Hike to Moldoveanu, the highest mountain in Romania

Where to start the hike to Moldoveanu?

The most popular route to hike to Moldoveanu is the one from Bâlea Lac. This is the western route. As the name suggests this is a beautiful glacial lake that lies at 2034 meter above sealevel. The Moldoveanu peak is at 2544 meter above sealevel but don’t think because you start hiking at such a high altitude that it will be easy. You have to cross several other mountains to actually make it to the peak of Moldoveanu. As far as I heard this is not the easiest route and quite longer than the other option.

To reach Bâlea Lac you have to drive the Transfăgărășan road which is a pass that crosses the Făgăraș mountains. The windy road is often used in car commercials because of the many U-turns and beautiful open view from above. Also when driving up the Transfăgărășan road there’s a high chance of encountering wild brown bears along the road. These bears have gotten so used to all those people giving them food that they don’t get scared anymore.

Depending on your schedule you might want to sleep a night at Bâlea Lac. There are 2 options:

• Stay at cabana Bâlea Lac – 180 Lei / person – book well in advance
• Camp next to the lake – 30 Lei / night – book on arrival

To book a stay you can use the contact form on their website balealac.ro

Below I will give a brief description of another starting point that isn’t as challenging as the route from Bâlea Lac to Moldoveanu.

If you’re staying for a while in Romania I would suggest to check out the Via Transilvanica route that crosses pretty much the whole country. I did a small part of it in Bucovina: HIKE VIA TRANSILVANICA IN BUCOVINA – ROMANIA

How many days does it take to reach Moldoveanu?

When taking the route from Bâlea Lac to Moldoveanu there are pretty much 3 options when it comes to the duration. No matter if you do it in 3, 2 or 1 day the distance will be more or less the same = approximately 30 kilometers and 2500 meters elevation gain.

Option 1: 3 days of hiking

The longest but easiest option is to spread this 28 kilometer hike in 3 days. If you go for this option there’s no need to rush and you will be able to enjoy the beautiful surroundings for longer. During the 3 days you will have to stay 2 nights in cabana Podragu or camp with your own tent which would possibly be also at Podragu lake.

Day 1: Bâlea Lac to chalet Podragu

• Wikiloc tracked route (not mine)
• Follow blue triangles, red white rectangles & blue crosses
• 7 hours
• 10,5 kilometers
• 955 meters of elevation gain

Day 2: Chalet Podragu to Mount Moldoveanu and back to Chalet Podragu

• Wikiloc tracked route (not mine)
• Follow red white rectangles
• 8 hours
• 12,8 kilometers
• 977 meters of elevation gain

Day 3: Chalet Podragu to Bâlea Lac

• Wikiloc entry (not mine)
• Follow blue crosses
• 6 hours
• 8,2 kilometers
• 985 meters of elevation gain

Option 2: 2 days of hiking

I chose for an inbetween option by combining day 1 and 2 from the previous option and then went back to Balea lake on day 2. I was actually doubting to go back in 1 day but after summiting mount Moldoveanu I was pretty much dead so I decided to sleep at Podragu anyway. My backpack was packed with all the necessary gear for a few days anyway. The advantage of this option is that the hardest part of the route is done on day 1, day 2 is more of a relaxed hike back to Balea Lake.

Day 1: Bâlea Lac to Mount Moldoveanu and then to Chalet Podragu

• My Strava tracked route
• Follow blue triangles & red white rectangles
• 11 hours
• 20 kilometers
• 1800 meters of elevation gain

Download the GPX file right here: Balea-Lake-Mount-Moldoveanu-Podragu-Cottage.gpx

Day 2: Chalet Podragu to Bâlea Lac

• My Strava tracked route
• Follow blue crosses
• 6 hours
• 8,5 kilometers
• 850 meters of elevation gain

Download the GPX file right here: Cottage-Podragu-Balea-Lake.gpx

Option 3: 1 day of hiking

If you’re very courageous and an experienced hiker you could do it in 1 day. You would have to leave very early in the morning, probably before sunrise and you will be back around sunset. My guess is that it would take about 15 hours. If I ever return to Moldoveanu I would make an attempt in one day. For more information about the 1 day hike to the peak of Moldoveanu check out this article.

Day 1: Bâlea Lac to Mount Moldoveanu and back to Bâlea Lac

• Follow blue triangles & red white rectangles
• 15 hours
• 28 kilometers
• 2500 meters of elevation gain

Where to sleep during the hike to Moldoveanu?

