Following the trip to Transalpina, Romania, which is considered to be one of the most beautiful roads not only in the country but in Europe as well, not far from the initial trip when you follow the road from Sebes DN 67C, at about 10 miles from Obarsia Lotrului on the road 7A, there is this stunning massive Lake called “Vidra Lake” resulted from the construction of Vidra Dam.
I had the opportunity to visit the lake many times as it is not that far from my natal town in Romania. The trip to get there is pretty straightforward if you follow the Transalpina pathway.
The road is most accessible during the summer.
During the winter, the snow can be even a few meters high, whereas also Transalpina is closed for about 9-10 months during the year for the very same reason.
But to get to the lake, you won’t have to travel too high up the mountains, which makes the road a bit more accessible, usually from the late spring until mid or late autumn. I even was once in March, and the snow was not so bad. For more information, you may want to follow the local travel guidelines to see the best dates to visit and the opening times for local restaurants and hotels.
The locals mainly recognize the lake as a fantastic place for fishing. Access to water can be done through a few entrances (paid) and, furthermore, a few areas you can enter for free.
There are not too many places with access to the lake because of the very dense forest extending along the lake’s edge for miles and miles. It is a bit tricky to access the water, but all possible.
There are instead more than a few places where the road goes at a higher altitude than the lake, with the ability to view a stunning landscape.
The road to the Vidra Lake
As to getting to the lake, there are a few roads that you can follow depending on the direction you come:
– As coming from Petrosani, follow road 7A for about 20 miles (more or less) until you reach Obarsia Lotrului. The road will take you through “Cheile Jietului,” and a few stunning rocky cliffs along the way could be seen with high waterfalls and a stream crossing along the way.
The road is not very smooth; therefore, lower gears should be used if coming the above mention way. At a point, you will go up the hills for a few miles with about 10-15% inclination before reaching the peak of a high hill. Afterward, it will only go down towards Obarsia Lotrului.
If coming from Petrosani, the intersection before Obarsia Lotrului (a mile before), if taking a right, will take you to the main Transalpina road. But in this case, we go forward and keep the road. From that area to the lake is part of “Obarsia Lotrului”.
– Another way to reach the lake is coming through Transalpina from Novaci towards Sebes and following the road as mentioned earlier from the intersection from 67C to 7A.
– You are also able to come from Sebes or to follow the lesser-known road DN7 to DN7A from the East.
Therefore, to sum this up, you can arrive at the lake from each side.
What to do at the Vidra Lake, Romania
Did you know that from the lake, you are able to access the Ski Resort Transalpina? Beware that you may find difficulties arriving with a standard car if you take those roads during the winter. A 4-wheel drive with winter tires and snow chains would be recommended for the trip during the winter, as it is also required by the law (winter tires and tire chains).
However, during the summer, that is another story. Are you a fan of fishing? That would be the main attraction point for the locals. The prices for access are not that high (around £5 for the day), which will give you specific access to the sides of the lake where the roads are blocked with gates.
There are hotels such as Pensiunea Sidharta Resort and Obarsia Lotrului, where prices are accessible. I am not sure about renting a boat for a trip on the lake, where you may be able to get that; therefore, further research may be indicated.
You can also take on-foot trips through the forests and explore exceptional mother nature. There are more than a few things you are able to do there.
There are also seasons for mushroom gathering from the forests (you need to know the comestible mushroom species if you want to do that) – but I really doubt coming all this way to the lake, and you go in the forests to collect mushrooms…
My experience, my stories at the Vidra Lake.
I can say that I had lovely experiences traveling there many times; however, most of the time, fishing is allowed (indicated is to check the fishing season online and the local law for fishing), but you will have to pay a fee to be able to fish. Camping is allowed with no fees.
Barbeques, overnight camping, and the lake are impressive in hosting all that. The temperatures during hot summers may reach around 30 degrees Celsius compared to other regions where it can top even 40 degrees or more. When you are too hot to be outside, this place may chill you down 🙂
The water temperature is pretty low, even during the summer.
The forests are so dense that you can easily get lost in them. The air is chilly there, but you may find a lot of mosquitos around.
As for wild animals, to my knowledge, there have been no bears reported in the area for a long time, but they are not excluded from being present in the area.
While I like promoting local tourism, I am not affiliated with any of the hotels or places I mentioned, and I share this place based on my experience of visiting many times.
From the ski resort, you are able to see the whole lake and the stunning landscape like never before. Unfortunately, I have never been to the ski resort. Therefore, I don’t have any images to share. What I can do, is point to the Google Maps album where people visiting shared tons of images from the sky resort. Link HERE (external)
All the images are also captured by me, incl. the drone shots. (Gabriel Mihalcea, Lovelyscape).
This article was originally published by me (on travelfeed.io and HIVE and was removed, edited & published here.
p.s. Vidra Lake is NOT to be confused with Vidraru Lake – those are two different lakes in two different parts of the country with no connection in between.