Padiș Plateau

Padiș is a shallow basin at around 1,200 metres in the middle of the Apuseni, and it is the best place in Romania to see how limestone country works. Streams cross the meadows and then simply end, disappearing into swallow holes at the base of the slopes; the water reappears far away and much lower as a spring. The floor of the basin is pocked with dolines, some shallow dishes in the grass, others deep wooded craters. Around the edges are the classic walks: down into the Cetățile Ponorului portals, into the Galbenei gorge with its cabled sections, to the ice cave at Focul Viu where a block of underground ice is lit by a shaft of daylight, and up to the Bălăceana and Piatra Bulzului viewpoints. Padiș itself is a scatter of cabins, camping meadows and a barrier where the area fee is collected, with no village and no shop worth the name.

What you'll find

• Sinkholes and swallow holes - streams ending abruptly at the foot of the slopes.
• Focul Viu ice cave - a small underground glacier lit through a roof shaft.
• The Galbenei gorge - a cabled route through a narrow watercourse.
• Camping meadows - the informal heart of the plateau, busy in August.

When to go

June to September. Access roads are poor and become impassable with snow or heavy rain, and much of the plateau is boggy in spring. August is by far the busiest month, when Romanian campers fill the meadows and the cabins are full.

Practical notes

Getting here is genuinely rough: the approach roads are unsurfaced, potholed and steep, and ordinary cars are damaged on them every summer. Paths are marked but the marking is inconsistent and mist comes down fast on a featureless plateau. Facilities are minimal and litter around the camping meadows has been a persistent problem. Cave entrances are dangerous in wet weather when levels rise.

Nearby

Cetățile Ponorului is a walk from the plateau; Bears' Cave and Scărișoara are a drive away.