Our host for the stay in Cluj Napoca (n.a. in August 2016), came up with this awesome idea to visit Vadu Crisului Cave, located about 2 ½ hours by train from Cluj Napoca and accessible via two possible hiking routes. We have been wanting to check out the caves in the Padurea Craiului Mountains for a while, so I rapidly got involved in planning the day trip.

A bit of geography

Vadu Crisului Cave is located in Padurea Craiului Mountains. These are part of the Apuseni (Western) Mountains in Romania and span their north-west part, between Vlad-Borod and Beius Valleys. The Padurea Craiului Mountains span over about 1150 sq km and are located in Bihor County.

You can find info on the mountains, trails, as well as a map here.

Train to Vadu Crisului

We had access to car, but we have decided to opt for a less stressful alternative: the train. A quick search on http://infofer.ro/ and we found out our options for trains for Tuesday morning.

To search, go to: http://infofer.ro/ . Choose the date from the drop down list, fill in the departure and arrival stations (ATTN: it’s Vadu Crisului) and click “cauta trenuri”. The next page is the print screen below.

We decided on the 9:12 am train on TFC. And went to http://www.transferoviarcalatori.ro/ to run the search again to get the price. No English version again, but follow the exact steps as above to run the search. On the next page, scroll down until you see the info in the print screen below:

Tip: don’t buy the tickets online. We got them from the train station in Cluj Napoca and were slightly cheaper than the price on the website. Make sure to write down the departure / arrival time and check out the return trains as well.

Note: funnily enough, there are two names on the train station (Vadul Crisului and Vadu Crisului, the latter being the one which both websites use)

The hike to Vadu Crisului Cave

Before we set out for the train station in Cluj Napoca, we packed some food with us and water. We also made sure to have the bandanas handy since the weather was supposed to be amazing.

Since we decided on the 9:12 am train, we figured we should get to the station before 8:30 am so that we can find where to get tickets from and get them. A quick question at the info booth and we were direct to the Platform. Which is Platform 1, right before the underpass entrance.

I didn’t exactly like the cashiers attitude when I asked a question – where to get tickets from on the way back? – and she managed to ruin my morning.

By the time we were done with the tickets , questions and answers, the train was on the Platform (Platform 2) so we got in. Settled in seats only to find out that we didn’t have seat assignments , while others did. So we had to change seats. Thanks, this did wonders to my mood and what I thought about the private company.

We left the station on time. But on the way to Vadu Crisului , we were delayed quite a bit in a station. 10 min delay over all. So we got to the Vadu Crisului rail station at around 11:45 am. Right smack in the middle of the day when the heat wasn’t very friendly with us.

Next stage of the adventure: set our sat navs to get to the cave. The evening before I was looking at Google Maps and it estimated 59 min walk to the cave. Needless to say, when we asked a local they told us to make a left to get to the trail whereas sat nav told us to make a right. Great. Sat nav reconfigured the route and took us through the village. That was until before the Church and Town Hall. It told us to go right but locals told us to first go to the Town Hall and then make a right. And what do you know? The first sign pointing to the cave showed up! Awesome. From here on , we followed the signs.

Tip: there is an alternative route going along (or shall I say on?) the rail but I considered that way too dangerous for my liking and settled for the longer route through the village and the scenic trail.

At one point, right before you enter the Crisul Repede Gorge, there’s a board with the trails available in the area. We followed the signs towards the cave. On your right is the rail and on your left you will see a spring, marked by a blue dot. That water is drinkable, so you may take some with you if needed.

The road makes a right, crossing the rail and reaching a bridge. This is where you will see the red dot sign, marking the start of the trekking trail to Vadu Crisului Cave. It says about 30min (as it is an easy trek). Yeah, that’s when you don’t stop to take photos. Needless to say, it took us slightly longer to reach the cave.

When you enter the woods, there are quite a lot of boards with useful information, particularly for those who are not trekking that often. The info is in Romanian and Hungarian only.

