National parks and reserves

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.