Visiting caves were never in my top 3 of what I enjoy discovering outdoors since I prefer colours and light instead of darkness and black and white landscapes, but I love its power of projecting yourself in a world that ended centuries ago but which still conquers many hearts through its history.
The places you can discover in just a single day since you've hit the road in the morning and joined the wilderness of nature, are literally endless.
They all depend on your energy and how determined you are to not let a day come to an end before you conquer a little bit more of what makes you feel alive and truly happy.
And to me, the things are pretty clear - I am not satisfied to let any day pass without discovering something new, because I feel like I just lost a day from my life for nothing, and I hate that feeling.
And as you might probably noticed, I rarely present a cave in my travel posts, and not because I don't like them but because I prefer the light and being able to see nature and colours, instead of walking underground in darkness and lack of colours.
Of course, this is a subjective opinion, while my father had always enjoyed doing this and this is how we get to see 1 or 2 caves every year. And to be honest - this is not a thing I regret because their history and stories make you feel like you've just been thrown away with a few centuries. A different living we all have to know about.
Peștera Meziad is located in the village with the same name (Meziad) from the western side of Apuseni Mountains in Bihor County, and it represents one of the most visited caves from Romania.
The cave not only that it represents one of the longest underground places people can visit measuring 4.750 meters, but it's also one of the first caves specially arranged for tourists who wish to visit it while this is still explored by groups of speleologists pretty often.
Peștera Meziad has been firstly visited by speleologists back in 1921, and after 50 years the cave was declared open for the general public as well, which turned it into one of the most visited underground locations from Romania that gathers daily lots of tourists from all over the world.
But if we take into consideration the legend of Peștera Meziad, we will notice that the place has been populated with people a long time before it was discovered by speleologists, reporting that the village took the name of the cave and not the opposite while the locals used to live underground before moving to the village and becoming part of civilization.
Either way - it doesn't matter that the stories of living in the caves ended centuries ago, the caves still play an important role in both human and animals lives, but also geologically if we think about how many real treasures are hidden underground.
The cave is located on an altitude of almost 300 meters and it's pretty easy to be accessed by anyone while the road to this one, it's a forest path which can be either crossed by driving the car or taking a walk between the imposing trees of the forest.
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Once you cross a little bridge over the water and get up the stairs, on the left you will find a little chalet from where you can buy tickets for visiting and souvenirs, and on the right, it's the unique entrance to the cave that looks like a huge portal ready to take you into a completely different world.
The whole place is embraced by nature and vegetation - the colours you will suddenly miss when you step into the darkness and black and white landscapes with unique formations that will leave you speechless once again in front of wilderness' power.
Peștera Meziad is open any time of the week as it follows:
- Monday & Tuesday: 11 AM - 2 PM;
- Wednesday, Thursday & Friday: 11 AM - 4 PM;
- Saturday & Sunday: 11 AM - 5 PM.
Visiting the cave is made every hour and there it's necessary a group of minimum 5 persons but not more than 20, with a guide that will present you the history of the place as well as the path you need to follow while the access to the entire cave is restricted due to the speleologists which are still making explorations.
Visiting taxes and other fees:
- Adult Ticket: 25 RON / 5.17 EUR;
- Kid Ticket (5 - 14 years old): 15 RON / 3.10 EUR;
- 2x Adults + 1x Kid Bundle: 50 RON / 10.34 EUR;
- 2x Adults + 2x Kids Bundle: 65 RON / 13.45 EUR;
- 1x Adult + 2x Kids Bundle: 40 RON / 8.27 EUR.
- Professional Photography: 100 RON / 20.69 EUR;
- Professional Videography: 450 RON / 93.09 EUR per hour.
There are no taxes or fees for kids under 5 years old and for the amateur photographers and videographers - but keep in mind that you are not allowed to use any source of light such as the camera flash, in the rooms with bat colonies.
The huge portal that represents the entrance to the cave measures 16 meters height and 10 meters width and the underground beauty is composed of 2 different stratification levels.
