Not driving the Transfagarasan Road

With a shuffle to our itinerary, had a free morning today, so Gabriel suggested a drive to Lake Balea, and a chance to see the famous Tranfagarasan Road, rated by Top Gear as the best road in the world.

The road is only open a few months a year from July to October (weather dependent), so if you can't drive the road, the next best thing is to see it!

We drove from Sibiu to the base station of the cable car to take us to Lake Balea, arriving just after it opened at 9am. This was a good move, as queues later in the day were huge.

The cable car travels up the valley, over the closed section of the Transfagarasan Road, and it was easy to see why it is still closed. When we reached the top, there was still enough snow to ski on (and it had a number of hardy takers, given there are no ski lifts operating), and Lake Balea was still largely frozen over.Read more