Why this ride
A mountain highway from Curtea de Arges, Romania to Cartisoara, Romania, via Vidraru Dam. Key character: hairpins; Carpathian peaks; alpine lake. Surface: paved.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Transfagarasan Highway
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 117 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 50
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Transfăgărășan
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 14 km this is Transfăgărășan, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 14 km
- Named road
- Transfăgărășan
- Pass
- Balea Lake
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Curtea de Argeş
Curtea de Argeș was one of the first capitals of Wallachia, in the fourteenth century, and its great monument is a monastery that everyone in Romania knows. The cathedral, built in the early sixteenth century by Prince Neagoe Basarab, is a white stone building covered in carved lace, with slim towers and delicate patterns that look more like ironwork than masonry. A legend tells that the master builder, Manole, was made by the prince to wall his own wife into the structure so that it would stand, and that he fell to his death trying to escape the roof. The tale is told in ballads, and every Romanian child knows it. The church also holds the tombs of the country's kings, including Carol I and Ferdinand.
Read the complete Curtea de Argeş write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Transfagarasan Highway point 1 sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Transfagarasan Highway point 2.
2. Near Corbeni
Planning note
Transfagarasan Highway point 2 comes up 22 km in. Next is Transfagarasan Highway point 3.
3. Near Cârţişoara
Cârțișoara is the village at the northern foot of the Transfăgărășan, at roughly six hundred metres above the sea, where the road from the Făgăraș mountains reaches the Olt valley. Behind it rises the highest range in Romania, a wall of ridges and glacial cirques topped by Moldoveanu, around 2,544 metres, and in front lies the gentle farmland of southern Transylvania. The contrast is sudden: a few kilometres of fields and orchards, and then a wall of forest and rock that climbs out of sight.
Read the complete Cârţişoara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least 52 km in you reach Transfagarasan Highway point 3. Next is Transfagarasan Highway point 4.
4. Cârţişoara
Cârțișoara is the village at the northern foot of the Transfăgărășan, at roughly six hundred metres above the sea, where the road from the Făgăraș mountains reaches the Olt valley. Behind it rises the highest range in Romania, a wall of ridges and glacial cirques topped by Moldoveanu, around 2,544 metres, and in front lies the gentle farmland of southern Transylvania. The contrast is sudden: a few kilometres of fields and orchards, and then a wall of forest and rock that climbs out of sight.
Read the complete Cârţişoara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Transfagarasan Highway point 4, late in the day.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Romania Transfagarasan · 117 km
- Transfagarasan · 109 km
- Transfagarasan Highway starting at Curtea de Argeş · 235 km