Surrounding area
Day trips from Alba Iulia
With a car and the free private parking on site, Alba Iulia is a good base for trips into the Apuseni and Trascău mountains and to the vineyards. Here are the finest destinations nearby.
Rimetea
A village in Alba County (Hungarian: Torockó), known for its traditional white houses with green shutters, dating from the 17th–19th centuries, carefully preserved by the community.
In 1999 it was the first village in Romania to be awarded the Europa Nostra Silver Medal for heritage conservation.
Piatra Secuiului
A limestone peak (Hungarian: Székelykő) rising to 1,128 m above the village of Rimetea, in the Trascău Mountains, prized for its rocky walls and hiking trails.
Owing to its position relative to the mountain, in Rimetea the sun appears to “rise twice”.
Colțești Citadel
The ruins of a medieval noble citadel raised on a crag near Colțești, close to Rimetea, built by the Thoroczkay family around the year 1296.
It was destroyed by the Austrian army in the early 18th century, as punishment for the owners’ opposition.
Râpa Roșie
A geological and botanical reserve of national interest, near Sebeș, with almost vertical walls of reddish sands and sandstones — a spectacular badlands landscape.
The walls reach 50–125 m in height, and the formations are dated to the Early Miocene.
Câlnic Citadel
A fortified peasant citadel in Câlnic, built in the 13th century in the Romanesque style around a keep, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1999.
It is the only Transylvanian monument on the UNESCO List that was not built around a church.
Iezerul Ighiel
A natural lake at around 924 m altitude in the Trascău Mountains, formed by the natural damming of a valley after a landslide; a nature reserve since 2000.
It is considered the largest karst lake in Romania.
The Trascău Mountains
Part of the Apuseni Mountains, between the Ampoi Valley and the Arieș Valley; renowned for their karst relief, with gorges, caves and limestone escarpments.
They are home to the Huda lui Papară Cave, which holds the largest bat colony in Romania.
Jidvei
A commune on the Târnava Mică, in the Târnave Wine Region — the largest wine-growing area in Transylvania, known for the Jidvei cellars and white wines.
Jidvei holds the largest single-owner vineyard in Romania, covering around 2,500 hectares.
The Apuseni Mountains
A mountain group in the Western Carpathians, with predominantly limestone relief; the highest peak is Cucurbăta Mare (Bihor Peak), 1,849 m.
In the Apuseni there are more than 400 caves, among them Scărișoara, with one of the largest underground glaciers in Europe.
Corvin Castle (Hunedoara)
A 15th-century Gothic castle in Hunedoara (around 1.5 hours from Alba Iulia), transformed by John Hunyadi after 1440; one of the most visited monuments in Transylvania.
It is one of the largest surviving medieval buildings in Romania.
Combine the city with a day trip.
With private parking on site, you have a quiet base by the Citadel for trips around the area.