The trekking trail is indeed easy and very well marked. I still recommend a sturdy pair of hiking boots and even trekking poles (we don’t have these yet). I don’t consider myself very fit, but I do walk as much as I can. For me, it was a nice and easy trek. FitBit considered the trek to the cave as exercise and I was 20 min in cardio mode hitting a max of 141 bpm.

The trail goes up a bit on the mountain, only to come down again and go along Crisul Repede (Fast Cris). You will see sections with chains fixed in the rock. We did use them for support in some places, just to be on the safe side.

When you see some deserted buildings , you are close to the entrance. They are now renovating two new buildings where the info point and guides are located. In the same area, you can camp and, of course, stop to eat.

Entrance is 5 lei / 1.25 USD for an adult. Every single article about visiting the cave says you cannot enter it without a guide. Not exactly. We were given one hour to explore and no guide. However, the cave is technically closed on Monday and Tuesday. So you may get a guide from Wednesday to Sunday.

Tip: bring a waterproof jacket with you. It’s 10C / 50F in the cave and very humid. The hotter it is outside, the worse you’ll feel the temperature difference.

Vadu Crisului Cave

It is one of the seven caves in the Apuseni Mountains and was rigged in the 20th century. It was discovered in 1903 and was also known as Zichy’s cave. The entrance to the cave is located 305 m up on the mountain. As early as 1905, the first wooden bridges were added so that tourists can explore the cave. In 1969, they rigged the cave with metal and concrete bridges and stairs. Electric lighting was also added for a length of about 600 m.

Near the cave there’s the waterfall with the same name. Follow the path by the old rescue center and instead of following the path to go back to Vadu Crisului, go on the path slightly to the right. It makes a drop to the river and there’s the waterfall.

After heavy rains, it is impossible to visit the cave, but the waterfall is a lot more beautiful.

The cave only has one gallery which , at times, it’s 20 m high. There are stairs going up and down, making for a good work out. Pay attention that if you are claustrophobic or have problems with heights, you may have issues with some of the sections. Only two parts of the cave can be visited, whereas the last one is completely submerged by the water and requires special equipment.

The cave has a colony of bats and you may see them fly by, as we did.

I got scared at times though I don’t have any problems with heights. It was slippery and damp so I was afraid my all terrains won’t do the trick (someone, ahem, left their boots at home). I also looked like a piglet once we were done. So, bring loads of wet wipes to clean you and your gear!

The hike back to Vadu Crisului

After we stopped to eat, we followed the same trail back. We met fellow travelers, along the way, many Hungarians and Italians. The trail was a lot more crowded when we left. At one point we considered following the rail for part of the walk (to avoid the village) but decided it was to dangerous, so took the longer walk, which, of course, meant, we missed the TFC train.

The train journey back to Cluj Napoca

For the return journey we had in mind two options: the 4:14 pm TFC train and the 4:43 pm SNTFC / CFR train. We ended up with the CFR train since we missed the TFC one by about 10 min.

Because there is no cashier in the Vadu Crisului station (or subsequent stops until Suncuius) , we got the tickets from the train. So I haggled a bit. Technically, there should be someone selling tickets at the station and we had to pay extra for not having tickets when we boarded. But, we did pay only the price shown on the website (13.5 lei / 3.37 USD for an adult).

Tip: if you take the CFR train , it stops at Pestera, which is right at the bottom of the cave. You just cross a brige and follow the trail up.

The train arrived slightly delayed – at 4:45 pm – and we were back in Cluj Napoca by 8:35 pm. Yup, it took a lot longer than the private one.

Gear you may need for this day trip

While special gear is not required, it is a good idea to be prepared for the hike.

Here’s what we suggest to bring:

• unisex lightweight hiking boots
• unisex lightweight waterproof jacket
• lightweight day pack
• water bottle
• lightweight hiking pols
• bandana

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