Hiking in Predeal, Romania

Hiking Options in Romania: Why Predeal?

When I first searched up hiking options in Romania, Predeal wasn't actually listed much of anywhere, so I originally planned and was looking into hiking in the Bucegi Mountains from Busteni or Sinaia. For the Bucegi Mountains, you can actually get a cable car up from Sinaia or Busteni, so not a lot of hiking is technically necessary, if you just want the view.  

The Piatra Craiului Mountains are also worth a look, but were a bit too far/difficult for me to get to in the time I had.

Both of those mountains have newbie-level trails (relatively easy and safe but with great views), which is what I was looking for, as I'm pretty much a beginner in hiking. I'd just bought my first pair of hiking boots a day prior to flying out to Romania, and don't own hiking sticks or gear. I also hike alone, which I learned is actually very much not recommended in this area, due to bears and such.

However, both Bucegi and Sinaia are quite expensive, especially on the relatively short notice I was pulling. Also, the reviews for the cable car trip are pretty awful, and I wasn't very interested in the scenery and rock formations and such from the pictures. If I had more time I might've gone anyway, but as things stood, it wasn't for me.

However, while looking for accommodation and various hiking routes, I noticed that there was another town nearby, called Predeal. Situated in the Prahova Valley, listed as the highest town in Romania, on the line to the always popular Brasov city -- Predeal itself is in the Brasov country -- and so easily accessible, plus with reasonable accommodation, it looked like what I wanted.

Quite a few hiking routes seem to go through the area, as does the public transportation. However, people on that are typically on their way to Brasov, Sinaia, or Busteni, leaving the Predeal area itself almost completely free of tourists, just another small town to be passed by. That being said, I should point out that I was there in the off season. In high season/winter, I think it might be used as a pretty popular destination for skiing. 

Finding information on the routes

I cobbled my plan together by vigorous online research and looking up routes on Wikiloc, MayMyHike, and en.predeal.ro, but where I really struck gold was muntii-nostro.ro, which had loads of maps and informations both on hike difficulty and names of routes and how they were marked out, etc. 

It was also very helpful in letting me compare to what Google Maps was showing me was there, so that when I was actually out in the forest I could look on Google Maps and my GPS and know roughly where to head.

Beyond that, TripAdvisor was also a gold mine of info, if you asked and searched correctly. You got to ask specific questions there. 

What I wanted was an overnight hike -- which I'd never done before -- but not camping, instead setting up in some small inn to have a nice meal and warm shower after a hard day of walking in cold temperatures. That's very doable in Romania, as they have such inns, called cabanas, spaced out on the trails for just such occasions. 

From my original plans for hiking in Busteni, there was a place called Cabana Diham (or Diham H, since 'hut' seems to be the translation for 'cabana' - on a almost completely unrelated side note, in Spain these seem to be called albergues) that most hikers headed to and which was  accessible from the easy/moderate trails. So I decided to plan a route that would pass by one of those so I could stay there after a day of hiking.

The original plan, then:

Was that I would 1. start out from Predeal and head to Diham Hut, stay the night there, and head to Azuga (a town/area where the route would end) the next day.

That would mean 2. doing the 01MN17: Predeal - Forban Hut - Frasinet Valley trail and then merging with the 01MN20: La Sipote - Diham Hut – Pichetul Rosu trail, ending at Diham Hut for the night, after a walk of a 4 -5 hours.

Then, the next morning, I was planning on 3. taking the 01MN13: Azuga – Diham Hut or the 01MN14/15: Bailului Saddle - Azuga route backwards to Azuga and then getting a train back to Bucharest or on to Brasov.

I figured this could be good/decently easy and doable with nice views, though I wasn't sure which trail back to Azuga is prettiest, and - considering my low skill level - if it would be better to avoid Frasinet Valley/Mucia Cenusie because of the difficulty.

If it was better to skip Frasinet, then I figured I could also branch off from Forban Hut on to the 01MN18: La Sipote - Forban Hut - Baiului Saddle.

So for that I would be going from Predeal to Forban to Bailului Saddle, for about 4 - 5 hours, and then taking part of the Azuga - Diham Hut trail to Diham Hut for the night.

That route would be longer and I'd end up seeing the same views for a bit when I come down to Azuga the next day but, I thought that if Frasinet/Muchia Cenusie is really tricky, I could/should do this instead. Still, I had a pretty good idea by then, and Google maps and screenshots, so I was confident I'd take it as it'd come and still be alright. 

The Actual Hike

The morning I set out, however, my plans were thrown into a bit of a mess. There was a tourist center in Predeal, but I'd arrived too late to avail of their wisdom the evening before. I decided to stop by there on my way out to get a map and make sure that there was nothing odd about my planned route.

I explained the plan, and the advisor, a very helpful (and as I later discovered, very wrong) man at the counter had lots of interesting things to say. The conversation went something like this:

'Oh, you can do this trip in just one day, you don't need to spread it out into two.'

'What?' says I.

He goes, 'Yeah, you see this town here? Take the train from there back to Predeal.'

'There's a train there?' I ask, wanting to make sure on this point because it doesn't show on Google maps or online at all.

He says, 'yes, sure, it'll be around 6-8 RON. But you're going by yourself? That's not good. You have music, like singing?'

Here I pause, then guess that he wants me to be quiet in nature and respectfully and all, so I'm like, 'yep, but I've got good earphones, don't worry.' 

'No, no,' he tells me, 'You're going to need to sing, loudly. You don't want to surprise the bears. Make sure to make noise so they'll know you're coming.' 

I'm like ok,, I'll definitely do that.....and I take the map and off I go. 

Then -- with the map! -- I got lost, without even making it out of the city. Technically you're supposed to follow these yellow signs that are painted on random road objects, but then there was a fork in the road and I didn't see a sign on either of them.

One old lady saw me looking very confused and tried to help me out, but she didn't speak English and I certainly don't speak Romanian. An auspicious start.

No worries! She saw two other old ladies passing by and flagged them down. They also didn't speak English, and we went around a bit we me trying to explain and they trying to understand what I wanted.

Through the power of body language and gestures, however, we reached an accord and I was directed to continue up one path and then turn. I did so, eventually saw the yellow sign, and continued on. I got a bit turned around again, later, but eventually, once you get out of the city and area with people, it's pretty clear where you have to go.

It's just when there are all those paths and options that it's confusing and not quite clear cut. Although, I'm absolutely ghastly with directions and all that, so it might just be me. 

There's not much I can say about the hike, except that you really should go on it. It was spectacular, starting out with snow and then changing to green life and trees and forests, and then an absolute load more snow that absolutely covered everything, and then mountains, dead trees, more mountains, and so forth. I can't describe it adequately, so hopefully these pictures will do. 

It was supposed to be around 2-3 degrees celsius at some point, but since I was walking I didn't feel it too much, and once I started descending it got so warm I took off my jacket. 

There was maybe one tricky part, where I tried to cross over a log, but for the most part, very good and decently easy. Not an issue at all. Also, no bears, though you better believe I did play my music out loud to keep them away. For the longest time, no one else was on the path I took though, and it was calm and peaceful. 

I did eventually reach Diham Hut, but since I'd been told I could make it in a day, and I'd decided to, I just looked around at the mountains, and the continued off. I was hurrying a little at that point, honestly, since I didn't want to be caught up on a mountain at dark and my phone battery (and therefore map and GPS) was pretty much dead. 

The End

As I got closer to the end and the town there, a lone ATVing couple came driving along. They didn't hang around long, speeding off ahead, but seeing people was reassuring. 

Eventually, around 7 pm, I came to the promised town. I'd been walking for over 8 hours at that point, and was very ready to get on a train and head back to my lovely room at Predeal (500B for my own room, prettily decorated) and it's heated water.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. There was no train! I looked around, and nope, still none. I gotta say this about the Romanians though: they're hella nice. It's incredible. First with the old ladies, and before in Bucharest, and now here. There I was, no doubt looking very confused and wondering what on earth to do now, and some guy on a bike rides up and asks me if I'm okay. Obviously, I jump at this chance to ask where the train is.

There's no train here, he goes. Closest one is Busteni, an hour's walk away. But you shouldn't be out at this time, evening is when the bears come out around here. Do you want me to call you a cab?

...I'm from Thailand, and the Philippines before that. I don't have a very good opinion of taxis, especially those called up out in the middle of nowhere by some stranger. So yes, I very desperately wanted a cab, and just as equally was worried it was a scam where I'd end up paying insane amounts, or going to lead me into some other horrible situation. Reluctantly, I declined. He was super nice, goes okay, and bikes off. 

He didn't get 10 meters away before turning around though. I'm like, hmm, but he says: you really shouldn't be on the road at this time, want to ride on the bike with me? 

It was a bicycle. Not a motorbike. I was a bit confused as to how that would even work, since it just had a single seat, but it's not like I couldn't always jump off. Turns out, apparently sitting side-saddle is doable, if the guy peddling is a bodyguard/ski instructor, which it turns out he was. Went riding for 2 hours a day to stay in shape. It was about 4-5 km to go, and some of it was uphill, so he definitely got a decent work out in that day.

Has two kids, and invited me to come visit his family. We get to the town and he walks me to the train station, and he's like, 'Are you okay from here? Have you eaten, do you need money for the fare?' I didn't, I was tired, not poor, but holy hell. I repeat, Romanians are insanely nice. I could not thank him enough.

Then I almost got stranded because there was absolutely no one to buy tickets from at the train station and the machine wasn't working, and there was only one train going out still, but it all worked out.

Photo gallery