Lakes

A glacial lake at 2,034 m in the Bâlea cirque of the Făgăraș Mountains, at the top of the Transfăgărășan; reachable by car in summer and by cable car all year round.

A reservoir over 10 km long on the Argeș, held back by the 166 m Vidraru arch dam; the Transfăgărășan runs along its crest, watched over by a statue of Prometheus.

Romania's largest glacial lake, at 2,040 m in the heart of Retezat National Park; it can only be reached on foot, after a climb of about two hours from Poiana Pelegii.

Better known as Lake Bicaz, it is the largest reservoir on Romania's inland rivers: 35 km of water on the Bistrița, below Mount Ceahlău, held back by a 127 m dam.

Romania's only volcanic lake: an almost round sheet of water in the Ciomatu crater, ringed by forest, with a Catholic chapel on the shore and the Mohoș peat bog in the neighbouring crater.

A liman lake some 16 km long, 40 km north of Bucharest, between forests, villas and jetties, with a water-lily reserve in the middle and Snagov Monastery on an island.

A heliothermal salt lake in Sovata, formed in 1875 over a salt massif: beneath a thin layer of fresh water the salt water goes above 40 °C in summer; a lido runs on the shore in season.

A natural dam lake formed in 1837, when a mountainside blocked the Bicaz valley; the trunks of the drowned forest still rise from the water, at the upper end of the Bicaz Gorge.