Romania is full of beautiful surpises in terms of natural destinations, from mountain trails, beautiful wild roads, to amazing canyons, waterfalls and dams. One of them is Stan’s Valley, one of the most amazing canyons we’ve experienced so far in Romania.
Starting point and parking: the trail starts on the Transfagarasan road, very close to the Vidraru Dam, next to the mark included below. There are no official parking lots here, but you can either leave your car at the side of the road (not a lot of space though), or in case this spot is alredy crouded you can find a bigger spot 5 minutes down the road (towards Poienari Fortress). Another option would be to park near the Vidraru Dam and walk for around 15 minutes to the start of the trail.
If choosing to spend your day here, you will get around 4.5 hours of amazing views and adventure. We would advise to come here on a sunny day because the trail might get slippery, but it is doable also on a rainy day (we were „lucky” to get 4.5 hours of heavy rain, which added some extra difficulty to the hike).
In terms of difficulty you should expect a medium level, but we do not advise to come here with small children due to the risk of injury and the height of some cable/ring parts. Also, for your safety, our suggestion would be to ensure you have proper clothing and shoes, preferably high-ankle mountain boots.
The trail is marked with the red dot, although there are some parts where the marks are sparse and the path is not very obvious.
The stairs and chains will start around 30 minutes after getting on the trail and will last for around 1.5-2h.
You will then need to cross the water and continue for around 30 minutes with a steep climb through the forest. After getting to the top you will pass through a forest glade, and from there you have around 1h to the Vidraru Dam.
Have a nice trip!
Calatoris 