Cheile Bicazului (Bicaz Gorge) are located in the Oriental Carpathians and represent the connection between Moldova and Transilvania. The gorge is the result of Bicaz and its tributary creeks that over time carved this spectacular canyon inside the mountain. The twisted road that goes across Cheile Bicazului (Bicaz Gorge) starts in Bicazul Ardelean village and ends at the entrance in Lacul Rosu Resort. Along the road there are many rocky formations but the most famous are: “Piatra Altarului” stone of 1120 m, “Piatra Pintesilor” stone of 847 m, “Piatra Arsitei” Stone of 835 m, “Piatra Surducului” Stone and “Politele Bardosului” Stone.

Autumn sceneries in Cheile Bicazului, Neamt County

Now, the real attractions of this natural monument are represented by the limestone walls that guard the road with their massive proportions. The water flows noisy through pointy rocks. The trees are slowly losing their last leaves and form an orange, red and rusty carpet. The beauty and the massive stone walls of Cheile Bicazului makes you feel small in front of nature.

Once you reach Cheile Bicazului make sure you don’t leave until you see Bicajel Valley where is located Bicajel village. This is a place where small traditional houses are scatter on the surrounding hills in spectacular scenery. It’s like looking at a painting where everything is placed perfectly to create a great composition. This is a place where if you have a photo camera you just have to press click and you’ve got a great photo.

An outdoor walk in Cheile Bicazului is a perfect opportunity to enjoy these last days of autumn with their incredible colors and to lose some stress. Leave all your worries behind and go visit this spectacular place: Cheile Bicazului.

Cheile Bicazului is a place that waits you to discover it: wild sceneries are hidden behind tall stone walls that seem to touch the sky. The narrow space between the 200 m stone walls, the twisted road, the waterfalls, numerous caves are forming this incredible place from Romania called Cheile Bicazului.

With a minimum effort you can look at Cheile Bicazului from above. The top of Suhardul Mic Peak is a panoramic point from where you can admire the entire surrounding area. You can see the road twisting like a snake through the big stone walls, the road Drumul Surducului, Bicajel Valley and Cheile Bicajelului. You can also see the surrounding peaks like Suhardul Mare and Hasmasul Mare. The great Ceahlau Mountain looks at you from far away and yet it seems so close because of its impressive proportions.

The hiking route that goes to Suhardul Mic (1344,5 m) is marked with blue triangle and has a length of 3 km. the trail is well taking care of and with minimum effort in about an hour you’ll be on top of the peak looking down to the beauties that nature created in Cheile Bicazului.

Crossing the street, the hiking route starts with a red triangle marking. After a short steep hike you reach the first waterfalls created by Lapos Creek. Because of these waterfalls this route has a great photographic potential. So if you have a passion for nature photography then grab your tripod and head for Lapos Canyon to shoot these small but spectacular waterfalls.

After a while, the trail goes up to a panoramic point. From here we descent to the last portion of the Canyon, near Bardos Stone. Of course that this is also a good place to take photos of the whirling water or the vertical stone walls that surrounds you.

Once you exit the canyon, the trail will take you up to the haystacks that belong to Barnadu Village, an isolated community that lives behind the stones from Cheile Bicazului. The route goes to the left on a barren hill and reaches Saua Cupas from where you can admire the incredible view: Suhardul Mic Peak, Suhardul Mare Peak and Hasmasul Mare Peak.

When descending you have two options: either you chose to return on the red dot markings or on the red cross markings. If you chose the first option the trail will take you where you started but if you chose the red cross marking then you’ll reach a forest road (or dirt road), from where you’ll make a left and finally intersect the national road that goes through Cheile Bicazului, few hundred meters away from the point where you left the car.

Your effort to make this hiking route from Cheile Bicazului will be rewarded by the waterfalls from Lapos Creek and the spectacular view from Saua Cupas. The time to make this route is somewhere between 3 and 4 hours. During winter this route is very difficult to make.

