Ninety seconds on Bâlea Lake
Come for the glacial lake at the highest point of the Transfăgărășan, and stay long enough to walk its shore. In most winters a cable car lifts you to an ice hotel built from the lake's own ice, so check it is open.
Bâlea Lake fills a glacial cirque in the Făgăraș Mountains, 2,034 metres up, where the Transfăgărășan reaches its highest point. The water is about 11 metres deep and covers less than five hectares, so a walk round the whole shore is short.
Close to the lake the road goes into the Capra Tunnel, at 887 metres the longest road tunnel in Romania. Driving through it between rough rock walls is part of the visit.
In most winters, from December to April and weather permitting, an ice hotel is rebuilt beside the frozen lake from blocks cut from the lake itself. Everything inside is ice or snow, down to the beds, the furniture and the decorations.
It depends on a cold winter, so check it is open before you plan a trip around it. Its builders call it the only ice hotel in Eastern Europe.
The drive up ends at a parking area a short walk from the water, with food stalls, souvenir sellers and toilets beside it. Walk down to the shore and follow it round the water, then come back up for something hot from the stalls.
The winter visit starts lower, at Bâlea Cascadă, the chalet by the waterfall, where the cable car leaves for the lake. Departures depend on the weather and on numbers, so get the time of the last car down at the bottom station.
At the top you cross the snow to the frozen lake and, in most winters, the ice hotel beside it. You can look round the hotel, walk round the frozen lake, and climb the icefalls nearby if you have the skills and the kit.
Walking the shore needs no guide, and with a car in summer the lake is easy on your own. A day tour from Sibiu suits you in winter if you have no car: it drives as far as the cable car station and rides up with you to the lake and the ice hotel. The ice-wall climbing nearby is a separate matter, with its own skills and kit.
On summer days the parking by the lake fills quickly. Bring a warm, windproof layer even in August, because the air at this height turns cold fast.
Road notices mark stretches of the high road with a rockfall risk, where stopping is not advised, so check the current notices before you drive.
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