Romania is a fantastic country for vanlife with amazing parkups available out in the middle of nature, fresh water from springs and so much to see. We spent about a month there in 2022 and were keen to get back again the following year. This time round we crossed the border slightly further north at Petea with the intention of heading east and then following the Carpathian mountains southward towards Bulgaria.

Fish & chips anyone?

My outdoor gym!

Our first stop was a nature reserve near Satu Mare, a "nice bird place" according to my notes. Albeit one which seemed to have an unnecessarily loud late night party going on nearby. I got a few weird looks from locals while hangboarding on the back of the van but they were friendly enough. One old guy stopped for a chat and suggested we go to the 'horse waterfall' as it's one of the most beautiful in the country. After a bit of research we found it was very close to our planned route so added it to the list and set off in that vague direction.

Flowers and mountains near Cascada Cailor

Cascada Cailor itself

A nearby snake

Purple flowers

Views for miles

The waterfall again

And your typical Romanian picnic area

After a couple of days driving which took us into the Carpathians via a very scenic misty parkup we pulled up in an empty car park in a ski village called Borsa populated by a wandering pack of friendly but very loud street dogs. One in particular took it upon himself to show us round and hang out at the van all day and all night keeping a very noisy watch. He had very thick matted hair which looked like it had never met a brush in its life so naturally we named him Matt. Matt hung around with us the rest of the day and for the whole entire night. Apparently he doesn’t need sleep, he just barks. Constantly. Having kept us awake all night we finally gave Matt the slip the following day by hopping on a chairlift up to the start of the hike to Cascada Cailor - Horse waterfall. It really was a beautiful waterfall as we had been told, despite the picnic area nearby being infested with litter in the Romanian tradition. The walks nearby also rewarded us with our first proper mountain top views of the trip - snowy peaks surrounding the top of the waterfall, grassy fields broken up by patches of white snow and purple flowers and all infused with that feeling you only get from fresh mountain air. We even managed to get pictures of our first snake of the trip as well!

The lake we called Rock Lake

was home to a lot of noisy frogs..

and even more rubbish

After saying goodbye to Matt we set off towards a place we’d spotted on googlemaps called Grota Ursilor (Bear Cave). Which we got to after just the one unplanned stop which we made after spotting a single massive rock sticking out of a lake by the side of the road in a fairly picturesque way. This was simultaneously an absolutely lovely spot with a very unique view and a lot of wildlife, primarily in the form of hundreds and hundreds of frogs noisily courting each other; and also a filthy smelly rubbish tip full of litter left by picnickers or floated in from further upstream. It’s a disappointing fact about Romania, and as it turns out most Balkan countries, that even the most picturesque spots are often covered in rubbish. Romania has a serious recycling problem apparently, with the lowest levels of recycling in the EU and people just seem to have no issue with dumping their rubbish wherever they want. We held our noses for a bit, took some pictures and then drove on.

Trying to figure out the directions was hard work...

But worth it

We even found another dog friend to enjoy the view with

Grota Ursilor turned out to be a strange little popular area which included a large seating area at the top of a hill, several mineral spring pools/baths, a via ferrata/adventure course, a few bolted sport climbs and a couple of small ice caves. We weren’t entirely sure what to make of it all to be honest but fortunately when we were having a go at a short section of the ‘not via ferrata’ the chap who had set it all up turned up with a group and invited us to join in. That led to a very enjoyable afternoon of climbing, rappelling, crawling through icy caves and just generally clambering about  on rocks. We also received a few suggestions for other places to try nearby which leads us neatly on to…

A view of Toaca peak before we set out

The view from somewhere near the top

Papanasi take some beating

Varful Toaca. 1904 metres high at its peak, this was our first big mountain hike of the trip. We took a full day to manage the 1200 metre ascent and subsequent descent, including the 500 metal steps on the staircase to get to the very top. For me this was probably the second hardest day hike I have ever done (after the Velika Baba attempt in Slovenia the previous year). The paths were well marked and easy to follow, as well as appearing on mapy (my favourite map app for walking) so finding our way wasn’t a problem, but the ascent was just relentless. For context neither of us are particularly experienced mountain hikers, we do day walks on marked footpaths in good conditions and that’s about it. So for me ascending 1200 metres is bloody hard work, and to then have to get back down again on rather wobbly legs and along very narrow, tree root covered muddy footpaths on a steep mountainside was a real endurance workout.

Anyway, after sweating away for hours hiking uphill, then hauling ourselves up those 500 metal steps to reach the very top, we discover a cat lazing around on a bench like he’s just casually strolled up there for lunch! Our first but not last mountain peak pet of the trip! As an additional bonus on the way down we found a pretty cool waterfall to have a much needed rest beside.

The final 500 steps on the way up!

A nice chillout waterfall on the way down

After a suitable recovery meal of pizza and papanasi and a well deserved sleep we headed for Cheile Bicazalui. A stunning area of Romania which includes a steep sided canyon you can drive through, a selection of via ferratas, and the red lake, which isn’t red but is a lake. Via ferrata Astrologus is well worth a go for any ferrata fans in the area, you do need to register and pay (I think around 5 euros) at the nearby hut but it is really enjoyable and not too difficult for anyone with experience. We made the rare decision to pay for overnight parking at this point, and then discovered we had picked the most expensive car park in Romania, being charged around 25 euros for one night without electricity. Still, we did buy our first Langos at a nearby stall and ate them during a thunderstorm so the experience was worth it. If you’ve not had Langos before try to imagine a doughnut the size and shape of a pizza covered with cheese and sour cream. If that doesn’t sound amazing then you’re dead inside.

Romania is far too big for just one post so I’ll leave you hanging there for now, check back soon if you want to find out about nose horned vipers, giant terrifying dogs and bloody annoying mosquitoes!