# National parks and reserves — tourist attractions in Romania [Romania](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/attractions) › [Categories](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/categories) > Protected areas, national parks and nature reserves. Protected areas cover a sizeable part of the Carpathians, the Danube Delta and a few lowland and coastal zones. The national parks of Romania are almost all in the mountains: Retezat, the country's first national park, the Rodna Mountains, Piatra Craiului, Ceahlău, Cheile Nerei–Beușnița or Domogled–Valea Cernei; to these come the nature parks, such as Bucegi, Apuseni or the Iron Gates, and the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, the largest protected area in the country. The rules are the same everywhere: marked paths, fires and tents only where allowed, nothing left behind. You can get to know the parks without climbing a ridge. [Bucura Lake](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-bucura) is the heart of Retezat, [Beușnița Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-beusnita) gives its name to the park in the [Banat](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/region/banat), [Cetățile Ponorului](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatile-ponorului) is the landmark of the Apuseni, and [the Bucegi Sphinx](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/sfinxul-din-bucegi) is reached by cable car. The [Danube Delta](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/delta-dunarii) is explored by boat, while [Lake Sfânta Ana](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-sfanta-ana), a nature reserve in Harghita, is the only volcanic lake in Romania. ## Tourist attractions 56 attractions - [Danube Delta](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/delta-dunarii) — Deltas · Tulcea County · 5 lei/day · 7½ – 8 hours · UNESCO World Heritage · Top 20 Europe's largest wetland, a biosphere reserve and UNESCO site: channels, lakes, reed beds and over 300 bird species, from pelicans to egrets; visited by boat from Tulcea. - [Bâlea Lake](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-balea) — Lakes · Sibiu County · Free · 1½ – 2 hours · Top 100 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. - [Bears' Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-ursilor) — Caves · Chișcău, BH · 40 lei · 45 min · Top 100 Romania's most visited cave: 488 m of lit galleries beneath the village of Chișcău, full of stalactites and stalagmites, with the bones of some 140 cave bears left where they were found. - [Văcărești Nature Park (the Văcărești Delta)](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/delta-vacaresti) — National parks and reserves · București · Free · 1½ – 2 hours · Top 100 Romania's first urban nature park: 183 ha of ponds, reed beds and willows inside an abandoned reservoir in southern Bucharest, home to over 180 bird species, otters and foxes, a few hundred metres from the tower blocks. - [Cailor Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-cailor) — Waterfalls · Borșa, MM · Free · 2 – 2½ hours · Top 100 A roughly 90 m waterfall that drops in several tiers down a limestone wall in the Rodna Mountains, above the resort of Borșa; reached by chairlift and a short forest walk. - [Dâmbovicioara Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-dambovicioara) — Caves · Dâmbovicioara, AG · 30 min · Top 100 A small, easy-to-visit cave on the Rucăr–Bran corridor, in Piatra Craiului National Park: a dry gallery carved by the Dâmbovicioara stream, with about 250 m laid out and lit. - [God's Bridge](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/podul-lui-dumnezeu) — National parks and reserves · Ponoarele, MH · Free · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100 Romania's largest natural bridge and the only one in the world carrying a public road: a 30 m limestone arch left standing after a cave roof collapsed, in the village of Ponoarele on the Mehedinți Plateau. - [Babele](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/babele) — Mountains and trails · Moroeni, DB · 10 lei · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100 The stone mushrooms of the Bucegi plateau, at ~2,200 m: conglomerate rocks worn by wind, frost and rain, a few minutes from the Bușteni cable car and the