Cheile Bicazului – the Stone “Piatra Altarului” – Lapos Canyon – the Stone “Piatra Bardos” – the Haystacks from Cupas – Saua Cupas (markings: red triangle). The descent is made on red dot markings. At some point the trail splits: to the left it continues on red dots and on the right on red cross. You can choose any option. The red dot will take you where you started and the red cross will take you a couple hundred meters from the place where you left the car.

Marking: red triangle
Time to make the route: 2 hours
Distance: 4 km
Level differences: 411 m, an easy route to make all year long

The hiking route starts from DN 12 C, which goes through Cheile Bicazului, at the point where the forest road Bicajel starts. The trail goes up in the forest in a slow slope and before it reaches Piatra Rosie it becomes abrupt and full of stones. The trail becomes a little harder to make but the scenery makes your effort worth it.

After that, the trail goes back into the forest and you follow the red triangle until you reach Ghilgos Plane. The trail wriggles through tall firs heavy with snow: your eye catches all sorts of wonderful details of nature. Once you reach the plane the entire valley is at your feet.

You go through the plane and after a while we reach the belvedere point: Piatra Ghilgos, 1378 m. From here you can see all the surrounding peeks from Cheile Bicazului. This hiking route is accessible all year long but during winter it’s best to have full equipment because of the heavy snow.

Marking: red triangle, from Saua Cupaşului red circle
Time to make the route: 3 hours
Distance: 5 km
Level difference: 425 m, difficult to make during winter

During winter this hiking route is difficult to make and we recommend full equipment in order to enjoy the beauty of the mountain fully secured.

The route starts at km 29 from the National Road 12C and the markings are red triangles (the starting point is localized right after the tunnel exit, on the first parking on the right). From the start, you’ll be facing the mountain, climbing on a narrow trail between tall firs. Your efforts are quickly reworded by a spectacular frozen waterfall on Lapos Creek.

We are now in Lapos Canyon: on our left, along the trail, we can see Cupas Rock – on the right Lapos Creek with small waterfalls bordered by an enormous rock wall. After a while the hiking becomes easier and soon we leave the canyon behind us.

The route goes now to La Sodron where there are some hay storehouses of local villagers. From here, the trail continues to the left towards Saua Cupas, the last hiking portion of this route. On top of this hill there is a belvedere point to the surrounding peeks, the most well known being Suhardul Mare (1504,2 m) and Suhardul Mic (1344,5 m).

The descent will be made by way of the red circle marking. From Saua Cupas you’ll go to the left until you reach the forest. There the trail continues until the intersection with the forest road, which is easy to recognize by the electric poles. At this intersection, go left and you’ll continue to walk until you reach the National Road DN 12C, a couple of hundred of meters from the starting point.

The road from Piatra Neamt to Cheile Bicazului is like a photo album, where you can admire the genious of nature on winter and the beauty of the scenery. The white coat that shines on the hills and forests, the white carpets that covers the planes, the simple beauty of villages scattered on the hills sourind the road, all these accompany you until you reach the gate that enters the Cheile Bicazului.

From here you seem to walk alone through the rocks and through the icy cold. It seems that you entered a fairytale land where time stopped to look at the beauty of these places. Only the wind flies through the trees covered in sugar, leaving behind it a trail of white snow. Together with it, there is the roar of the water that fights its way through icy shores.

Winter has completely covered the rocks from the Cheile Bicazului. A lace of ice covers the rocks in incredible shapes of different colors and sizes. From place to place, where the sun rays manage to get down to the road you seem to witness a desperate try to revive all: the sun seems to try and melt the ice and to awaken the sleepy nature.

The view is more and more spectacular as you go and finally you reach the top. Here you discover a lake covered in snow and ice. Only the trees that break the ice reminds us that under the ice there is a lake where on the summer time you can take a walk with a rented boat.

The time slowly passes by and the hours that we spend admiring the beauty of the nature seem to fly. Only the cold that entered our bones determines us to get back in the car and return to Piatra Neamt where we’ll stop for a mug of mulled wine and to talk about what we’ve seen.