The western edge of the Southern Carpathians is lesser known to foreign tourists despite offering plenty for everyone. Boasting a wide variety of sights, we consider it the hidden gem of our portfolio.
We'll ride a bike and a boat through the Iron Gates, the Danube's Big Boilers, then turn north and visit Băile Herculane, the favourite resort of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. In the second part of the week we'll turn onto more quiet roads and stop over by the mills of Eftimie Murgu, the world-famous Bigăr waterfall and capping it all off with a train ride on the Banat's Semmering, the Oravița-Anina railway.
This tour is also one of our hub and spoke tours, which means it's accessible to non-riding partners and friends as well!
Price includes: accommodation for 5 nights in pensions; meals (5 breakfasts, 6 lunches, 5 dinners); bike rentals and helmets; luggage transportation; entrance fees; English/German speaking local guide.
Doesn't include: your flight, airport transfer, insurance, personal expenses.
We will transfer to the start of our tours from Timișoara, where you can spend a day before or after the trip.
Our trip starts in Moldova Veche, where we will hop on a boat and ferry across to Ostrov Island to see the wild horses living free on the island. We will hop on our bikes back on the mainland and head east along the Danube. We will transfer to our night quarters in Dubova by minibus.
From Dubova, we will head south along the Danube through the Iron Gates, a series of gorges stretching along the border of Romania and Serbia. Our riding ends at Tri Kule, ruins of a 15th-century fortress, now emerging from the Danube.
For the second part of the day, we will transfer back to Dubova and take a boat from the sculpture of Decebal to the Veterani Cave. We will hike through the cave and up the Ciucarul Mare hills for the most splendid views of the Iron Gates.
From Dubova, we will transfer to Băile Herculane, a town which used to be the favourite spa of the Habsburgs and one that has seen better days. Those who feel adventurous can visit some of the derelict baths.
After lunch, we will ride 18 kilometres north to the entrance of the Țâsnei Gorge, a prime location of Mediterranean Banat edged by rugged cliffs and rare black pine trees. After this short trek, you relax in one of Băile Herculane's roadside thermal baths.
We will start the day in the village of Petnic and hit the dirt roads for the first time. This journey through the hills will showcase the beauty of the Banat countryside. We will arrive at Eftimie Murgu before lunch, home of the Rudăria water mills. 22 mills are still operational today and are maintained by local families.
Our final riding day will take us into the Cheile Nerei - Beușnița National Park, where we will visit the Ochiul Beiului lake. Because of its clear, blue-green colour, the lake looks straight out of a fairytale. However, it gets its magical colour from the underground spring that feeds it.
From the lake, we will take two short hikes — one to the Beușnița waterfall and another to the gorge of the Nera river. The path through the canyon takes us through a series of tunnels carved into the limestone, making one feel like part of a western!
No riding today; instead, we will transfer to Oravița in the morning. After a short visit to the old theatre, we will hop on the train towards Anina. This stretch is 33 kilometres long and takes 2 hours to complete. Because of the many twists and turns, tunnels and viaducts, the Oravița-Anina railway is dubbed Banat's Semmering.
Our trip ends in Anina from where we will transfer you back to Timișoara.