If you choose to hike in multiple days you will have to sleep somewhere. If you’re using your own tent you can camp pretty much anywhere but to my knowledge most people camp at the Podragu Lakes.

There’s also a cottage there called Cabana Podragu. Camping is free and booking in advance is not necessary. If you want to stay in the mountain hut I would recommend to book in advance. You can find the contact details on the website podragu.ro. Do keep in mind that there’s hardly phone reception at the cabana so it’s highly likely that the owner doesn’t pick up. When I went in September I had sent a text message in advance but never got a reply. Luckily when I arrived there were plenty of beds available. Total capacity is 70 beds.

At the mountain hut you can get warm meals (veggie or non veggie soup), beers, sodas, warm breakfast, … There is no hot water and I would strongly recommend bringing a sleeping bag. If that’s not enough there are also blankets available. Electricity from a generator is available a few hours a day.

If you want to get a better idea of how the hut looks, check out my youtube video here.

22-day road trip crossing some of the most beautiful areas in Romania, read all about it here: EPIC ROMANIA ROAD TRIP GUIDE – OFF THE BEATEN PATH ITINERARY

The route from Balea Lac to Moldoveanu explained

The route starts at the parking of Cabana Balea and you will be following the blue triangles. Leaving the camping on your left you will have to ascend pretty much straight up to and pass the saddle to reach Capra Lake. I found this first ascend towards Capra Lake already quite steep but in retrospect this climb was nothing compared to what was coming later! When I reached Capra Lake there were some people camping around the lake. I think this would be actually a good starting/ending point to hike to Moldoveanu peak and back in 1 day.

Once you reach the sadle you have to start following the white/red rectangles, you will have to pass Capra Lake completely. Keep this in mind because I heard from several people that they kept following the blue triangles instead and lost over 2 hours because of this.

If you’re doing this hike in 3 days and your first destination is Cabana Podragu you will have to go left at Fereastra Zmeilor (Dragon’s window) and follow the blue crosses. Not much after passing Fereastra Zmeilor you will have La trei pasi de moarte (Three steps away from death) which is one of the two very sketchy parts that you will pass on this hike. With chains you will have to make it on top of a narrow ridge and descend again later on. Check out my Youtube video about the hike to Moldoveanu to get a better idea of this area.

Around 6 kilometers into the hike you will reach Monumentul Nerlinger. This monument is made from stones that were gathered from Lake Buda that lies much lower. Just after passing the monument you reach a beautiful ridge that was one of my favorite landscapes during this hike. It’s only when I was editing my drone shots from Lake Buda that I noticed the letters ‘MAMA’ written next to the lake. I’m wondering what the story is there?

When leaving this beautiful ridge behind there’s a huge ascend to reach the summit of Arpașul Mare (2468m) and shortly after that Mircii (2470m). What goes up must come down and yep, immediately after this you have to follow a trail that descends towards the beautiful lake called Lacul Podul Giurgiului. This were I refilled my waterbottles. Just to give you an idea of how much I sweat, I drank about 6 liters of water that day.

A little while after this you will reach the saddle of Mount Podragu (2462m), you can see the cabana Podragu in the valley in the distance. This is were you will return to after summiting Moldoveanu if you decide to do it in 2 days like me. If you would feel extremely exhausted you could descend into the valley and sleep a night before summiting the roof of Romania.

It’s around this point that you get a clear view of Moldoveanu (2544m) and its little brother Vistea Mare (2524m) which is the 3rd highest mountain of Romania.

The ascent to reach Vistea Mare was the toughest of this whole hike without any doubt. Imagine walking up a stair with stairs of 50 centimers each for about 45 minutes. I was suffering to reach mount Vistea Marea but the reward was really worth it.

It was time for the final 30 minutes of this incredible hike to reach Moldoveanu. As soon as I looked at the trail that I had to follow from Vistea Mare to Moldoveanu I realized this might actually be one of the scariest points of this whole route. It’s called Spintecătura Moldoveanului and as I had made it so far I couldn’t just stop right there, right? It did cross my mind to just return without actually summiting Moldoveanu but I pushed through anyway. Without too much thinking (and looking down) I made my way across this ridge with huge dropoffs by using chains and some bouldering techniques to then finally reach the roof of Romania Mount Moldoveanu.

Honestly, this was and still is at the time of this writing one of the greatest achievements of my life and it also has set the bar higher for future adventures and I can’t wait to climb more mountains!

Alternative routes to hike Moldoveanu

There are a few alternative routes to the one I took from Balea Lake that I won’t describe but on the SummitPost website you find all the possible routes with some extra information.