Motorcycle routes · The Ciumârna pass, 1,100 m
The long northern loop: over the Ciumârna pass to Sucevița, on to Putna, then back through Rădăuți and Gura Humorului.
Start and finish: Câmpulung Moldovenesc
It's the monasteries loop, taken all the way. You climb the DN 17A over Trei Movile and Ciumârna, drop to Sucevița, but instead of cutting across to Marginea you carry on to Putna, to the monastery founded by Stephen the Great. You come back through Rădăuți and Gura Humorului. 204 kilometres and four and a half hours of riding, so a full day with stops. It has the most bends of the northern loops, but spread over a lot of distance: 3.7 per kilometre.
Daylight · The Ciumârna pass, 1,100 m · today,
The times are for the starting point. Between ridges the light goes earlier than the clock says, so turn back a good hour before sunset.
Weather · The Ciumârna pass, 1,100 m · today,
The forecast is for where you set off. Up on the ridge, count on a few degrees less and on wind you cannot see from below.
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.
See the whole route on the map All 9 points of the loop, in order, opened straight in Google Maps. From there you can start the navigation or send it to your phone.| Câmpulung Moldovenesc → Sadova | 4.1 km · 6 min The DN 17 west, then right onto the DN 17A. |
|---|---|
| Sadova → Vatra Moldoviței | 20.8 km · 24 min Over the Curmătura Boului pass, known as Trei Movile. |
| Vatra Moldoviței → Ciumârna pass | 16.9 km · 18 min The climb to Palma, 1,100 m. The best stretch to ride. |
| 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 → Rădăuți | 30.4 km · 39 min Back down the same valley, towards town. |
| Rădăuți → Gura Humorului | 46.6 km · 63 min Crossing the hill country, through villages. |
| Gura Humorului → Câmpulung Moldovenesc | 33.7 km · 48 min The DN 17 back west. |
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 12–14 48 bends in two kilometres, that is one every 42 metres.
Wide hairpins and good tarmac for most of it, but about 15 km of patching before the Trei Movile pass, almost as far as Vatra Moldoviței.
Valley roads, with local traffic and coaches at the monasteries.
County roads through villages: narrower surface, gateways, tractors.
Tarmac changes from one year to the next. Above is what we know now. Before you go, ask us.
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.
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.
Sucevița and Putna are coach destinations. On Sundays and feast days the car parks fill and the coaches manoeuvre on the road.
Bumps and patching before Trei Movile. On two wheels they tell more than in a car.
Almost the whole loop runs through villages. Speed cameras are common on the straights.
Four and a half hours of riding, plus the stops. Set off early if you want to see the monasteries properly too.
A concrete hand almost seven metres tall, on the left as you come from Sadova.
Fortress walls and exterior frescoes. Ask about photography rules at the entrance.
The burial place of Stephen the Great. The grounds have their own camera rules.
The road climbs the valley to the monastery, between wooded hills.
a Bistro or Brasserie, before you set off.
Terraces in the village, by the monastery.
Places to eat and guesthouses in the village, at the head of the valley.
The biggest town on the route, with real options at any hour.
Taste Bucovina
At the end of the valley, next to the monastery. It's the handiest place to eat in Putna.
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.
We checked all of this in . We measured the kilometres on the map ourselves; the fuel stations and workshops are the mapped ones.
The other loops
A base for the loops
Parking in the yard and the whole house to yourselves. Leave at sunrise without waking a reception desk, and come back as late as you like.
Via Transilvanica