The Apuseni Mountains house some of the most valuable mineral resources on the territory of Romania, but for tourists the big attractions are, along with the archaic villages on the hilltops, the numerous natural monuments. Winter increases the charm of these unique places in Apuseni.
The Apuseni Mountains occupy almost 20,000 square kilometers, on the territory of the counties of Arad, Bihor, Cluj, Alba and Hunedoara. The highest peaks of the Apuseni (Bihor – 1,849 meters, Vlădeasa – 1,836 meters and Muntele Mare – 1,826 meters) barely exceed 1,800 meters, but the mountain chain in northwestern Romania impresses with the richness of its karst relief and the wildness of its lands.
Land of the Moths
The Moții, the inhabitants of the archaic villages of Apuseni, are one of the most picturesque communities in Romania. They lived almost in isolation in the mountain settlements, scattered on the mountain tops, difficult to access and protected by the vast, centuries-old forests that covered the land.
“The Moti or Topi are the direct descendants of the Dacians and the Roman colonies, brought by the emperor Trajan following the occupation of Dacia in the year 105 AD, in order to colonize it and to be able to work and exploit with their hands the gold mines in the former country of Decebalus”publicist Ion Rusu Abrudeanu described him, in 1938.
The forests have always been the great wealth of the Apuseni, but the subsoil of the mountains preserved the most coveted natural resources, the minerals that made this region an “El Dorado” of Romania. In the depths, gold, silver, copper, uranium and other precious and rare metals have, over time, transformed patriarchal settlements and virgin lands into mining cities, which have grown and disintegrated according to people’s luck and interest in these minerals.
In the vast land of forests and mines, the development of tourism remained over time in the secondary plan, so the Apuseni Mountains did not gain the same popularity as the mountain resorts of the Prahova Valley or Bucovina.
The land of unique caves
The mountains, however, welcome travelers with numerous natural monuments, some unique in Romania, which the approach of winter makes more attractive for many of their guests. The most spectacular are located on the territory of the Apuseni Natural Park, spread over almost 76,000 hectares, accessible by the two important national roads (DN 75 and DN 1) that cross the region. One connects Turda to Beiuș, and then to Brad, passing through picturesque villages and karst areas. The other starts from Huedin, goes up the Valea Ariesului, through Câmpeni and Abrud, and goes down to the Valea Crișului Alb.
The Apuseni Natural Park includes numerous caves, some declared of exceptional value, due to the scientific interest or the uniqueness of the resources, but only a few are developed for tourism, the most famous being the Scarișoara Glacier, the Urșilor Cave, the Porta lui Ionele and the Vârtop Glacier.
Scarișoara Cave, visited since the 19th century, houses the largest underground glacier known in Romania, approximately 4,000 years old.
“The block of ice has a volume of 75,000 cubic meters and an average thickness of 16 meters and is found confined in the Great Hall, forming the floor of this hall, from where it extends in the form of tongues of ice into the Great Reserve, the Church and the Small Reserve. In these three halls, at some distance from the ice block, ice stalagmites develop, of varying sizes. Unlike block of ice, these stalagmites can melt from year to year”transmits the Apuseni Natural Park.
The cave is open to the public, and visiting is done at fixed times, only with a guide, after paying a fee. The temperature inside varies between one degree Celsius in summer and minus 7 degrees Celsius in winter.
Also in Apuseni, tourists can reach the Focul Viu Glacier Cave, located near Vârful Piatra Galbenii, at an altitude of 1,165 meters. The Focul Viu Glacier cave, where access is restricted, houses a glacier of about 25,000 cubic meters inside, highlighted by daylight, because the vault of the cave is partially open.
Another famous cave of the Apuseni is located a stone’s throw from the Vârtop – Arieseni resort. The Vârtop Glacier Cave, also known as the Wonderful Cave, is located at approximately 1,170 meters above sea level, near the Casa de Piatră hamlet in Arieseni commune, Alba county. It is accessible to visitors without requiring special equipment to traverse the verticals.
“The Vârtop glacier is famous especially because of a remarkable discovery in 1974, when researchers from the “Emil Racoviță” Institute of Speleology in Cluj-Napoca identified three fossilized hominid traces in the floor of the cave. The best-preserved one of them was taken for study immediately after its discovery, while the other two were unfortunately cut up and stolen shortly after, the perpetrators of the theft remaining unknown to this day.” shows the Apuseni Natural Park.
The Vârtop – Arieseni resort, the ski resort in Apuseni
The Vârtop – Arieseni tourist area is the most sought-after mountain resort in Apuseni. It is located at Pasul Vârtop (1,140 meters), in the Bihor Mountains, at the balance of the Crișurilor and Ariesșului waters and on the border of Alba and Bihor counties.
Arieseni became attractive as a resort starting in the 1950s, with the development of the Vârtop slopes and the construction of tourist cottages and villas, and later, in the 1970s, the first motel. At the time, the ski season lasted nearly six months a year, authorities said.
Over time, and especially after 1990, Arieseni developed as a winter resort, especially sought after for skiing by tourists from the Transylvania region. Several hiking trails start from Vârtop and the neighboring town of Arieseni to natural reserves and objectives such as Groapa Ruginoasă – Valea Secă, Vârciorog Waterfall, Vârful Bihor, Cheile Gârdișoarai and Pietrele Negre.
About 25 kilometers from Arieseni, on the other side of the pass, the town of Nucet, in Bihor County, also hosted a resort intended for school camps. Established in the 60s, the recreation area on the shore of Crișului Negru was, during the communist period, a vacation destination for thousands of students.
Near Nucet, at Baița Plai, one of the largest uranium mines in Romania has operated since the 1950s. Together with the exploitation, then controlled by the Soviets, the neighboring towns of Nucet, Ștei and Vasčau were established, which would soon be populated by more than 30,000 people, brought from all over the country.
Uranium mines in the area were closed in the 1990s, leaving behind communities affected by industrial decline, but also high-potential tourist areas bypassed by investment, and places rich in precious, unexploited mineral resources.
Poiana Ponor, the place where waters appear and disappear
Located in Bihor County, approximately 45 kilometers from the town of Ștei, the Padiș tourist area is one of the most sought-after places in the Apuseni Mountains by hikers and photography enthusiasts. The area is also known for its many sinkholes, places where surface water drains underground.
Poiana Ponor in Apuseni, one of the most spectacular, has its origin in a strong outburst (place from where an underground river springs with force), located at the base of a high limestone rock, in which there is also a cave. The underground waters on the Padiș Plateau come to the surface through Izbucul Ponor, form a stream that runs through the clearing, and after about 300 meters disappear into the ground again, through several sips – as in a well-rehearsed trick of nature.
“At the end of this glade, the water of the Ponorului disappears into the ground, drained through several sipes, and we find it underground after a kilometer, in the Cetățile Ponorului, springing from a strong outburst of the Citadel. The Ponorului glade is a typical polia for the Apuseni Mountains. In seasons with abundant precipitation, large amounts of water, which cannot be drained by the sipes, accumulate, turning the depression into a vast lake. The hiker who captures this strange and rare transformation of the Ponor Glade must bypass the lake on the northern shore to meet the marker again at the end of the glade, above the sorbs. the explorer Lucia Ghertler reported.
Poiana Ponor is the only field in Romania that fulfills the double condition of having both the underground supply and drainage through karst channels, according to the information provided by the Apuseni Natural Park.
