use it, and so does half of Bucharest on a summer weekend, so the early morning belongs to you and the afternoon to everyone else. In wet weather watch for mud and gravel washed out of farm tracks.
People have been guarding this gap for two thousand years. The Romans held a fort near Rucăr on their frontier line through Muntenia, and in the Middle Ages the route was a customs road, with merchants from Brașov paying their dues at Bran on the way down to the Wallachian markets. Câmpulung, a short ride south, was the first seat of the Wallachian princes, and its old princely church is worth the detour if you have the energy.
Just upstream, the Dâmbovița and its tributaries have cut narrow limestone gorges, the Cheile Dâmbovicioarei among them, where the road squeezes between grey walls and the air turns cool and damp even in August. Look up and you may see choughs or a buzzard working the thermals; look down and the river is clear enough to count stones. Bears live in these forests too, so do not leave food on the bike overnight.
Rucăr itself is big enough for fuel, a small shop and a plate of something hearty, usually with polenta and sour cream on the side. Dragoslavele, a few minutes down the valley, has more of the same. Fill the tank here before you climb; the next comfortable stop is on the far side of the pass.