- The lower level represents the first 1.542 meters of the cave that are being described by the rooms of uncommon sizes, often measuring 20-30 meters width and 15-20 meters height that after 400 meters of walking through the cave, this is being radically restricted by two galleries very narrow and hard to be visited by tourists.
- The upper level represents the other 3.208 meters of the cave that is being composed of 3 galleries connected with the first level that create an impressive room going up to a height of 35 meters.
During the time, the speleologists have found traces from the Paleolithic and Neolithic, showing the proofs that the cave have been inhabited by both Homo sapiens and animals like Ursus spelaeus who's bones represent the main attraction for the tourists who visit the cave and get to discover an authentic skeleton of a bear cave.
Peștera Meziad is also one of the few caves that offer the right conditions for the bats who are hibernating underground in huge colonies to one of the rooms dedicated to those, called The Bats Room. The interesting part is that bats have two separate rooms, one used during the summer and hot periods, and the other one during the winter and when it's very cold outside.
The cave not only that is very different than any other underground places you can visit but it's also very often compared to a huge natural gothic cathedral whose architect is no one else but the water - which designed a real masterpiece that nature is proud to have for its tourists.
This one, not only that it represents a natural monument of Romania that is a unique and a protected area but the huge entrance, as well as the galleries that you will get to explore, are what makes this place uncomparable with any other caves while we all are used to get through narrow galleries and small places when it comes to exploring the underground beauty - which most often ends up with a locked aisle.
The huge colonies of bats I told you about before, are protected both nationally and internationally and this is why the rules of visiting the cave are very strict when it comes to taking a picture or recording a video because you are not allowed to use any source of light. (e.g. camera flash)
Through the various things that are going to conquer you with their beauty and awesomeness, we remind the endemic microscopic organisms that can be found only in Peștera Meziad because of the bat species that are living here and whose excrement deposits made this possible, but also the marvellous formations (stalactites, stalagmites, columns, curtains), each one of them sharing a story if you use your imagination for a few moments.
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Visiting the cave takes around 45 minutes and you will get to see just a part of it, the reason being mentioned at the beginning of this post, and it's really suggested to have some warm clothes even in the middle of the summer because the temperature goes down to 9°C, but also non-stick shoes because the humidity level is pretty big and there are plenty of stairs and slopes you need to either climb or go down from and the risk to slip is pretty big, especially that the cave is not very bright.
One of the rooms that describe the best the place where the locals were living in the past is called "Bucătăria de iarnă” (EN: The Winter Kitchen) whose name is not random if we think that this is the same location where the legend of the wheat was born and which represents a popular story about the people who lived in Peștera Meziad presenting the process of human evolution from being a hunter to becoming a real farmer.
The cave is part of a Via Ferrata trail that starts underground and it ends through a cave chimney, but also for two normal mountain tracks, one of them being 18km long and which starts at "Leșu" Motel (red triangle marker 
Even though the history of this place presents the fact that the cave measures a length of a little bit over 4km, some of the most recent studies bring in discussion a total length of 6.292 meters, from which only 1.038m are available for the tourists.
Either way, considering the fact that the cave is still explored by professional groups of speleologists most probably this is not its final length and maybe after a few years, we will discover a new record for the caves from Romania.
There is also the single bridge formed naturally underground from the caves of the country, which takes the tourists on an altitude of 20m over one of the rooms that are going to be later discovered in the route of the guide, that represents the main gallery from where the water of the cave goes outside.
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To reach the cave there are 2 access roads:
- The European road E79: from Oradea -> Beiuş –> Deva, following from the center of Beiuş the road to Roșia-Aleșd (DJ 764) until you reach the village called Remetea (9 km), then take the way to Valea Meziadului (EN: Meziad Valley) until you reach the village with the same name (9 km) and then follow the paved road to the left that will bring you in the parking lot of the Meziad Chalet (2.5km);
- The European road E60: from Oradea -> Cluj-Napoca, following the road until you reach the village Borod and take the County Road DJ 764 D, that will make you cross the following settlements Bratca, Damiș, Roșia, Căbești, Remetea. Once reached in this place, we will follow the steps described at the previous route.
SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾
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