Parcul Natural Apuseni

Apuseni Nature Park protects the most intricate karst landscape in Romania: a limestone plateau riddled like a sponge, where rivers sink into the ground, cross kilometres of galleries and surface again in an entirely different valley. Above are flowering meadows, clearings with scattered farmsteads and beech forest; below, ice caves that never melt, shafts and chambers you meet only by headlamp.

The heart of the park is the Padiș plateau, the classic base for Cetățile Ponorului — a rock amphitheatre where a river vanishes noisily beneath an enormous portal — and for the Galbena gorges, Groapa Ruginoasă and Poiana Vărășoaia. At the far edge of the massif, Scărișoara Cave holds one of Europe's largest underground glaciers, and in winter the area becomes the ski domain of Arieșeni–Vârtop.

Good to know This is not a park for city shoes: paths are long, muddy after rain and cross slippery limestone slabs, and phone signal disappears over wide stretches. Take boots, water and a torch, respect the strict protection zones, and never enter caves alone without a guide. Check the weather — summer storms arrive fast — and save the mountain rescue number before you go.