Bigăr Waterfall

About Bigăr Waterfall

Bigăr Waterfall is where the water of the Bigăr spring, gushing from a cave in the Anina Mountains, tumbles into the Miniș river over a step of calcareous tufa clad in moss, just a few dozen metres from the road. The lime-rich water constantly deposits stone on the moss, so over time the rock grew into a green mushroom over which the water fell in thousands of thin threads, like a veil. The fall is only 7–8 m high, but its shape made it famous: in 2013 an American website named it the most beautiful waterfall in the world, and in the following years it became the most visited spot in Caraș-Severin county, with over 50,000 visitors in 2020.

On the evening of 7 June 2021 a large piece of the tufa slab, moss and all, broke off under its own weight and fell into the water. Romsilva explained that no human hand was involved: the lime deposits keep thickening the overhanging edge until it can no longer hold itself up. Since then the waterfall has looked different, smaller and without its "umbrella" of moss, but the process that created it goes on: moss has grown back over the remaining rock, tufa is being deposited again, and the park administration says the bell shape is beginning to re-form. The access footbridge was rebuilt in 2025.

The site is the Izvorul Bigăr nature reserve, 176 ha within the Cheile Nerei-Beușnița National Park, and it lies exactly on the 45th parallel, halfway between the Equator and the North Pole, as a panel by the road points out.

Good to know before you go

Getting there

By car: the waterfall is right beside the DN57B, the Anina – Bozovici road through the Miniș gorge, ~15 km from Anina and ~20 km from Bozovici; the car park is opposite, on the roadside. From Reșița it is ~60 km (DN58 to Anina, then DN57B, ~1h15), from Timișoara ~150 km (~2h45), from Oravița ~45 km, from Băile Herculane ~60 km (DN6 to Iablanița, then DN57B via Bozovici, ~1h15). The road is paved but narrow and winding through the gorge.

Public transport: no services stop at the waterfall. The closest you can get by bus is Anina or Bozovici, still 15–20 km away; in practice it is visited only by car or on an organised tour from Reșița or Timișoara.

Where to park

The car park on the side of the DN57B, opposite the waterfall, cost ~5 lei a day; on summer weekends it fills up and cars line the road. Do not park in the gorge outside the marked areas.

Fees & discounts

Cheile Nerei-Beușnița National Park visitor fee (official website): adults €2 + VAT (~12 lei), pupils, students and pensioners €1 + VAT; paid in cash at the information point by the waterfall or by SMS to 7494 (code NERA1 for one adult, RNERA1 reduced), the SMS ticket being valid only on the day it is sent. Older guides mention 5 lei per person. Parking is paid separately.

Rules

You are in a nature reserve: keep to the path and footbridge, do not climb on the tufa rock and do not pull off the moss, which is the very material the waterfall is made of. Do not enter the water and do not throw anything into it. Children under 14 only with an adult. Dogs on a lead. No fires, no camping outside designated places, no loud music; rubbish leaves with you. The path to the spring has wet boulders and a support cable: wear shoes with good grip.

Facilities

Stalls with drinks and snacks by the car park, in season · no toilets at the waterfall · guesthouses and restaurants in Bozovici and Anina · weak mobile signal in the gorge · the path to the footbridge is easy, but the trail to the spring is not pushchair-accessible · park information centre at Sasca Montană