# Tourist attractions in Alba County [Romania](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/attractions) › [Transylvania](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/region/transilvania) Alba county stretches from the valleys of the Mureș and the Târnava rivers into the heart of the Apuseni Mountains, with the Trascău and the Metaliferi Mountains in between. The county seat is Alba Iulia, the city of the Great Union of 1918 and of the bastioned fortress at its centre; Sebeș, Aiud and Blaj are small towns with a long history, and the Land of the Moți, along the Arieș, keeps the ridge-top scattered villages of the Apuseni highlanders. Anyone looking for things to see in Alba county finds fortresses, caves, waterfalls and mountain roads. [Alba Carolina Fortress](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatea-alba-carolina), the star-shaped fortification built by the Habsburgs in the 18th century, is the natural starting point. Near Sebeș, [Râpa Roșie](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/rapa-rosie) is a wall of reddish rock furrowed by the rain, and [Câlnic Fortress](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatea-calnic) a Saxon peasant fortress on the UNESCO list. In the Apuseni, the [Scărișoara Ice Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-ghetarul-de-la-scarisoara) shelters a block of ice thousands of years old, and the [Transapuseana](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/transapuseana) climbs from Aiud through the villages of the Trascău almost as far as Abrud. ## Tourist attractions 18 attractions - [Alba Carolina Fortress](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatea-alba-carolina) — Fortresses and fortifications · Alba Iulia, AB · Free · 2½ – 3 hours · Top 20 Romania's largest bastion fortress, a seven-pointed star built by the Habsburgs in 1715–1738 at Alba Iulia; baroque gates, cathedrals, the Union Hall and a changing of the guard, all with free access. - [Coronation Cathedral](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/catedrala-incoronarii) — Monasteries and churches · Alba Iulia, AB · Free · 45 min · Top 100 The Orthodox cathedral inside Alba Carolina Fortress, built in 1921–1922 for the coronation of Ferdinand and Marie as king and queen of Greater Romania, with a 58 m bell tower and royal portraits in fresco. - [Câlnic Fortress](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatea-calnic) — Fortresses and fortifications · Câlnic, AB · UNESCO World Heritage · Top 100 A 13th-century count's residence, bought by the Saxon villagers in 1430 and turned into a peasant fortress: a Romanesque keep, two rings of walls and a chapel, in a valley near Sebeș. - [St Michael's Cathedral](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/catedrala-romano-catolica-sfantul-mihail) — Monasteries and churches · Alba Iulia, AB · Free · 45 min · Top 100 Romania's oldest and longest cathedral, Romanesque and Gothic, at the heart of the Alba Carolina Fortress; it holds the tomb of John Hunyadi and the first Renaissance chapel in Transylvania. - [Scărișoara Ice Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-ghetarul-de-la-scarisoara) — Caves · Ghețari, AB · 45 min · Top 100 A cave in the Apuseni Mountains that holds one of the largest underground glaciers in the world: a block of ice over 10,000 years old, reached by stairs down a shaft 60 m across. - [Ocna Mureș Salt Baths](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/baile-sarate-ocna-mures) — Resorts and thermal baths · Ocna Mureș, AB · 80 lei · 3½ – 4 hours A modern spa complex in Ocna Mureș, opened in 2023, with heated salt-water and fresh-water pools, saunas and treatments. It is above ground only: the old salt mine cannot be visited. - [Coiba Mare Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-coiba-mare) — Caves · Casa de Piatră, AB · Free An undeveloped cave in the Bihor Mountains near Casa de Piatră: a huge portal, tens of metres high, through which the Gârdișoara stream vanishes underground. - [Bethlen-Haller Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-bethlen-haller) — Castles and palaces · Cetatea de Baltă, AB · 39 lei · ½ – 1 hours A Renaissance castle with four round towers, built by the Bethlen family on a hill above the Târnava Mică; today it is the emblem of Jidvei wines and is visited on hourly guided tours. - [Vânătările Ponorului Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-vanatarile-ponorului) — Waterfalls · Dumești, AB · Free · ½ – 1 hours A 70–80 m chain of waterfalls, with a 25 m main drop, plunging into a huge sinkhole in the Trascău Mountains and vanishing underground; seen from a wooden balcony a short walk from the road. - [Vârciorog Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-varciorog) — Waterfalls · Arieșeni, AB · Free · 2 – 2½ hours A waterfall of about 15 m on the Vârciorog stream, tucked into a spruce forest below Piatra Grăitoare, near Arieșeni; reached up a wooded valley on foot or by horse cart. - [Căpâlna Dacian Fortress](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatea-dacica-capalna) — Fortresses and fortifications · Căpâlna, AB · Free · 1½ – 2 hours · UNESCO World Heritage The ruins of a Dacian fortress on a wooded hill above the Sebeș valley: limestone walls in the murus dacicus technique and the base of a tower house, the only Dacian UNESCO site in Alba County. - [Huda lui Papară Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-huda-lui-papara) — Caves · Sub Piatră, AB · 300 lei · 3 – 3½ hours An active cave in the Trascău Mountains, with a portal almost 40 m high in the limestone wall and an underground river of lakes and waterfalls, visited only on guided tours in a wetsuit. - [Râpa Roșie](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/rapa-rosie) — National parks and reserves · Sebeș, AB · Free · 1 – 1½ hours An 800 m wall of red clay and sandstone on the edge of Sebeș, carved by rain into columns, towers and earth pyramids, a badlands landscape rare in Romania. - [Șipote Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-sipote) — Waterfalls · Sălciua de Jos, AB · Free · 2½ – 3 hours A chain of travertine cascades on the Șipote stream, below the Bedeleu cliffs in the Trascău Mountains: the last one drops straight into the Arieș by the DN75, the upper ones are reached on a nature trail from Sălciua. - [Transursoaia](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/transursoaia) — Scenic roads · Alba County · Free · 2½ – 3 hours National road DN1R, 80 km through the Apuseni Mountains between Huedin and Albac: past Lake Beliș-Fântânele, through the Moți villages and over the Ursoaia Pass, at about 1,320 m. - [Vârtop Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-ghetarul-de-la-vartop) — Caves · Casa de Piatră, AB · 15 lei An undeveloped cave in the Bihor Mountains, with ice at the entrance and white formations, where a Neanderthal footprint at least 62,000 years old was found in 1974. - [Pișoaia Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-pisoaia) — Waterfalls · Vidra, AB · Free · 45 min An 18 m waterfall spilling down a limestone wall in the Țara Moților region, near the village of Nemeși in Vidra commune; a landscape reserve 500 m from the road to Avram Iancu. - [Transapuseana](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/transapuseana) — Scenic roads · Alba County · Free · 3½ – 4 hours County road DJ107I, 78 km through the Trascău Mountains between Aiud and Bucium, near Abrud: villages scattered along the ridges, thatched houses and views from over 1,100 m. ## Localities - [Alba Iulia](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/city/alba-iulia) - [Arieșeni](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/arieseni) - [Casa de Piatră](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/casa-de-piatra) - [Cetatea de Baltă](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/cetatea-de-balta) - [Câlnic](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/calnic) - [Căpâlna](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/capalna) - [Dumești](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/dumesti) - [Ghețari](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/ghetari) - [Ocna Mureș](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/city/ocna-mures) - [Sebeș](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/city/sebes) - [Sub Piatră](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/sub-piatra) - [Sălciua de Jos](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/salciua-de-jos) - [Vidra](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/locality/vidra) --- Full page: https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/alba Other languages: Română: https://peplaiuri.ro/judet/alba.md · Deutsch: https://peplaiuri.ro/de/kreis/alba.md · Italiano: https://peplaiuri.ro/it/distretto/alba.md Source: Pe Plaiuri (https://peplaiuri.ro/en) — Guide to tourist attractions in Romania