Romania - Transfagarasan and Transalpina

[bumble beemer]

Last year I rode to Romania to do the Transfagarasan. Unfortunately on the day, it rained and therefore visibility was poor so I just had to go back this year to try again !
In my opinion the road is best ridden from South to North towards Sibiu.

 

[bumble beemer]

Obstacles

Watch out for obstacles.....

 

[bumble beemer]

Stunning scenery

if the weather is good. This was taken on the way from Brasov to the Transfagarasan.

 

[bumble beemer]

Transalpina

I did some research before planning to do the Transalpina and had heard that it was 99% tarmac. I met a Romanian bike rider in Brasov the night before and he also confirmed it was almost complete. Despite this....... the transalpina is far from complete and made for some hairy if interesting riding.

 

[bumble beemer]

It is getting there ...

No doubt once complete it will be a great road and the parts that had been recently tarmaced were fantastic. I would go as far to say that once it is complete it will be better than the Transfagarasan. Must write to Top Gear !

 

[casperghst42]

Did the Transfagarasan yesterday and the Transalpine today. Most on the northside is fresh new nice flat tarmac, on the south side, well.... what tarmac - if anyone is going to do it in the near future, make sure that you take it easy, as there are places where the tarmac disappears (just around the corner).

But the Transalpine is actually awsome, and even with the missing tarmac it's still a great ride.

But there is a section of road further ahead which is even better, I'll figure out what exactly it is when I get home, but according to Garmin it's the DN67C going from Obarsia Lotrului via Targu Jiu (DN67A) to the Iron Gates, I had almost no traffic and new tarmac awsome corners, only the last ~15km was a bit interesting (ie. pot holes). It follows an massive gore.

Casper

 

[motorbaker]

Did the Transfagarasan on 2 Aug from the north but low thick cloud meant very poor visibility - had my hazards on most of the way up - and decided to come back down the same way rather than carry on to the south.

Next day I rode from Bran to Pitesti and the first 30 miles or so of that route were fantastic roads, beautiful scenery, and almost empty of traffic.

Much better than the Tranfagarasan I thought, even allowing for the weather, as the whole world seems to be going up/down the latter. Didn't know about the Transalpina - now in Turkey so will note for another year.

M