Padurea Craiului Mountains
Map of Padurea Craiului Mountains
(link to www.alpinet.org)
These mountains, not higher than 1000m are picturesque because of their limestone constitution, with lots of caves, dolinas, springs which form a usual view between scaterred villages and glades.
The marked routes are concentrated around the Crisul Repede canion and Lesu lake.
Marked route:
1.Lesu Chalet (near the dam) - Lesu camping (at the upper end of the lake) - Meziad chalet (closed).
Marked with red triangle and red and blue triangle from Lesu camping till Meziad Chalet. Distance: 22km. A short deviation from the marked path can be done to "la Acre" Cave.
| Lesu Chalet |
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View from Bulzului Stone 2. Meziad Chalet - Balintel Glade - Stana de Vale Resort -Suncuius - Vadu Crisului Area -Crisul Repede Canyon: Non marked paths in Padurea Craiului Mountains:
Rosia Village -Ciur Ponor- Zece Hotare Area
Varciorog- Dobresti Area
A route which crosses Padurea Craiului can be done by bike following forestry roads.
Oradea - Topa Valley The first interest point is
Oradea town situated at 8km from the Romanian border,
on the Crisul Repede river. From here, following the national road -E79, after another 8km you'll reach Baile Felix resort, one of the well-known balneo-climateric resort in Romania.
The path
starts from the Somesul Hotel, crossing the small pine forest and than a large pasture
situated near the main road. You'll enter the "1 Mai" forest, where, during springtime,
you can feel the smell of the wild garlic fields. After an easy ascent, you'll reach the highest point in the
area, with good viewpoint towards Oradea and the entire area. If you are interested in speo and have a rope with you,
don't miss Betfia vertical cave, just near the peak.
From Tasad ( km 20) the road turns left and
at about 1km before Bucuroaia village you leave the village road and descend to the left
(eastwards) on the hills covered by hayfields, towards Pietroasa Valley, tributary to Topa
Valley. After 1km walk on a bumpy way from the Bucuroaia village, you reach the Pietroasa Valley, turn left on the forestry road which leads you towards Topa Valley. Going up along this
forest-fringe narrow valley with gorges, you'll arrive to Varciorog village
(km 39). From Varciorog village the itinerary
follows the country road Tileagd - Dobresti crossing the Bulz hill, past the
forestry house Bulz through a region very rich in forests up to the
Dobresti village. Dobresti (km54) village, where
bauxite was explored in
the past , is the point of leaving for the Tomnatec - Zece Hotare
karstic Plateau. Following the Vida Valley over the wild gorges of the river, a forestry
road measuring 28km ( 500m ascent) will lead us to Tomnatic Village. From spot
to spot the forest make way to see the longest gorges from Apuseni Mts. which are surrounded by the road
for about more than 10km. A series of secondary paths may tempt the tourist, but he must
keep the NE as the main direction going up easy through the leafy forest. After
having done 16km from Dobresti, one gets into the glade which shelters Vida forestry
house, a good place for resting. From here the road gets up towards NE following the river
and then leaving it through a wild and picturesque region covered with rich forests and
scattered with dolina.Than, you get on the NW side of Padurea Craiului Mts. (about 700m
alt.) where some villages are placed, their houses being scattered on the hills and
valleys: Tomnatec, Zece Hotare - former centers for bauxite exploitation. Tomnatec Village - Lesu Chalet Our itinerary intersects the road Alesd
- Rosia - Beius near Tomnatec village (km80) and turns right (southward)
along the village going on the karstic plateau up to the dry valley of Sohodol. Sohodol Valley
"La Acre" Cave
Meziad Area
Marked with blue triangle.
Balintel Glade
1. Le circuit de versant droit
Balisage point bleu. Distance: 9km.
2.Le circuit de versant gauche.
Balisage point rouge. Distance: 8km.
3. Le chalet Pestera -la grotte Batranului
Balisage ligne bleu. Distance: 8km.
4. Le chalet Pestera - la vallee Izbandis - village Suncuius.
Balisage triangle rouge. Distance: 7km.
5.Suncuius - la vallee Izbandis - le plateau karstic Batranului
Balisage croce bleu. Distance: 8km.
6.Le Chalet Pestera -village Suncuius - defilee Misidului - La grotte Moanei et Lesiana
Balisage triangle bleu. Distance:12km.
Ungurului Cave
Luncilor Valley
Vadu Crisului Gorges
- Bratcuta Basin
- Ponoare Plateau and Boiului Valley
- Damis Plateau
Bratcuta Basin
Damis -Coaste hamlet
Near Lorau Village
Ponoare Plateau
Boiului Valley
Near Damis Village
Damis Area-Fantanele Hamlet
Sohodol Valley
Ponoras Plateau
- Cutilor Gorges
- Lazuri Gorges
- Albioarei Gorges
- Ciur-Ponor Plateau and Ciur Cave
Near Rosia Village
Cutilor Gorges
Ciur-Ponor Karstic Plateau
Ciur-Ponor Cave
- Videi Gorges
- Racas Karstic Plateau
- Osoia cave
- Ticlului cave - Magura Corbesti Peak Area
Racas Plateau
Near Racas Plateau - Vida Lake and Vida Gorges
Osoaia Cave Area
Intre Cai Hamlet, near Magura Corbesti Peak
Area around Remeti Rocks - Iadului Valley
Route: Oradea - Baile Felix - Poiana Tasad - Varciorog -Dobresti - Tomnatec - Valea Sohodol - Lesu
Chalet.
Lenght: 101km
From here you follow the country road Beius-Damis through the valley, limited by hayfields and surrounded by oak and beech woods.
After 3km walk, the main road turns to the left but you will go straight ahead on the Runcsor Valley (km90) by Runcsor surface drainage where the water of the river disappears underground. For about 3,5km, the road goes up smoothly on the Runcsor Valley, through hayfields and then through rich forest. In the superior part of the valley, the forest road dissapears on the ridge which separates Runcsor Valley from Lesu Valley. The crossing of the watershed (about 800m altitude) takes about 1h and leads to the Lesu Valley (km 97).
Then the itinerary follows the forestry road along the picturesque valley of Lesu up to the Lesu-Baraj Chalet (km 101) which is situated at an altitude of 600m on the right slope of Iada Valley. The capacity of the chalet is 200 places with two to four bed rooms, it also has a restaurant.
Route: Lesu Motel - Stana de Vale Resort
Length:26km
Ascent: 520m
Time: 6-7h
You can easily access this route by bike
The route passes along the Lesu Lake (about 10km), which is surrounded by an assembly of smooth peaks of 800-1000m, with rich forests. Vegetation is dominated by deciduous species like beech, plane and birch forming deep forests. You can find accommodation at Lesu Motel situated near the dam, and at the upper zone of the lake, where
there is a holiday village.
From the holiday village, the Iadului Valley becomes narrower and the forestry road passes near the wild river that frequently jumps over huge rocks forming waterfalls and reservoirs. Iadului Valley springs in Stana de Vale area and crosses wild gorges, deeply cut into the Vladeasa Mts.
Iadolina Waterfall
