Puturoasă Cave (Smelly Cave of Torja)

About Puturoasă Cave (Smelly Cave of Torja)

Puturoasă Cave (in Hungarian Torjai Büdös-barlang) lies at about 1,050 m, on the south-western slope of Mount Puturosu, above the resort of Băile Bálványos, in the commune of Turia. It is not a karst cave but the gallery of an abandoned sulphur mine, from which post-volcanic gas now rises, mainly carbon dioxide with traces of hydrogen sulphide. The latter gives the rotten-egg smell that named both the mountain and the cave.

The right to mine sulphur here once belonged to the village of Turia, then to the Apor family. In 1892 Apor Gábor lined the 14 m of the gallery with dressed stone and fitted a door, opened only at certain hours, under supervision. Towards the end of the 19th century the gas here fed the first carbon dioxide liquefaction plant in the Carpathian area, burnt down in 1916 during the fighting. After the First World War the cave passed, together with the resort, to a tuberculosis sanatorium, and today it can be visited freely.

Information verified on 30 October 2026.

Good to know before you go

Getting there

By car: the resort of Băile Bálványos is on the DN11C, through the Turia pass, between Târgu Secuiesc and Bixad: ~26 km and ~30 minutes from Târgu Secuiesc, ~41 km and ~45 minutes from Sfântu Gheorghe, ~50 km and ~55 minutes from Miercurea Ciuc, ~18 km and ~20 minutes from Băile Tușnad, ~75 km and ~1h15 from Brașov (approximate distances, to the point level with the cave). Leave the car in the resort.

On foot: the cave lies above the resort; from the area of the Grand Hotel Balvanyos you climb through the forest on the trail marked with a blue dot, about half an hour. The same marker continues to the Alum Grotto and the Tinovul Bufnitor bog.

Where to park

The resort of Băile Bálványos has car parks around the hotels, where the climb to the cave begins.

Rules

Do not go past the grille at the end of the gallery and do not bend down below the level of the gas, marked by the yellow line of sulphur. Do not let small children or animals go in alone, because the gas lies low. Follow the boards at the entrance; the area is part of the Ciomad–Bálványos Natura 2000 site, so stay on the trail and take your rubbish with you.

Facilities

two benches in the gallery · information boards at the entrance · no toilets, shop or lighting at the cave · accommodation, restaurants and toilets in the resort of Băile Bálványos, at the foot of the mountain · forest trail, not accessible with a pushchair