Prahova Valley has a bad rep because of the fact that it easily accessible by car and is therefore filled with buffaloes. This is very unfortunate as the area is incredibly beautiful. To prove this, I submit to you the following pics taken in the surroundings of the Pestera Village, near Moeciu, Brasov, Romania:
The village also has a church under construction, but very well signaled (two villages in advance):
Should you be interested to see this village for yourself, you have to start in Moeciu, and, coming from Bran, turn right and climb on top of the hill. You could also come from Zarnesti, go towards Prapastiile Zarnestilor and turn left at Fantana lui Botorog. This alternative has the advantage of first taking you to Magura village, and then on some dirt roads up to Pestera (more softroading).
Given that this is actually a village, the roads should be cleared and maintained at all times, so it would probably be no problem to go there in wintertime too (which will give you even more interesting photo opportunities).
If you happen to like these photos or find interesting the places that I show, please feel free to get free updates via RSS or by email.
PS: if anyone knows a way in which I could share KML files with you on this blog, please inform me. It would really add value to the information…
My Journey into the World 
check with the locals before attempting to reach pestera by snow, because some of my friends tried that a few years ago and had to park about 5 km away and be taken to their accomodations by a local guy with a 4×4.
it might’ve changed over these years, but still 🙂
also very nice place and if you are into mountain climbing there’s a nice ascent to Piatra Craiului aside from the regular zarnesti-plaiu foii route. (as far as I’ve been told 😛 )
Yup, if the snow is fresh you will need 4×4 traction :-), and probably some ground clearance. But being quite a big village, I imagine that they make some efforts to clean the roads so people can bring food to the local stores.
As for the ascent to Piatra Craiului, I have heard about it three times already, but there seems to be some serious rockcrawling involved…
I also am a bit afraid of the fact that there is a national reservation and that the fines are HUGE (think 3000 RON = EUR 700 ) if you happen to put your wheels outside the marked territory ….
nice ‘surroundings’ as far as i remember…
Yes indeed!
Ever since I went up there for the first time I wanted to go back, because, as you probably remember, there was some mud on a descent, and I did not have the courage to go down, not being certain that the car would make it back.
And the road from Zarnesti to Magura and then Pestera (and the Sirnea) is shown on the MOL road atlas with white/grey which means you never know what you will find.
It’s another reason I wanted to get a real 4×4 – to never ask myself if a road on the map would damage my car…
As long as you can embed html code ( ) you can embed google maps into your website (something like this: http://vestaudit.ro/harta.htm ).
PS: looks like html code is censored even if used without “<", what i meant is "As long as you can embed html code ( i.f.r.a.m.e )"
Great pictures (especially the first one) and great surrounding. As for the climbing, both the ascents are very difficult and only for experienced climbers in very good shape (chains and staff).
I think we may be talking about different ascents, because I have heard about “mine” from people that have done it by car…