Ciucaș Mountains

The Ciucaș sit at the great bend of the Carpathians and make a gentler proposition than the ranges either side: the high point, Ciucaș peak, is 1,954 metres, the walking is mostly on grass and forest trails, and the whole massif can be crossed in a long day. What people come for is the rock. The conglomerate here erodes into freestanding towers and mushroom shapes that local tradition has named, the best known being the Tigăile Mari, the Big Frying Pans, and the group called Sfinxul Bratocei. They stand in loose groups on the open ridges, so the walk turns into a slow progress from one formation to the next. Juniper and dwarf pine cover the upper slopes and turn bronze in autumn. Cheia, at the southern foot, is a small resort of guesthouses and a monastery, and the road over the pass from Prahova to Brașov county runs directly below the peaks.

What you actually see

• Tigăile Mari - the celebrated group of eroded conglomerate towers.
• Ciucaș peak - the summit, an easy walk from either main trailhead.
• Dwarf pine and juniper slopes - dense on the upper mountain, spectacular in autumn.
• Cheia monastery - a working monastery at the foot of the range.

When to go

June to October; the trails are straightforward but snow covers the upper slopes from late autumn to late spring, and the dwarf pine makes off-trail winter travel exhausting. Autumn is the best season here, both for colour and for clearer air.

Honest expectations

There is no cable car and no shelter high on the mountain, so days are longer than the modest heights suggest. The rock formations are smaller than photographs imply. Summer weekends bring crowds from Bucharest to the Cheia trails, and the resort itself is unremarkable. Water sources on the ridge are unreliable in dry spells.

Nearby

The Bucegi rise to the west across the Prahova valley; Brașov is an hour north.