Sphinx. - [Bigăr Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-bigar) — Waterfalls · Bozovici, CS · ~12 lei · 45 min · Top 100 The moss-covered tufa waterfall in the Miniș gorge, exactly on the 45th parallel and once famous worldwide; it partly collapsed in 2021 and is regenerating naturally, a few steps from the DN57B road. - [Danube Gorges (Cazanele Dunării)](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cazanele-dunarii) — Gorges and canyons · Dubova, MH · Free · 3½ – 4 hours · Top 100 The narrowest stretch of the Danube Gorge, between Dubova and Ogradena: the river squeezes between limestone walls, with Serbia on the far bank, seen by boat or from Ciucaru Mare. - [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. - [Women's Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-muierilor) — Caves · Baia de Fier, GJ · 20 lei · 40 min · Top 100 A four-level cave in the Galbenul Gorge at the foot of the Parâng Mountains, with 860 m of lit galleries, cave bear bones and some of the oldest modern human remains in Europe. - [Beușnița Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-beusnita) — Waterfalls · Caraș-Severin County · ~12 lei · 2½ – 3 hours · Top 100 A moss-clad tufa waterfall whose water fans out in dozens of threads over green steps, in the beech forest of the Cheile Nerei–Beușnița National Park, an hour's walk beyond Ochiul Beiului Lake. - [Bucura Lake](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-bucura) — Lakes · Hunedoara County · 10 lei · 6½ – 7 hours · Top 100 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. - [Cetățile Ponorului](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatile-ponorului) — Caves · Bihor County · Free · 3½ – 4 hours · Top 100 A karst complex on the Padiș Plateau: three huge sinkholes with walls over 200 m high and a portal over 70 m tall where the Cetăților stream vanishes into the mountain. Seen from a marked hiking loop, not a show cave. - [Lake Sfânta Ana](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-sfanta-ana) — Lakes · Harghita County · 46 lei · 1½ – 2 hours · Top 100 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. - [Lake Ursu](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-ursu) — Lakes · Sovata, MS · Top 100 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. - [Red Lake](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-rosu) — Lakes · Lacu Roșu, HR · Free · 1½ – 2 hours · Top 100 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. - [The Bucegi Sphinx](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/sfinxul-din-bucegi) — Mountains and trails · Moroeni, DB · 10 lei · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100 An 8 m conglomerate rock shaped by wind, frost and rain that, from certain angles, looks like a human head; it stands on the Bucegi plateau at 2,216 m, next to Babele. - [Urlătoarea Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-urlatoarea) — Waterfalls · Bușteni, PH · 10 lei · 2 – 2½ hours · Top 100 A roughly 15 m waterfall on the eastern slopes of the Bucegi Mountains, an hour's easy forest walk from Bușteni; the most visited waterfall in the massif and a classic outing on the Prahova Valley. - [Vălul Miresei Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-valul-miresei) — Waterfalls · Răchițele, CJ · Free · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100 A roughly 30 m, two-tiered waterfall at the foot of the Vlădeasa massif, on the Stanciului valley near Răchițele; the water fans out over the rock like a veil, and in winter the frozen wall is an ice-climbing spot. - [Neajlov Delta](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/delta-neajlovului) — National parks and reserves · Comana, GR · 5 lei · 2½ – 3 hours The roughly 1,100 ha Neajlov marsh in Comana Natural Park, with channels, reed beds and waterbirds, less than an hour from Bucharest; seen by small boat, rowing boat or kayak. - [Balta Mică a Brăilei](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/balta-mica-a-brailei) — Deltas · Brăila, BR · 80 lei · 1½ – 2 hours The last stretch of free-flooding Danube floodplain between Giurgeni and Brăila: seven river islands, 52 lakes and over 200 bird species, reached only by boat. - [Vadu Beach](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/plaja-vadu) — Seaside · Vadu, CT · 5 lei · 3½ – 4 hours A wild beach of shell-strewn sand at the village of Vadu, inside