9-Day Paring Mountains Trek with Caves, Monasteries and Glacial Lakes

• Arrive in Sibiu, a town known for the Germanic architecture of its old quarter, a legacy of the 12th-century Saxon settlers.
• Visit Petroșani, a city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania, with a population of 34,331. The city has been associated with mining since the 19th century.
• Visit Chalet Anefs.
• Stay overnight in a tent or chalet, depending on the weather conditions.

Travel time: around 8 hours.

Level difference: around 1500 m.

Altitude: 1800 m.

Trip distance: 10 km

• Visit Chalet Anefs.
• Ascend Parângul Mic.
• Explore Parângul Mare, a mountain peak in Romania. At 2,519 metres above sea level, it is the highest peak of the Parâng Mountains, located in the Parâng Mountains group of the Southern Carpathians.
• Witness the beautiful Lake Câlcescu.
• Stay overnight in a tent.

Travel time: around 9 hours
Level difference: around 700 m
Altitudes: 1800 m - Chalet Anefs, 2519 m - Parângul Mare, 1925 m - Lake Câlcescu
Travel distance: around 30 km

• Visit Chalet Rânca.
• Stay overnight in a tent or chalet, depending on the weather conditions.

Travel time: around 7 hours
Level difference: around 400 meters
Altitudes: 1925 m - Lake Câlcescu, Rânca - 1600 m
Travel distance: around 25 km

• Visit the following places:
• Rânca
• Muierii Cave, an elaborate cave system located in the Baia de Fier commune, Gorj County, Romania. It contains abundant cave bear remains, as well as a human skull.
• Polovragi Cave, a cave with a bat colony and fanciful rock formations linked to a local legend.
• Polovragi Monastery, set in a magnificent landscape close to Oltețului Canyon.
• Horezu, a town well known for its people who make pottery and present it at an annual fair.

Overnight stay in Horezu.

• Visit the One Wood Monastery.
• Explore Surpatele Monastery.
• Return to Horezu.

Travel time: around 6 hours
The trip is done by bus
Travel distance: around 30 km
Overnight stay in the same place.

Visit the following places:

• Pietreni
• Pătrunsa Monastery
• Pahomie Hermitage
• Cheia Chalet
• Overnight stay in Cheia Chalet.

Level difference: around 1000 m
Travel time: around 10 hours
Altitudes: Horezu - 500 m, Pătrunsa - 1400 m, Pahomie - 650 m, Chalet Cheia - 910 m
Travel distance: around 35 km

• Visit the Cheii Gorges.
• Overnight stay in Cheia Chalet or in a tent.

Level difference: 300 m
Travel time: around 4 hours
Travel distance: around 10 km

• A day to relax, enjoy a campfire, and party.

• Descend the Cheii Valley.
• Visit Olănești, a resort known for its curative waters.
• Visit Râmnicu Vâlcea, the capital town of Vâlcea County, located in the central area of the county, 195 km from Bucharest, the capital of Romania.
• Travel back to Sibiu.