The Transfăgărășan
The road over the Făgăraș mountains. Open only in the warm months, closed by snow for the rest of the year — check the current season before planning a day around it.
- Best for
- Drivers, and passengers who like hairpins
- Seasonality
- The high section is open in summer only and closed by snow outside it. The opening and closing dates change every year — check the current year before you plan around it.
The background
The Transfăgărășan crosses the Făgăraș mountains, the highest range in Romania, in a sequence of hairpins that is the reason most people drive it. It was completed in the 1970s, and it reaches its summit at a tunnel under the ridge, with Bâlea Lake just below on the northern side.
The one thing to get right
The high section is seasonal. It is open in the warm months and closed by snow for the rest of the year, and the dates move — they depend on the snowpack, and the year before tells you nothing reliable about this one.
We deliberately do not publish opening dates here. Sources disagree with each other, they disagree between years, and a wrong date on this page turns into somebody’s wasted day. Check the current season before you build a trip around the drive.
When the road is shut, the cable car from the northern side still runs to Bâlea Lake in normal conditions — which is how most winter visitors get up there.
What it is actually like
It is slow. The distance is short and the driving is not, and the stops are the point rather than an interruption. Approached from Sibiu it is a full day out, not a transfer.
Hiking in the Făgăraș Mountains — 8 days
The Făgăraș ridge is genuinely alpine. This is the guided version of it.
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