the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve: low dunes, not a single building and an earth track down to the sea. - [2 Mai – Vama Veche Marine Reserve](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/rezervatia-marina-2-mai-vama-veche) — National parks and reserves · 2 Mai, CT · Free The only marine reserve on the Romanian coast: the waters between 2 Mai and the Bulgarian border, with stone reefs, brown seaweed beds and mussel banks to see with a mask or on a dive. - [Berca Mud Volcanoes](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/vulcanii-noroiosi-berca) — National parks and reserves · Berca, BZ · 4 lei · 1 – 1½ hours Two plateaus of cold-mud cones and craters, Pâclele Mari and Pâclele Mici, in a nature reserve in the Buzău Subcarpathians, with a lunar-landscape feel. - [Corbu Beach](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/plaja-corbu) — Seaside · Corbu, CT · 5 lei · 3½ – 4 hours The last wild beach at the southern edge of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve: shell-strewn sand, dunes and a low earth cliff, with no hotels, sunbeds or lifeguards. - [Duruitoarea Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-duruitoarea) — Waterfalls · Durău, NT · 10 lei · 3½ – 4 hours A 25 m, two-tier waterfall on the Rupturi stream, in the forests below Toaca peak in Ceahlău National Park; reached on foot from the Durău resort in about two hours. - [Lolaia Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-lolaia) — Waterfalls · Nucșoara, HD · 10 lei · ½ – 1 hours A waterfall of about 15 m, split by a rock into two streams, in the Nucșoara valley in the north of Retezat National Park; a 15–20 minute walk from Cârnic. - [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. - [Agigea Marine Dunes Reserve](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/dunele-marine-agigea) — National parks and reserves · Agigea, CT · Free The only marine dunes left on the Romanian coast, protected since 1939 in the grounds of the Agigea Marine Biological Station: rare sand plants, tortoises and a free themed trail. - [Bolii Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-bolii) — Caves · Bănița, HD · 10 lei · ½ – 1 hours A cave crossed by a mountain stream north of Petroșani, with a 20 m-wide portal and a gallery of about 466 m walked end to end on footbridges, beneath the Dacian fortress of Bănița. - [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. - [Comarnic Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-comarnic) — Caves · Iabalcea, CS · 35 lei · 1½ – 2 hours A wild, unlit cave in the Anina Mountains with more than 6 km of passages on three levels, 1,750 m of which you explore with a helmet and head torch, led by the national park's rangers. - [Dragons' Garden (Grădina Zmeilor)](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/gradina-zmeilor) — National parks and reserves · Gâlgău Almașului, SJ · ½ – 1 hours A geological reserve in Sălaj with 10–15 m sandstone towers and spurs, shaped by erosion and named by locals "the Dragon and the Dragoness", "Fata Cătanei" or "the Monks". - [Focul Viu (Living Fire) of Andreiașu de Jos](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/focul-viu-andreiasu) — National parks and reserves · Andreiașu de Jos, VN · 30 min A nature reserve in the Vrancea Subcarpathians where methane gas seeps out of the ground and burns by itself, in small flames best seen in dry weather and towards evening. - [Focul Viu Ice Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-ghetarul-de-la-focul-viu) — Caves · Pietroasa, BH · Free An ice cave in the forests of the Galbena Valley near Padiș, reached on foot along a marked trail. Around midday, light pours in through a hole in the roof and falls on the ice. - [Hațeg Bison Reserve](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/rezervatia-de-zimbri-hateg) — Zoos and aquariums · Hațeg, HD · 45 min Romania's oldest European bison reserve, in the Slivuț forest near Hațeg: the first bison brought from Poland arrived here in 1958, and the herd can be watched from the fence of the enclosure. - [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. - [Lake Bolboci](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-bolboci) — Lakes · Moroeni, DB · 10 lei · ½ – 1 hours A reservoir on the Ialomița at 1,438 m, in the heart of the Bucegi Mountains, held back by a 55 m stone dam and ringed by spruce forest, between