Why To Retire in Brasov, Romania - Outdoor Videos

An american friend of mine once told me he'd like to retire to a place where his US dollars are worth more. Well, biased as I am, I said: " Hey! Romania might be that place, you know!" or something like that.

So if you're looking for a place to retire, why not come to Romania for at least one year, just to experience what it has to offer.

If you love outdoor activities like trekking, mountaineering, climbing, paragliding and mountain biking there might be no better place to live in Romania than Brasov. The city is situated in the middle of the country and you're equally distant to all the other nice sites of Romania. Like Baile Herculane for instance.

Imagine that Romania is the size of a medium US state and has everything:

• high mountains with ski resorts (watch the video above - Postavaru Mountain & Poiana Brasov)
• picturesque hills
• flat plains
• seaside - Black Sea
• and Danube Delta - the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent

The climate is temperate continental with hot summers (30 °C / 86 °F)  and heavy winters with snow and frost (-15 °C / -22 °F). 

And if you're into culture then Brasov has a lot to offer as it's a medieval city with citadel walls and towers, the first Romanian school, fortified Germanic churches (made by Saxons), etc.

However my focus is on the outdoorsy beauties of Romania, hence my collection of outdoor adventure videos you can watch below. Also there's a sweet spot for snorkeling, cliff jumping and DWS climbing in Bulgaria, not very far from the Romanian border so that's a perk! :-)

What's the cost of living in Romania

Let me tell you this: with anything starting from $ 600 a couple can easily live in Brasov. Take $ 200 for rent (fully equipped studio apartment) and if you don't splash around too hard (clubbing and fancy restaurants) the rest should be enough for your monthly expenses.

PS - I forgot to mention that Brasov was voted the Most Beautiful City in Romania (by the readers of a national paper) and The Green Capital of Romania. 

Enjoy the videos!

Winter Mountaineering in Fgaras Mountains - Vistea Mare Ridge


Multi Picth Climbing with Two Students in Postavaru Mountain (Itvig Cliff - Animals Wall)


Multi Pitch Climbing in Piatra Craiului Mountain (Königstein)


Dowhill Mountain Biking in Postavaru Mountain


Zanoaga & Dragus Ridge - Moldoveanu Peak (Highest in Romania) - Fagaras Mountains


Winter Trekking and Barbecue in Piatra Mare Mountain


MTB Downhill Ride and Visit to the Grill


Hope to meet you in Brasov. Cheers!

One Place You Should Visit in Baile Herculane Hot Springs Resort - La Vanturatoare Waterfall

One thing you don't have to miss if you ever come to Baile Herculane, thermal water/hot spings resort in Romania, is the "La Vanturatoare" waterfall.

Of course the main attraction of the resort are the springs but if you're looking for peace and beautiful scenery, you won't find that at the springs... The hot (and sulphurous) water is the same as ever but the small pools in which you can bathe are rather ugly - made of concrete during the former communist regime. I believe the last time someone attended to them properly was before 1989.

That's sad since the spa had notable guests (kings and queens from all over Europe) since it was founded by Trajan Emperor.

Lots of architecturally beautiful buildings are in decay and while some parts of the resort look forgotten, one can tell that the place used to be a busy resort where the elite came for treatment and leisure.

Anyway - as an outdoor lover you may be more interested into climbing and trekking than in the resort as a city.

Speaking of that - the are is home to one of the most popular rock climbing contests in Romania - Herculane Climbing Open (HCO), developed by Alternative extreme sport club in Timisoara. There are tons of limestone crags all over the place, hence a great concentration of sport climbing routes (bolted).

⇩Click the Play Button to see the cool waterfall (min. 5:00) ⇩


Climbing and Trekking Video shot in Baile Herculane - April 2011


How to get to the waterfall

If you get to the resort by train, and don't have a car, then you have to walk about 11 km North on DN67 D road until reach a bridge (at the tail of the accumulation lake). Carrying a GPS device may help you so here are the approximate GPS coordinates of this point: 44°57'50.53'' N    22°29'03.22'' E    elevation 241 m.

From the bridge you have a 45 minutes light hike up to the waterfall on a marked footpath (red cross mark I guess...). Approximate coordinates of destination ("Vanturatoarea"): 44°57'59.27'' N    22°28'24.42'' E    elevation 693 m. See pictures below for location details on Google map.

Beware of vipers

Baile Herculane is also known to be teeming with vipers - especially during hot days. The climate is sub Mediterranean and this enables creatures as vipers and small scorpions to live here.

You can recognize them by the zig-zag line on their back and the triangle shaped head. Some of them have a small horn as well. Wear boots and long pants and watch your step to avoid any unpleasant contact with them. The emergency phone number to call in Romania is 112.

For more pictures with reptiles from Herculane area visit this link (the guys holding vipers in their hands seemed to know what they were doing but don't try to do it yourself...).

Happy trekking! (Boy, does this sound evil after all the viper talk...) :-)

Bungee Swing Video in Rasnoave Gorge

The first time I visited the site - Rasnoave Gorge, Rasnov, Romania - I was both amazed and challenged by the 150 m high limestone cliffs. I knew it was supposed to be scary to either climb or simply be at such heights but I also new I wanted to taste that fear. It was at the beginning of my boy scouting era, back then, and I was learning about climbing and the related outdoor activities which involved ropes, carabiners, harnesses and testosterone (I lacked testosterone in many cases).

When I first got the idea of a bungee swing, I decided to check out the cables by sliding on them and see how the void looks like. Needles to say I was pretty scared and wasn't so sure if I wanted the swing anymore...

This year (2009) we gathered for the "abuse of the bungee jumping cables" - the cables were fixed above the gorge by some extreme sports club which charges tourists who want to experiment fear and courage through bungee jumping. We were basically doing something forbidden - that's why we choose to be there in the middle of the week, in the afternoon when there were no tourists and, of course, no one from the administration of the bungee rigging.

I know that some of you watching may say we should have used pulleys instead of carabiners for sliding on the cables and maybe we should have used another type of rope system - and you may be right. The thing is we used what we had and the rope system was thought to be simple and secure (two ropes for the swing).

Because we we didn't have pulleys, it took us on average an hour per person to:

• leave the edge of the cliffs
• slide along the cables
• pass the carabiners over the connecting rods between the two cables - these rods keep the cables parallel
• get to the point of the swing ropes - I was the first so it took me a little more time as I had to do the rigging
• tie in the swing ropes
• slide more onto the cables till the swing ropes become horizontal and stretched
• disconnect the carabiners from the cables
• hang on the cables...
• drop for the swing - yooohooooo!
• try not to vomit because of the dangling
• climb back on the rope using a rope clamp, a four step foot loop and a Grigri
• get to the cables
• slide back onto the cables till I reach the edge of the cliff and inherently the ground, which I want to kiss and caress :-)

I can't say this is the most extreme experience I've had but it's worth giving it a go if you have the chance. You can try to do this on bridges and cranes as well.

We took it as a mental training for big wall or alpine climbing where you have to be relaxed and confident even when you can't find the next hold, being at hundred of meters above the ground. There was lots of fear but I believe that's normal... And, as you might guess, it was fun!

Video made in HD by Razvan Precup - professional photographer and cameraman. Looking forward for the rest - Pti's and Georgel's jumps and some pictures.

Go for the crazy outdoorsy stuff and be safe!