Today we are
headed to one of the gateways to the Piatra Craiului National Park, Zarnesti.
Here you can find a park museum, a church representative for medieval art,
erected more than five centuries ago, an adventure park and a 70-ha bear
sanctuary, unique in Romania. It is an area where you can practice cycling,
trekking, mountain climbing, or wild animal watching. We will be talking about
all this, and about the 2019 event calendar, with Stefan Balogy, the
coordinator of the Tourism Information Center.
Zarnesti is an
exceptionally accessible destination, lying less than 30 km outside of Brasov,
a major urban center, which can be reached by car or rail. The tourism
information center is at the center of town, easily spotted next to the central
bus station. Here is Stefan Balogy:
Zarnesti is a small mountain town, with a population around 20,000. Before
1989, the main activity here was in industry, but gradually the town adapted to
being a tourist destination, with its main attraction being the Piatra Craiului
massif. It is a destination for lovers of active tourism, and here we find
unlimited possibilities of spending time outdoors, no matter the season. You
can not only relax in nature and discover new things, but you can get to know
an eco-tourism destination. I am underlying this aspect, because Zarnesti-
Piatra Craiului is the first eco-tourism destination in Romania licensed by the
Ministry of Tourism. Only four such venues can be found at this time in
Romania, fully authorized.
There are also
many types of lodging, as Stefan Balogy told us:
The
area is great for tourists on a budget, but to all others too. We have a one or
two star cabins, but also four star hotel compounds, as well as spa and
relaxation centers. Tourists can very easily find lodging suited to their
budget here. The number of tourists is rising every year. In 2018, we had over
6,500 tourists. They came straight to us for information. 43% of them were
Romanians, and the other 57% were foreign. The majority of visitors who visit
and seek information directly or on-line are foreign tourists. The largest
percentage, 28%, come from Germany. The interesting thing is that they are not
ethnic Saxons. They are tourists who found out about this area, about the
beauty of the Carpathians, and come to visit Piatra Craiului. The next largest
group are Israelis, 27%, followed by the Brits, the Spanish, the Portuguese,
and the French.
Stefan Balogy
told us that although Zarnesti is a great place for anyone to visit, their
promotional activity focuses on family tourism, with emphasis on longer
vacations spent there:
We
recommend a few treks, of various levels of difficulty, from one or two hours
to ones that take 10 to 12 hours. Right now, we have 42 mountain trails, very
well marked, the maps of which can be downloaded to a smart phone. Also last
year, we started emphasizing bicycle tourism. There are 11 marked trails for
cyclists in Piatra Craiului National Park. They link Zarnesti with the
surrounding mountain villages, Bran and Pestera, for a sum total of over 120
km. Another attraction is horse riding. We have four horse-riding centers
offering horse rides to the nearing forests, and sleigh rides during the
winter. Also, mountain climbing and free climbing is very popular in the best
known place in Piatra Craiului, Cheile Zarnestiului. This is also the most
popular tourism spot, since it is very accessible. One novelty we offer is
paragliding or motorized paragliding, an extreme sport which nevertheless has a
lot of fans.
During the
spring and autumn, most tourists come to watch wild animals in the forest,
being attracted mostly by large carnivores. There is a lot to do there in
winter too. For the last few years, cross-country skiing has become more and
more popular, and several trails can be found at the bottom of Piatra Craiului
mountain, which can also be covered with snowshoes. Stefan Balogy told us about
it:
We
recommend tourists to go to the National Park Visitors’ Center, a very
interesting interactive museum. There you can find a great presentation for the
entirety of the Piatra Craiului nature reserve, with state of the art means:
dioramas, video projections, and 3D projections. We also recommend a visit to
the Liberty Bear sanctuary, labeled by National Geographic Traveler as the most
ethical wildlife attraction in the world. It is the largest brown bear
sanctuary in the world. It was set up ten years ago by an association set up in
Brasov. 107 bears live on the over 100 ha of the reservation. They live
outdoors, not caged up. The entire area is open forest, surrounded by an
electric fence, with the bears roaming free. We have guided tours, and the
number of tourists is limited, in order to not disturb the animals in their
natural habitat. All the bears who make their home here are rescue animals who
used to be held in captivity in improper conditions. Now they have been rescued
and live there in very good conditions. Many celebrities have visited this place,
such as Brigitte Bardot, Natalie Imbruglia, Lionel Messi, Leonard Lewis, and
recently Evanna Lynch.
The Tourism
Information and Promotion Center is open every day of the week. You can also
access the visitzarnesti.ro website in order to get the latest weather data, as
well as information about available lodging.