the Tătaru and Zănoaga gorges. - [Lake Cuejdel](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-cuejdel) — Lakes · Gârcina, NT · Free · 2 – 2½ hours Romania's largest natural dam lake, formed by landslides between 1978 and 1991 in the Stânișoarei Mountains, with bare spruce trunks rising out of the water; reached on foot through the forest. - [Lake Techirghiol](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-techirghiol) — Lakes · Techirghiol, CT · Free Romania's largest salt lake, a former sea bay next to Eforie: cold mud baths on the Techirghiol shore in summer, flocks of rare birds on water that does not freeze in winter. - [Lotrișor Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-lotrisor) — Waterfalls · Călimănești, VL · 10 lei · 1½ – 2 hours A waterfall of about 30 m in Cozia National Park, where the stream bursts out of a tunnel cut through the rock; reached on foot along a gentle forest road through the Lotrișor Gorge. - [Meziad Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-meziad) — Caves · Meziad, BH · 40 lei · 50 min One of Romania's oldest show caves, with a 16 m high entrance arch, vast chambers on two levels and one of the largest bat colonies in the country. - [Mlaștina Hergheliei Nature Reserve](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/mlastina-hergheliei) — National parks and reserves · Mangalia, CT · Free · ½ – 1 hours A 98-hectare former lagoon between Saturn and Venus, with reed beds, open water and sulphur springs where swans, egrets and black-winged stilts stop over; you watch it from the surrounding roads. - [Mount Tâmpa](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/muntele-tampa) — Mountains and trails · Brașov, BV · 45 lei · 1½ – 2 hours The wooded 960 m mountain that rises straight out of central Brașov: the “BRAȘOV” letters, views over the old town, a nature reserve, marked trails and a cable car from its foot. - [Neamț Bison Reserve](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/rezervatia-de-zimbri-neamt) — Zoos and aquariums · Vânători-Neamț, NT · 15 lei · 1 – 1½ hours The “Dragoș Vodă” reserve, founded in 1968 in Vânători-Neamț Nature Park: a small zoo with bison, deer and birds, at the edge of the forest where free-ranging bison live. - [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. - [Polovragi Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-polovragi) — Caves · Polovragi, GJ · 20 lei · 45 min A cave more than 10 km long, carved by the Olteț river into the limestone of the Olteț Gorge, with 800 m of gallery open to visitors and legends about Zalmoxis, a kilometre from Polovragi Monastery. - [Putna Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-putnei) — Waterfalls · Lepșa, VN · 2 lei · 45 min A series of steps and potholes where the Putna river drops 14 m over about 80 m between sandstone walls, near Lepșa; a nature reserve since 1973, minutes from the DN2D. - [Valea Cetății Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-valea-cetatii) — Caves · Râșnov, BV · 35 lei · ½ – 1 hours A lit cave on the slopes of Postăvarul, between Râșnov and Poiana Brașov, with a great hall over 20 m high, visited with a guide and sometimes used for concerts. - [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. - [Vânturătoarea Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-vanturatoarea) — Waterfalls · Băile Herculane, CS · Free · 2½ – 3 hours A two-tier waterfall of about 50 m in the Cerna Mountains, with Romania's longest free drop (~40 m), above Lake Prisaca; reached by a steep 1.5 km path from the Cerna valley road, 13 km from Băile Herculane. - [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. - [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. - [Zănoaga Lake](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/lacul-zanoaga) — Lakes · Hunedoara County · 10 lei · 8½ – 9 hours Romania's deepest glacial lake, 29 m deep, at almost 2,000 m in the south-west of Retezat National Park; it can only be reached on foot, on a long day hike. --- Full page: https://peplaiuri.ro/en/parcuri-nationale-si-rezervatii Other languages: Română: https://peplaiuri.ro/parcuri-nationale-si-rezervatii.md · Deutsch: https://peplaiuri.ro/de/parcuri-nationale-si-rezervatii.md · Italiano: https://peplaiuri.ro/it/parcuri-nationale-si-rezervatii.md Source: Pe Plaiuri (https://peplaiuri.ro/en) — Guide to tourist attractions in Romania