# Tourist attractions in Crișana [Romania](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/attractions) Crișana is the region west of the Apuseni Mountains, crossed by the three Criș rivers – Repede, Negru and Alb – that give it its name, and comprises Bihor and Arad counties. To the west lies plain, the continuation of the Pannonian Plain, with border towns and thermal waters surfacing from the ground; to the east, the Apuseni, with the Bihor, Pădurea Craiului and Codru-Moma mountains, hide a great number of caves. Oradea, on the Crișul Repede, is known for its restored Secession palaces and its pentagonal fortress; Arad, on the Mureș, has a long boulevard of eclectic buildings and a star-shaped fortress. What you can visit in Crișana is therefore split between cities, spas and mountains. The [Oradea Fortress](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatea-oradea) and the city centre can fill a day, and [Băile Felix](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/baile-felix), a few kilometres away, is the best-known thermal resort in the area. In the Apuseni, [Bears' Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-ursilor) at Chișcău is laid out for visitors, the [Ponor Citadels](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatile-ponorului) are the karst heart of the Padiș, and the Vârtop Pass crosses towards the Land of the Moți. In [Arad County](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/arad), [Săvârșin Royal Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-regal-savarsin) and [Maria Radna Monastery](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/manastirea-maria-radna) stand in the Mureș Valley. ## Tourist attractions 24 attractions - [Băile Felix](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/baile-felix) — Resorts and thermal baths · Băile Felix, BH · Free · 4½ – 5 hours · Top 100 Romania's largest year-round spa resort, 8 km from Oradea: thermal springs of up to 49 °C, open-air baths that run all winter and a reserve of water lilies and thermal lotuses. - [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. - [Oradea Fortress](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cetatea-oradea) — Fortresses and fortifications · Oradea, BH · Free · 2 – 2½ hours · Top 100 A pentagonal bastion fortress built by the princes of Transylvania in the 16th–17th centuries: five bastions, a princely palace housing the Oradea City Museum, and courtyards you can walk into freely. - [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. - [Săvârșin Royal Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-regal-savarsin) — Castles and palaces · Săvârșin, AR · Top 100 The Royal Family's Neoclassical residence in the Mureș valley, with a historic park open for guided tours and the Royal Village, where King Michael's garage is now a car museum; open at weekends, May–October. - [Maria Radna Monastery](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/manastirea-maria-radna) — Monasteries and churches · Lipova, AR · ½ – 1 hours The largest Baroque pilgrimage church in western Romania, its 67-metre towers rising above the Mureș, with a miracle-working icon and corridors covered in votive paintings. - [Baroque Palace of Oradea](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-baroc-oradea) — Castles and palaces · Oradea, BH · 25 lei · 1 – 1½ hours The Roman Catholic bishops' residence, built in 1762–1777 by Franz Anton Hillebrandt, is Romania's largest Baroque palace; today it hosts church art exhibitions, and the garden is open daily. - [Black Eagle Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-vulturul-negru) — Monuments and historic sites · Oradea, BH · Free · 30 min A Secession building from 1907–1908 on Piața Unirii in Oradea, with a glass-roofed passage and a stained-glass window of a black eagle, from which it takes its name. - [Bohodei Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-bohodei) — Waterfalls · Pietroasa, BH · Free · 6 – 6½ hours A waterfall of about 80 m on the Bohodei stream, below the peak of the same name, regarded as the tallest in the Apuseni Mountains; reached on a demanding loop from Pietroasa with chain-equipped rock sections. - [Darvas-La Roche House](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/casa-darvas-la-roche) — Museums and memorial houses · Oradea, BH · 20 lei · ½ – 1 hours The Secession villa of the industrialist Imre Darvas, designed by the Vágó brothers in 1909–1912, now houses Romania's first Art Nouveau museum, with period interiors and a