SamuelThe Retezat National Park encompasses one of the most beautiful mountains area in Romania. Located in the eastern part of the country, its remote location adds the extra flavor of seclusion. The whole mountains area boasts dozens of peaks over 2000 meters, with the highest one being over 2500 meters.
Established in 1935 as the first national park of Romania, this area is a paradise for hikers, with miles of hiking trails criss-crossing the entire park. Some cabins spread throughout the mountains can offer resting place for spending the night right in the middle of beautiful pristine nature.
During our late May trip in Romania, we were drawn to hike this amazing national park to enjoy the wonderful scenery Retezat has to offer. Check out also our other hikes in Romania in Piatra Craiului national park and through the Seven Ladders Canyon.
Getting there:
Due to its rather remote location, the only way to reach the mountain area is by private transportation. We rented a car during our trip in Romania to be able to get to the furthest reach of this country’s beautiful natural sites such as Retezat. I am not aware of the availability of any public transport to Retezat.
To reach the park by car, there are two best entry points to the national park area from the north, namely via the small settlements of Cârnic and Râuşor. In both places there are a number of mountain lodgings available with private or shared rooms at an affordable rate, perfect for staying the night before tackling the mountain.
At Cârnic, we stayed in Cabana Codrin, a modest but comfortable lodging which also served breakfast for a small extra fee. Since there are no shops in the area, it is advised to stock on food and other supplies beforehand in the city or village before entering the national park.
Cârnic to Cabana Gențiana mountain hut
The first leg of our hike in the Retezat mountains is from Cârnic to the mountain hut of Cabana Gențiana. This cabin was located about halfway from Cârnic to the center of the national park, making it a great place to rest and spend the night in.
The trail started off quite easy with only gentle slopes through forested area. Since it was still at relatively lower elevation, warmer spring temperature had already melted all snow. The main trail to the middle of the park is marked with the vertical blue stripe.
We did not meet a single soul during our hike up despite the pleasant weather which allowed us to enjoy the tranquility of the nature in Retezat. Nevertheless, we started singing gently on our walk. This singing had an important purpose.
Romania has a quite sizable bear population and I was told by others to keep making noise while walking so that they’re aware of us and we did not inadvertently startle them. I really just hoped not to encounter any during our hike.
Some kilometers before reaching our first destination, we passed through the area of Cabana Pietrele. This was another mountain hut in the area, but we decided not to stay in this one and chose to trek a bit further to Cabana Gențiana.
After about 2.5 hours, we finally reached Cabana Gențiana, a modest little cabin in the mountain taken care of by a kind older man. The cabin had a small living room with dining tables and a bedroom with several bunk beds for the overnighters, heated by an antique fireplace. No advance reservation was needed as we were the only ones staying there at the time. Summer time might be different though.
This cabin does not serve food, but does have hot and cold drinks for very reasonable price despite being in a remote location. Try their mountain tea which was very soothing after a long day hike. The facility of the cabin was also very basic, with no shower and a separate lavatory cabin.
Further into the national park
After a short well deserved break in Cabana Gențiana, we emptied half of our backpack there to lighten our load and continued deeper into the Retezat mountains area. The trail did become noticeably more difficult than before from thereon.
As we further ascended, snow patches started appearing on and off the trail. The warmth of spring had not reached this elevation yet and the snow patches started hindering our path and at places completely covered the trail.
Some old footprints on the snow was the only thing that guided us as the blue vertical marks were sometimes covered by snow. That at least gave us some assurance that we were on the right path.
Starting from the glacial Lake Pietrele the winter snow still completely covered the trail and we had to completely rely on the footprints to guide our way as well as some occasional pole with the vertical blue mark.
The view got better and better as we climbed further. The snowy mountain landscape in spring all around me was a thing of beauty, although I did slip a few times on the snowy slope.
We wanted to get over the col of Bucurei to get a glimpse of the Bucura lake in the middle of Retezat national park. Unfortunately, the snow cover was still to thick and it became too dangerous to proceed without any proper equipment for snowy condition.
We regrettably had to cut short our hike, but the taste of Retezat mountains that we had had was wonderful. No wonder this place is labeled as one of the most beautiful in Romania.
We started retreating back to Cabana Gențiana and I simply could not wait to sit in front of the fireplace sipping a cup of mountain tea in a wooden mountain cabin in the middle of a remote mountains area in Romania.
