Motorcycle routes · Transrarău, at 1,500 m
The shortest loop starting from Câmpulung: you climb Transrarău from the north, drop to Chiril and come back up the Bistrița valley and over Mestecăniș.
Start and finish: Câmpulung Moldovenesc
You leave the gate, ride eleven minutes on the DN 17 to Pojorâta and you're already on Transrarău. You climb seven hundred metres in tight hairpins to the Rarău hut at 1,500 m, drop down the southern side to Chiril, come back along the Bistrița valley to Vatra Dornei and close the loop over the Mestecăniș pass. 102 kilometres, about two and three quarter hours of actual riding, so a long morning or an easy day with stops. It's the shortest of the three loops and the only one that leaves your afternoon free.
Daylight · Transrarău, at 1,500 m · today,
Times for the trailhead. Between the ridges it gets dark earlier: turn back an hour before sunset.
Weather · Transrarău, at 1,500 m · today,
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.
See the whole route on the map All 7 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 → Pojorâta | 6.6 km · 11 min The DN 17, ten minutes to warm up. Here you join the DJ 175B. |
|---|---|
| Pojorâta → Cabana Rarău | 17.2 km · 19 min The climb proper on Transrarău: tight hairpins, a narrow road, some 700 m of altitude gained. |
| Cabana Rarău → Chiril | 11.9 km · 20 min The southern descent, towards the Bistrița valley. The last 7 km were surfaced in 2014. |
| Chiril → Vatra Dornei | 25 km · 35 min The DN 17B up the Bistrița valley. The most variable tarmac on the loop. |
| Vatra Dornei → Mestecăniș pass | 19.9 km · 33 min The DN 17, a long wide climb with open bends. |
| Mestecăniș pass → Câmpulung Moldovenesc | 21.3 km · 46 min Down the DN 17, back to the gate. |
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 16–18 55 bends in two kilometres, that is one every 36 metres.
The northern branch, from the DN 17. Upgraded and opened in 2014. Narrow, with tight hairpins. Coaches can come up this way.
The southern branch, towards the DN 17B. Weight limit under 3.5 t: cars and light vehicles only.
The most complained-about stretch of the loop. Check before you go: it's repaired section by section.
National road, wide bends, through traffic including lorries.
Tarmac changes from one year to the next. Above is what we know now. Before you go, ask us.
OMV and Rompetrol on the DN 17
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.
Transrarău climbs between steep slopes, and rain washes material onto the road. It gathers exactly on the inside of the hairpins, where you lean the most. After heavy rain, take a wider line and stay off the apex.
The stretches in the forest, on the northern side, stay wet for hours after the rest of the road has dried. You can see them: they're darker.
September to November, on the stretch between Pojorâta and the plateau. On wet tarmac, leaves are as slippery as ice.
At 1,400 to 1,500 m it comes down fast, above all in the morning and after a warm day. Visibility can drop below 30 m on a stretch with no barrier.
Grazing country. Sheep and cattle cross the road, mostly at dawn and dusk.
At Pietrele Doamnei and in the bends with a view, visitors stop on the carriageway to take photographs. The road is narrow: there's no room to pass without slowing right down.
From the plateau by the Rarău hut. The good light is in the afternoon, when the sun comes from the west across the limestone.
There are small pull-ins on the inside of the bends. Don't stop on the carriageway: the road is narrow and visibility in the bends is under 50 m.
Water and forest, with the mountain behind. Fog sits in the valley in the morning.
The view towards the Obcine from the plateau in the pass.
a Bistro, Brasserie, Restaurant Parc, 4 minutes from the house, all in the centre.
The last coffee before the climb; there are small terraces in the village, but hours vary out of season.
At 1,500 m, at the top of the loop. This is where the long break goes.
Kaban, 43 minutes from the house, tried by us.
Restaurant Mestecăniș, 24 minutes from the house, right in the pass.
Taste Bucovina
Trout raised in ponds fed by the stream, in Pojorâta, right next to where you turn onto Transrarău. It's where we eat too when we have guests.
we've eaten hereYou 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.
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.
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