What do you do when you are in Cluj-Napoca you have a gorgeous Sunday on your hands?

Accept your cousin’s idea to go on Iara Valley for a day trip and stop for coffee at Lara Pension.

That’s exactly what we’ve done on a Sunday (a.n. in 2016), except we have an orange juice (freshly squeezed), and Alex had coffee.

How to get to Iara Valley from Cluj-Napoca

The travel time to the area (we stopped at Lara) is about 40-50 min from Cluj Napoca. About 50km from the train station. Unfortunately you do need a car as the public transportation is not exactly easy to figure out. We’ve seen some buses but none go near the pension.

We did find a parking spot easily, although the pension’s restaurant was very busy. We arrived around lunchtime so the queues and cooking times were both long. That’s when we thanked ourselves we decided to eat at home and only pop here for coffee/juice before the hike.

The place does look amazing. And that also means the prices are on the high side for …everything. Check out the website if you plan to stay at the pension. Prices start at 160 lei // USD 40.30 (breakfast included) for a double room per night.

The coffee Alex had was 8 lei / USD 2 and the orange juice 13 lei / USD 3.2 . The food prices were high but the place is in a remote location.

Having had our fix and visited the (only) toilet in the restaurant’s area, we decided to go up on a trail which started from the pension. It is called “Cararea Grofului” and it is not that hard, only that you do need good shoes. My “all terrains” were decent but I didn’t have any climbing sticks so we only walked a bit.

Then once we came back from the trail, we started off in the opposite direction (from Cluj) and walked to the river. By the way: a lot of trails are available and they are well marked, just make sure you have the appropriate gear.

We did come for the area and hiking so of course, this is not a review of the pension. Nor of its restaurant.

Booking.com

I do highly recommend the area to spend time in nature. You can pack a picnic basket and just find a spot in the woods. It is serene and wild. With many trails to follow, you can spend several days here and if you don’t want to stay at Lara, there are rooms for rent directly from the locals. Just take a look at the signs at their doors.