Why this ride
Tight canyon geometry, elevation changes and strong visual drama. It also links naturally to Cheile Bicazului-Hasmas National Park.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Bicaz Gorge and Red Lake
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 56 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 10
- 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.
Access context
High passes are seasonal. Verify surface, weather and construction status. Specific flag: seasonal traffic.
Seasonal context
May-Oct
Scenic road chapters
Romania Bicaz Gorge Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 1 km this is Romania Bicaz Gorge Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 1 km
- Named road
- Romania Bicaz Gorge Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Bicaz
Bicaz is a town of some eight thousand people at the eastern end of the Bicaz Gorge, in the Moldavian foothills of the Carpathians, and it is known for two big things, a dam and a cement works. The dam, completed in 1960 on the Bistrița river, holds back Izvorul Muntelui, the largest reservoir in Romania by volume, a long arm of water that fills the valley and reaches far into the hills. The cement works, a concrete reminder of the communist industrial plan, still dominates one side of town. It sounds grim, but the lake is beautiful and the hills around it are green.
Read the complete Bicaz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bicaz sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Bicaz.
2. Bicaz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bicaz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bicaz comes up 21 km in. Next is Gheorgheni.
3. Gheorgheni
Gheorgheni is a cold, tough little town on a high basin in the heart of the Székely Land, and most riders meet it as the gateway to the Bicaz Gorge and the Red Lake. It sits at a little over eight hundred metres in the Giurgeu depression, a broad bowl ringed by the Giurgeu and Hășmaș mountains, and winters here are among the harshest in Romania, with frost pooling in the basin on still nights. The town is overwhelmingly Hungarian in language and culture, and you will see the signs in two scripts and hear Hungarian in the shops long before Romanian.
Read the complete Gheorgheni write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
56 km in you reach Gheorgheni.