garden. - [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. - [Iadolina Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-iadolina) — Waterfalls · Budureasa, BH · Free · 30 min A multi-tiered waterfall on the Iad Valley, tumbling between huge boulders right beside the road from Stâna de Vale to Lake Leșu; you see it from a metal viewing platform or from below, by the water. - [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. - [Moara Dracului Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-moara-dracului) — Waterfalls · Budureasa, BH · Free · 5½ – 6 hours A 20–25 m, two-tier waterfall hidden in a narrow valley of giant boulders and spruce on the western slope of the Vlădeasa massif; reached on foot from Stâna de Vale along a marked trail of about 8 km. - [Moon Church](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/biserica-cu-luna) — Monasteries and churches · Oradea, BH · Free · 30 min The Orthodox church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Piața Unirii, built in 1784–1790 and known for the globe in its tower that shows the phases of the Moon, in a mechanism of 1793. - [Oradea City Hall Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-primariei-oradea) — Monuments and historic sites · Oradea, BH · 15 lei · 30 min An eclectic palace of 1902–1903 on Piața Unirii, home to the city hall, with a tower of almost 50 m: its clock plays Iancu's March, and the top gives a view over the rooftops of the centre. - [Oradea Zoo](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/gradina-zoologica-oradea) — Zoos and aquariums · Oradea, BH · 32 lei · 1½ – 2 hours Oradea's zoological garden, open since 1962 on the grounds of a noble park with a chapel, rebuilt between 2010 and 2013 and now covering 7.5 hectares, with tigers, wolves, bears, zebras and dozens of other species. - [Regina Maria Theatre](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/teatrul-regina-maria-oradea) — Monuments and historic sites · Oradea, BH · from 25 lei · 2 – 2½ hours The Oradea State Theatre building, designed by the Viennese firm Fellner & Helmer and opened in 1900: an Ionic portico on Piața Ferdinand and an auditorium with boxes and a balcony, still in use every week. - [Roman Catholic Basilica of Oradea](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/bazilica-romano-catolica-oradea) — Monasteries and churches · Oradea, BH · Free · 30 min The Cathedral of the Assumption, built between 1752 and 1780: the largest Baroque church in Romania, with an organ given by Maria Theresa and an interior of marble, frescoes and gilding. - [Săritoarea Ieduțului Waterfall](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cascada-saritoarea-iedutului) — Waterfalls · Budureasa, BH · Free · ½ – 1 hours A wild waterfall on the Ieduțul stream, hidden among ferns and fir trees above the Iad Valley, a quarter of an hour's walk through the forest from the road between Stâna de Vale and Lake Leșu. - [Sion Neolog Synagogue](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/sinagoga-sion-oradea) — Monuments and historic sites · Oradea, BH · 15 lei · 30 min A synagogue of 1877–1878 on the bank of the Crișul Repede, with a broad dome and a Moorish-style painted interior; restored and reopened in 2015, it is now a cultural venue. - [Țării Crișurilor Museum](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/muzeul-tarii-crisurilor) — Museums and memorial houses · Oradea, BH · 15 lei · 1½ – 2 hours Bihor's county museum, housed since its move in the former Royal Cadet School of 1898: archaeology, history, art, ethnography, natural sciences and a vivarium under one roof. - [Unguru Mare Cave](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pestera-unguru-mare) — Caves · Șuncuiuș, BH · 20 lei · 30 min A cave with an entrance more than 30 m high facing the Crișul Repede, reached over a suspension bridge and inhabited by people as far back as the Neolithic. - [Vârtop Pass](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/pasul-vartop) — Scenic roads · Bihor County · Free The pass where the DN75 crosses the Bihor Mountains at 1,160 m, between Nucet and Arieșeni: the Vârtop holiday village, ski slopes and trails to Groapa Ruginoasă and Piatra Grăitoare. ## Counties - [Arad](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/arad) - [Bihor](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/bihor) --- Full page: https://peplaiuri.ro/en/region/crisana Other languages: Română: https://peplaiuri.ro/regiune/crisana.md · Deutsch: https://peplaiuri.ro/de/region/crisana.md · Italiano: https://peplaiuri.ro/it/regione/crisana.md Source: Pe Plaiuri (https://peplaiuri.ro/en) — Guide to tourist attractions in Romania