Driving the Transfagarasan Highway of the Transylvanian Alps

Summary
Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear called this “The best road in the world” and you can see why. Looking from above it looks like a child’s perfect Scalextric set as it impossibly winds up over the Transylvanian Alps and leaves you marvelling at the effort and engineering skill that have been put into making it. Great fun to drive and a must if driving your way from Transylvania to Bucharest
highlights

#1 Driving along the famous racing-track-style curves of the final ascent to cross the Transylvanian Alps

#2 Seeing some of the local wildlife along the way!

#3 The northern route which is bizarrely less driven, yet equally superb as you wind through the forest

#4 Seeing the Poienari Citadel - the legitimate castle of Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula

#5 The stunning Byzantine churches and monasteries in Curtea de Arges’ Princely Court

#6 Stopping in some of the pretty stopping places for food along the Northern section of the Highway
Travel Tips
- Drive both sections – many people only do the famous drive from Sibiu to Lake Balea and then return, but the remainder of the road is equally stunning and is a no-brainer if making your way to Bucharest. Plus, it is quite a lot quieter
- Sites to stop – the Southern half of the road has two places in particular worth checking out. Firstly, Poienari Citadel which is the legitimate castle of Vlad the Impaler, aka Dracula, and a far more menacing location compared to the more famous Bran Castle on the other side of the Alps. Secondly, Curtea de Arges’ Princely Court has some fabulous interior paintings in its church and its stunning white marbled Monastery
- Wildlife – perhaps this is pure luck, but we had two occasions seeing brown bears on the road. Very chilled just watching the traffic go by and certainly added to the mountain vibe
- Time to drive – the road itself is only 150km / 94miles long, but it will take around 3.5hours with all the wonderful twists and turns
- Accommodation – there are various places to stay along the road, but bear in mind that most of these places are along the flatter parts at the start and finish. Options look to be very limited near the highest points, but the Cabana Balea Lac in particular looked a good option
- There is no public transport over the road, and it is closed from October to mid May
- If you’re crossing the road, most likely its part of planned trip around Romania. See this travel entry for a 6 day itinerary for Romania and the Transylvanian region. Real highlights are in Transylvania and in particular the Fortified Saxon Towns around Sighisoara
Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone