- Where
- Argeș and Sibiu counties
Romania - Start / end
- Bascov (near Pitești) to Cârțișoara (DN1)
- Length
- 151 km (Wikipedia, English and Romanian)
about 90 km over the mountains - Highest point
- 2,042 m, by Bâlea Lake
- Season
- High section in summer only; opened 12 June 2026; closed for winter from 20 October in 2025 (CNAIR)
- Hours
- 7:00–21:00 on the high section in 2026 (CNAIR)
- Closed in winter
- km 104 (Piscu Negru) to km 130.8 (Bâlea Cascadă)
- Fees
- None listed for the road
- Status
- No closure reported by 13 Oct 2026; winter closure due
- Advisory
- Romania Level 1
A road that folds itself up a mountainside in loop after loop, through beech woods, then bare green slopes, then grey rock and a cold little lake under the ridge. At the top there were sheepdogs, stalls selling cheese wrapped in bark, and a long dark tunnel through the mountain. On the way down I stopped at a stone plaque and read it twice.
Route facts
- Route
- Bascov (near Pitești) to Cârțișoara (DN1 between Sibiu and Brașov)
- Length
- 151 km; about 90 km over the mountains from the Vidraru damChecked · Wikipedia (Romanian): Transfăgărășan
- Season window
- High section (km 104 to km 130.8) in summer only: opened 12 June 2026, traffic 7:00 to 21:00; closed for the winter from 20 October in 2025Checked · Economedia, 9 June 2026, citing CNAIR
- Closures
- Status not read as read We could not confirm the day’s status from CNAIR on 13 October 2026; no closure of the high section had been reported by then. In 2025 it closed for the winter on 20 October.Live alert: CNAIR (Romanian national roads company)
- Fees
- No toll or ticket listed for the roadChecked · Wikipedia (Romanian): Transfăgărășan
- Cost to enter
- Free
- Anchor point
- Bâlea Lake
45.60° N, 24.62° E
The short answer
The Transfăgărășan is national road DN7C in Romania. Romanian Wikipedia gives its length as 151 kilometres, from Bascov near Pitești, through Curtea de Argeș, over the Făgăraș Mountains to the DN1 between Sibiu and Brașov near Cârțișoara; the high-mountain part from the Vidraru dam, built between 1970 and 1974, is about 91 kilometres. It reaches 2,042 metres near Bâlea Lake, making it Romania’s second-highest paved road after the Transalpina. The high section, from Piscu Negru (km 104) to Bâlea Cascadă (km 130.8), is open only in summer, Romanian Wikipedia says, normally from 30 June to 1 November, though the dates follow the weather. In 2026 CNAIR, the national roads company, opened it on 12 June, with traffic allowed only from 7:00 to 21:00; in 2025 it closed it for heavy snow on 8 October and for the winter from 20 October. We found no report of a CNAIR closure for autumn 2026 by 13 October 2026, and could not confirm the day’s status from CNAIR itself; check before you go.
Why it's worth knowing
A road built for a war that did not come. Both Wikipedias record the reason for it: after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Ceaușescu wanted a route across the mountains that did not follow a river valley, which an invader could easily block. A decision of December 1969 handed the work to the army’s engineer troops, who began from the north and south in March 1970, Romanian Wikipedia says; the two sides met on 16 August 1971, a day marked by a monument at 1,600 metres. It was inaugurated on 20 September 1974, and paving went on until 1980. The work used about six thousand tonnes of dynamite. The official toll was 40 dead; workers from the time give figures in the hundreds.
Engineering that shows. Romanian Wikipedia counts 830 culverts and 27 viaducts on the road. Its tunnel under the main ridge, between the Capra valley and Bâlea Lake, is Romania’s longest road tunnel, 887 metres by Romanian Wikipedia’s figure and 884 by English Wikipedia’s. On the north side the road drops 13 kilometres in hairpins through the glacial cirque below the lake, past the Bâlea waterfall, which Romanian Wikipedia calls the largest stepped waterfall in Romania. In 2009 the British television programme Top Gear called it “the best road in the world”.
Bears beside the road. Bears come down to the Transfăgărășan to be fed by passing drivers, and it has been fatal. On 3 July 2025 a motorcyclist was killed by a bear near the Vidraru dam after his group stopped by the road, Spotmedia reported; the head of Salvamont Argeș, the mountain rescue service, said afterwards: “When someone offers food to a bear, the bear is sentenced to death.” On 15 June 2026 a bear attacked a Swiss tourist on the road near the dam; Romsilva, the state forestry agency, said the next day that the bear had been shot by its Argeș forestry staff, that it had put up more warning signs and stepped up joint patrols with the gendarmerie, and asked visitors not to feed or approach wild animals (Digi24 and Spotmedia, 16 June 2026). Since an emergency ordinance adopted by the government on 6 November 2025, feeding a bear in the wild is punishable by a fine of 10,000 to 30,000 lei, Agerpres reported; the law approving the ordinance was promulgated in May 2026.
The field notes
151 kilometres, or 90
English Wikipedia’s infobox gives the road as 151 kilometres while its text says it stretches 90 kilometres from Bascov; Romanian Wikipedia gives 151 kilometres for the whole road and about 91 for the mountain section built in 1970–1974. The 90 kilometres in many lists is the mountain crossing, not the road.
Daytime only, then the snow
When the high section opened in 2026, CNAIR’s director general, Cristian Pistol, said traffic between Piscu Negru and Bâlea Cascadă would be allowed only from 7:00 to 21:00, Economedia reported on 9 June 2026; the openings of 2024 and 2025 were also daytime-only. In winter, Romanian Wikipedia says, the south side stays open to Piscu Negru and the north side to Bâlea Cascadă, from where a cable car runs up to the lake.
Cloud pouring into the valley below Bâlea Lake, with the road threading the valley floor, September 2015.
Photograph: Eugene Zaycev · CC0 · cropped
The road’s northern loops and the cable car’s pylons seen from the pass, August 2023.
Photograph: Olgierd Rudak · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
Two viaducts stepping across a rocky ravine below the scree, August 2017.
Photograph: Pudelek · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Go up early, before the coaches, and be off the top before dark.
- Where a bear is near the road, stay in the car and keep the food in the bag.
- Walk round the lake at the top. It is colder than the car park suggests.
- Stop at the plaques on the way and read them to the end.
- Count the hairpins on the way up. I have three different totals in this notebook and I trust none of them.
The Capra–Bâlea tunnel. The road tunnel that carries the Transfăgărășan under the main ridge of the Făgăraș Mountains, between the peaks of Iezerul Caprei and Paltinul, and out beside Bâlea Lake on the northern side. Romanian Wikipedia records it as Romania’s longest road tunnel, 887 metres long (English Wikipedia gives 884), 4.4 metres high and 6 metres wide, with a one-metre walkway, electric lighting and natural ventilation; 20 tonnes of the road’s dynamite were used on it alone. Its gates are closed for the whole of the official winter closure, though people on foot can still pass through the two doors set into them when the portals are not buried in snow.
Tally, in the marginDark, dripping and longer than seemed reasonable, and then the other side of the mountain all at once, in different weather. I had been holding my breath and had not noticed.
Getting there
How to drive it. From the south, DN7C leaves the A1 and DN7 at Bascov near Pitești, runs through Curtea de Argeș, passes Poenari and the Vidraru hydroelectric plant, climbs to the dam, follows the eastern shore of the lake, then climbs the Capra valley to the tunnel and Bâlea Lake. From the north, it leaves the DN1 between Sibiu and Brașov near Cârțișoara and climbs past the Bâlea waterfall. English Wikipedia gives an average speed of about 40 km/h on the mountain section.
When to go. Only in the summer opening: in 2026 from 12 June, between 7:00 and 21:00. CNAIR closes the high section when snow comes: in 2025 it closed it from 10:00 on 8 October, with more than 30 centimetres of snow, and for the winter from 20 October. The road also closes for hours at a time for events: in 2026 CNAIR announced restrictions for the Sibiu Cycling Tour and a motoring event in July, and an eleven-hour closure between the Vidraru dam and Bâlea Lake for a triathlon on 5 September.
What to arrange ahead. No ticket or toll is listed for the road. Allow for the high section’s hours, 7:00 to 21:00 in 2026.
Safety. The State Department has Romania at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level; it notes moderate seismic activity and a history of strong earthquakes, with Bucharest at the highest risk (advisory dated 14 October 2025 in its feed, read 13 October 2026). The hazards here are mountain weather, rockfall, sheer drops beside unlit bends, and bears. Romsilva asks visitors not to feed or approach wild animals, and feeding a bear is fined.
Mark this place
Common questions
When is the Transfăgărășan open?
The high section of the Transfăgărășan, DN7C in Romania, between Piscu Negru and Bâlea Cascadă, is open only in summer, depending on snow. In 2026 CNAIR opened it on 12 June, from 7:00 to 21:00 daily; in 2025 it closed it for snow on 8 October and for the winter from 20 October.
How long is the Transfăgărășan?
The Transfăgărășan, DN7C in Romania, is 151 kilometres from Bascov near Pitești to Cârțișoara near Sibiu, according to Romanian and English Wikipedia. The high-mountain section built from 1970 to 1974, from the Vidraru dam north, is about 91 kilometres.
How high does the Transfăgărășan go?
The Transfăgărășan reaches 2,042 metres near Bâlea Lake in Romania’s Făgăraș Mountains, Wikipedia records, making it the country’s second-highest paved road after the Transalpina, which climbs to 2,145 metres in the Parâng Mountains.
Are there bears on the Transfăgărășan?
Yes. Bears approach cars on the Transfăgărășan in Romania to be fed. A motorcyclist was killed by a bear near the Vidraru dam on 3 July 2025, Spotmedia reported, and a Swiss tourist was attacked there on 15 June 2026, Romsilva said. Feeding a bear in the wild is fined 10,000 to 30,000 lei.
Why was the Transfăgărășan built?
Romania built the Transfăgărășan between 1970 and 1974 as a strategic military road after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Wikipedia records: Nicolae Ceaușescu wanted a crossing of the Carpathians that did not follow an easily blocked river valley.
Is there a tunnel on the Transfăgărășan?
Yes. The Transfăgărășan passes under the main ridge of the Făgăraș Mountains in the Capra–Bâlea tunnel beside Bâlea Lake, Romania’s longest road tunnel: 887 metres by Romanian Wikipedia’s figure, 884 by English Wikipedia’s. Its gates are closed in winter.
Can you visit Bâlea Lake in winter?
Not by road. When the Transfăgărășan’s high section is closed, Romanian Wikipedia says, the north side is open only as far as Bâlea Cascadă, at kilometre 131, and a cable car runs from there up to Bâlea Lake.
What did Top Gear say about the Transfăgărășan?
In the first episode of its fourteenth series, in November 2009, the British programme Top Gear drove the Transfăgărășan in Romania, and Jeremy Clarkson called it “the best road in the world”, a title the presenters had earlier given to Italy’s Stelvio Pass, Wikipedia records.