Sometimes we need to hike tens of kilometres to reach something great, but there are also those moments when you have everything at the foothills of the mountains where you can reach by car and just explore as much as you wish without any effort.

Despite the thing that Romania is full of gorges which are competing in beauty and mystery, we forget that no matter how many of this kind of places we have, each one of them will have its own story and that "something" which will prove it's uniqueness compared with the others.
And for example, today we are going to take a trip on Lazuri Gorges which are located pretty close to the cave we discovered in my previous posts (Pestera Meziad), but which is also part to some of the most imposing mountains Romania has, called Piatra Craiului, often called Piatra Raiului where "rai" means "heaven".
And the name it's pretty specific if we take in consideration its beauty and the feelings are brought to you once you find yourself stepping on some of the highest peaks with nothing around you but only clouds and freedom.
Nevertheless today we are not going that far, but limit ourselves on enjoying their goodliness while we still have our feet on the ground.

Lazuri Gorges are part of a tiny village lost in the mountains called Rosia and the access to it, it's made from the locality also called Lazuri following the flow of the water.
So no matter if you are going to explore this place with a travel buddy, family, or just you, you will have for sure one friend that will accompany you along this journey, which is the river who's name is... Lazuri.

Lazuri Gorges are often promoted as being just 5 km long, but in reality, their length is way longer than that and the simple explanation to the fake information is the risk of going through them. The gorges are known as the most impressive ones from Padurea Craiului Mountains which are pretty hard to be discovered entirely due to the many water crossings that are not arranged for tourists, and which, in the end, will bring you in front of many caves and other wonderful attractions, such as: Pestera Alba (The White Cave), Pestera Farcu (Farcu Cave), Pestera Rosie (The Red Cave), Pestera Gruet (Gruet Cave), Pestera Craiului (The Philanderer Cave), Pestera Hârtopul Bonchi, Pestera Runcşorului, Izbucul Rosiei (Rosia's Spring), Izbucul Bulbuci.

At first, the gorges seem nothing else but a very narrow valley surrounded by trees and a tiny river, but the more you go through, the more you will discover once the trees are suddenly replaced with high rocks or calcareous pyramids, and the innocent river creates some waterfalls with its flow.
This character can be noticed more on downstream where the path is narrowed more and the stone walls become way taller and vertical, getting you ready for the next challenges.
The first surprise nature prepared for us can be seen after just 1 km when we will get to discover a tiny waterfall on the left but also two caves I mentioned about - Pestera Alba (The White Cave) & Pestera Rosie (The Red Cave), on just 35 m level difference.
None of this currently represents a touristic attraction but they still worth being explored by tourists or at least reached by people to get a proper view over the whole landscape created by the gorges.
The next point of interest is caused by an artificial lake that was formed by blocking a narrow section of the gorges, which is also the place where most of the tourists stop their discovery being followed by the wildest part of Lazuri Gorges which is hard to be continued due to the water depths that has to be crossed for many times.

Finding yourself as being the single one exploring the gorges, it's not a foreign feeling since the place is not so known by people and there are very few who are discovering them once in a while, so just make sure to follow all the indicators and don't get lost, even though this shouldn't happen since it's a straight road with very few spots where you will climb a little or go down to, but which will require no specific effort from you.

Of course, you can always continue the track until you reach its final attractions and discover a little bit more than me, but keep in mind that it's really not recommended to keep going through the water if the flow of the river is too big and restless since you will have to go against it and there are big risks of slipping on the rocks.

The upper part of the Lazuri Gorges is also called Toplicioara and it represents a very isolated and wild area with lots of sinkholes of different sizes, but from where the spring also comes out and creates the beautiful dig into the gorges.

To reach the gorges you need to follow the county road between Beiuș-Aleșd and on the km 16, you will find a small road sign that leads to Lazuri which is just another 2 km away. Once you enter the small village you will have to follow the water flow until you find a spot where you can park your car and then begin the 5 km long journey into the wilderness of the Piatra Craiului Mountains.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

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