The Brodina valley loop: on the DJ 209G, the road surfaced in 2025
The longest loop we have: through Ciumârna and Putna to Straja, Brodina and Ulma, on the recently rebuilt county road.
Length293,7 km
Riding7 h 30 min
Difficultymoderate
Turns1229
Start and finish: Câmpulung Moldovenesc
It starts like the Putna loop, but from Putna it heads west on the DJ 209G, through Straja and Brodina, as far as Ulma. This road was surfaced over 23 kilometres, and the work was announced as finished in September 2025 by Suceava County Council: before that, the state of the surface left the area cut off. 294 kilometres and seven and a half hours of riding, so a very long day or two with a night away. It's the loop for anyone who wants valleys almost nobody reaches.
Daylight · The DJ 209G, in the Brodina valley · today,
Sunrise07:02
Sunset19:21
Daylight12 h 18 min−3 min vs yesterday
Until sunset–
Times for the trailhead. Between the ridges it gets dark earlier: turn back an hour before sunset.
Weather · The DJ 209G, in the Brodina valley · today,
12°min 6°rain
Precipitation100% · 13,9 mm
Wind20 km/h · gusts 70
UV index3,5
Elevation950 m
Tue9°4°
Wed9°3°
Thu12°2°
Fri13°4°
Sat15°3°
Forecast for the trailhead. On the ridge it is colder and windier.
The kilometres and times are measured on the map, from the gate of the house. The time is what you actually ride: with photo and coffee stops, add half again.
41.8 km · 48 min The DN 17 and the DN 17A, over Trei Movile and past Vatra Moldoviței.
Ciumârna pass → Sucevița
15.1 km · 24 min The descent to the north-east.
Sucevița → Putna
36 km · 51 min Past Marginea and Rădăuți, then up the Putna valley.
Putna → Straja
15.5 km · 24 min This is where you join the DJ 209G, the rebuilt road.
Straja → Brodina
12.4 km · 19 min The first part of the new stretch.
Brodina → Ulma
27.3 km · 48 min The end of the valley. Beyond it is the border.
Ulma → Rădăuți
65.4 km · 125 min Back through Brodina and Straja.
Rădăuți → Câmpulung Moldovenesc
80.3 km · 111 min Through Gura Humorului and the DN 17.
Where the corners are
We counted every bend on the route. Not the gentle waves of the road, but the real turns: where the road changes direction by more than 12 degrees, which is enough to feel the bars move. Then we split the loop into two-kilometre pieces and gave each piece its number of bends. That's what the chart below shows: the taller the bar, the twistier that stretch is.
Twistiest: kilometres 12–1448 bends in two kilometres, that is one every 42 metres.
Road surface
DN 17A, Sadova, Ciumârnavariable
About 15 km of patching before Trei Movile; the rest, good hairpins.
DJ 209G, Straja, Brodina, Ulmagood
Surfaced over 23 kilometres, work announced as finished in September 2025 by Suceava County Council. A road that hadn't been surfaced for ten years.
Rădăuți to Gura Humoruluimoderate
County roads through villages.
Tarmac changes from one year to the next. Above is what we know now. Before you go, ask us.
Fuel
Fuel gap: Brodina to Ulma and back, about 44 km.No petrol station is mapped at Ulma. It's 44 kilometres there and back from Brodina, up a valley with nowhere to fill up.
These are the pumps mapped in the villages and towns along the route. They close, they move: in the mountains, don't count on just one.
What can spoil the day
The things that come from the road itself: how narrow it is, how steep, what it passes through. How often they happen is our own judgement, not statistics.
Remote stretchalways
Up the Brodina valley the villages are few and far apart. A puncture here means something else than a puncture on the DN 17.
Weak signaloften
Patchy coverage on the upper valleys. Download the map first.
Forestry lorriesoften
Active logging. Timber trucks, on a narrow road.
Very long dayalways
Seven and a half hours of riding, without stops. With breaks, it's ten or twelve. Leave at sunrise or split it over two days.
Close to the borderalways
Ulma is on the edge of the country. The border police may stop you for checks: keep your papers handy.
Where to stop for a photo
Valea Brodinei
A narrow valley, with scattered villages and forest on both sides.
Putna Monastery
The burial place of Stephen the Great, on the way to the DJ 209G.
Straja
A mountain village, with a ski slope in winter and views over the Obcine.
The end of the road at Ulma
The last village before the border, at the head of the valley.
Coffee and food on the way
Rădăuți
The biggest town on the route; this is where the long break goes.
Putna
Places to eat and guesthouses, at the head of the valley.
Straja
A small resort, with guesthouses open outside the ski season too.
Brodina and Ulma
Few options, irregular hours. Take something with you.
Taste Bucovina
Restaurant BucovinaPutna, before turning onto the DJ 209G · Bucovina cooking
There isn't much in the way of food along the Brodina valley. The last sure stop is Putna, before you turn onto the road to Straja.
You won't find a workshop that works on motorcycles alone on any of these roads. The nearest is in Suceava, some seventy kilometres from the house and further from most of the loops. What you will find are car workshops and tyre places in the villages and towns, and plenty of them will turn a hand to a motorcycle. For a puncture, a battery or a tyre, they'll sort you out. For the engine, call first.
Call ahead. They keep their own hours and not all of them work on Saturdays.
112For an accident or a medical emergency. On the upper valleys the signal comes and goes: remember where you last had it.
Assistance from your insurerLook at your policy before you go. Many cover towing, but not all of them cover it for a motorcycle.
In the toolboxA puncture kit for tubeless tyres, a small compressor or cartridges, tape, wire, work gloves. On the long loops, a torch as well.
Worth knowing before you go
Check the state of the DJ 209G before you go. The work was announced as finished in September 2025, but we haven't ridden it since.
It's the longest loop we have. On a motorcycle, seven and a half hours of riding in one day tires you more than most people expect.
On the upper valleys the villages are far apart and help is slow to come.
A few things about the road
The DJ 209G links Straja, Brodina and Ulma. The 23-kilometre section was surfaced in 2025, after the area had been left without a decent road for more than a decade.
Up the Brodina valley things were so bad that in 2019 the residents protested on the county road. Of 22 kilometres, six had been surfaced in 28 years.
Ulma is a border commune, in the far north of Suceava county.
How we know
The surfacing of the 23 km section of the DJ 209G and the state of the work: public announcement by the president of Suceava County Council, September 2025.
The old state of the road up the Brodina valley: public accounts from 2019.
The kilometres, the times and the number of bends: measured by us on the road map, from the gate of the house. The petrol stations and workshops: the ones mapped.
Information verified on . We measured the kilometres on the map ourselves; the fuel stations and workshops are the mapped ones.Opening times and prices change, check before you set off.
Via Transilvanica