Magura – My favourite village

/ expatinmyowncountry

Magura, my favourite village in Romania. As you may already have noticed, I’m a huge Carpathian mountain lover. And Magura is surrounded by mountains. To the east, the Bucegi Mountains. To the west, the Piatra Craiului Mountains. And the village is not low in the valley as you might expect, rather sprawled on top of rolling hills with a stunning view in every direction.

For those who just want to enjoy the scenery and traditional, home-cooked food, there are many pensions to relax at. For those who are more active, head to the Zarnesti Gorge (Cheile Zarnesti) just below the village to see the place where parts of the movie Cold Mountain were filmed, or to find some great outdoor rock climbing spots. Or you can go up into Piatra Craiului Mountains – for moderate hikes or for the most challenging hiking one can do in Romania, climbing to the top of these mountains from the Plaiul Foii Cabin.

Some logistics: You can arrive here from Brasov, through the town of Zarnesti. If you don’t have a car there are frequent trains to Zarnesti and inexpensive taxis to the village. There are plenty of pensions, some in the traditional houses, many in massive, new structures that ruin the scenery, unfortunately. I recommend the Pepino Pension for a more traditional house, locally-grown, delicious food, and warm hosts. Moreover, if you are in one of the two larger rooms, you will wake up with the sun rising over the mountain peaks and warming your face. This will be the view from your window.

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Zarnesti Gorge
Zarnesti Gorge

27 thoughts on “Magura – My favourite village”

    • Thank you! 🙂 Yes, the roofs are interesting. Many of the traditional houses here have roofs covered in small, flat, overlapping pieces of wood. You can also notice that the roofs are very steep, so that large masses of snow can slide down instead of weighing on the structure of the house. I love that the houses are colourful 🙂

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  11. Thanks for featuring Magura – where I’m incredibly lucky to live. It’s so beautiful at this time of year (June) with all the wild flowers in the meadows and the greeeen greeen slopes of the foothills all around us. It’s very sad that some people don’t think or care enough about the bigger picture to build sensitively and according to the laws of the National Park (we’re the only village entirely within a national park in Romania) but throw up something that could fit more easily into Austria. Transylvanian architecture is atmospheric, charming and natural and I wish that people would invest in their own tradition of house building – while adding comfort and warmth inside!

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    • It must be so beautiful! I’ve never been in the spring and since I’m currently not in Romania I’ll make it a priority for next year. I know what you mean about the new buildings! It’s so frustrating when tradition and local architecture gets left behind for quick profits. The concrete hotels are the only things ruining the beautiful landscape in Magura. One thing we can do as tourists, though, is to avoid staying at such places and choose smaller pensions that respect the place!

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  16. Hi! The pics are so beautiful!

    I will be in Brasov for 2 nights in September and would like to include Magura in my itinerary. Bran Castle and Rasnov Fotress are also in my itinerary. Would you suggest I go to Magura after visiting either one of those sites or straight from Brasov? We will be renting a car.

    Also, once in Magura, can we just park anywhere by the road side and roam everywhere? Or is there a walking path or hiking trail to follow?

    Thank you!

    Suhaila

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