Cabana Mestecăniș – Piciorul Lat – Poiana Fierului – Poiana Ciungi – Giumalău Peak – Fundu Colbului saddle – Cabana Rarău

What the walking is like

The massif's main ridge route. From Mestecăniș Pass along the crest: Muntele Lat, Piciorul Lat, Poiana Fierului, small saddles, then Poiana Ciungi and the steep climb up Giumalău, with 250 m in the last kilometre. From the summit, one of the great panoramas of the Carpathians: the Obcini, Rarău, Pietrosul Bistriței, Ceahlău, the Călimani, Rodna. Descent into the Fundu Colbului saddle and, on the link trail, to Cabana Rarău.

What we'd tell you at the gate

• Done in two days, with a night at Cabana Giumalău.
• Winter: only with experience, snowshoes/touring skis and avalanche kit.

Not to miss on the way

• 1

  Mestecăniș Pass (1,096 m) is the gap through which the Tatars entered Moldavia; the ridge track is still called the “Tatars' Road”. The crest towards Giumalău is one of the longest ridge walks in Bucovina, with no village on the way.

• 2

  Giumalău stands at 1,857 m and is the highest peak around; from the top, on a clear day, you count six ranges: Rarău, the Obcini, Rodna, Călimani, Bistrița, Ceahlău. The subalpine meadow on the ridge is thick with blueberries in August.

• 3

  Cabana Giumalău sits at 1,600 m, has power from a generator and a wind turbine, but serves no meals: here you carry the food up yourself.

• 4

  The Pietrele Doamnei stand at 1,634 m and are reef limestone: the corals of a warm sea 140 million years ago, raised to the sky. Legend has it that Petru Rareș's wife hid her treasure here, and the mountain's name comes from Rareș.

What else you can do on the trail

• Winter: ski touring and snowshoeing on the ridge, only with experience and avalanche kit.
• Trail running: Bucovina Ultra Rocks, the July mountain race, passes this way.

What grows and what moves along the trail

The species above are those documented in the area by the protected-area administration; what you see depends on season, hour and luck.

How long it takes, honestly

A multi-day linear trail: the time is for the whole route A → B, in two or three stages, with a tent or with guesthouses in the villages along the way. The duration is the one in Suceava County's official guide (Salvamont); the kilometres and driving minutes to the trailhead are from Google Maps.

• 9–10 hoursone way, A to B, at your usual pace
• n/aback the same way (estimate)
• 9–10 hoursout and back, with short breaks
• 13–15 hoursone way, if you stop for photos and eat on the grass
• 15–18 hoursone way, with children, grandparents or a pack full of “just in case”