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# Bușteni to Bran on foot: crossing the Bucegi in a day
- URL: https://hikingbeast.com/busteni-to-bran-bucegi-traverse/
- Published: 2026-10-03T17:55:42.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-03T19:09:50.000Z
- Description: 30 km and 2189 m of ascent from east to west across the Bucegi and down to Bran. Ten hours with a day pack, done from Bucharest and back by public transport.
- Author: Alex

This is a superb route: 30 km and 2189 m of climbing, crossing the Bucegi from east to west and then turning north-west down to Bran. It could be the first leg of something much longer — from Bran you can continue over the Măgurile Branului into Piatra Craiului, cross that ridge to Plaiul Foii, and pick up the red stripe that runs along the whole Făgăraș ridge.

We did it as a single day, leaving Bucharest in the morning and sleeping there the same night, entirely on public transport.

**30 km · 2189 m up, 2310 m down · 10 hours with a day pack · Medium, apart from the Jepii Mici climb, which is technically harder**

- **Distance:** 30 km
- **Ascent:** 2189 m up, 2310 m down
- **Time:** 10 hours with a day pack
- **Difficulty:** Medium, apart from the Jepii Mici climb, which is technically harder
- **Season:** **Summer conditions only**
- **Route:** Bușteni station – Jepii Mici – Cabana Caraiman – Cabana Babele – Peștera – Valea Doamnele – Refugiul Bătrâna – Stâna Guțanu – Poiana Gaura – Șaua Polițe – Poarta – Bran

![Starting up Jepii Mici](https://hikingbeast.com/content/images/2026/10/ghost-22236528c6f0-jepii-mici.jpg)

Starting up Jepii Mici

⚠️

**This route passes several shepherd folds — Doamnele, Guțanu, Gaura. The guard dogs in the Romanian Carpathians can be aggressive and will approach walkers; shepherds have trouble calling them off. Factor this in.**

## When to go

The **end of May** avoids both hazards at once: the snow has gone, so there is no avalanche risk, and the sheep have not yet been brought up to the high folds, so the guard dogs are not there either. It is a narrow window.

## The day, with real times

This is exactly how ours ran, and it is the useful part of this page:

- **07:08** train from Bucharest Gara de Nord
- **08:36** arrive Bușteni
- **09:00** start climbing Jepii Mici
- **18:30** reach the bus stop in Bran
- **18:40** bus from Bran to Brașov, arriving at Autogara 2 — which is 3 km from the railway station, so take a taxi or an Uber across
- **20:33** train from Brașov back to Bucharest

Check current timetables before you rely on any of that — ours was a real day, not a published schedule.

![The Bran to Brașov bus timetable](https://hikingbeast.com/content/images/2026/10/ghost-6372d5ed8c38-autobuze-bran-brasov.jpg)

The Bran to Brașov bus timetable

## The walking

The climb out of Bușteni on **Jepii Mici** is the technical crux — steep, exposed, chained and laddered. Everything after it is medium difficulty: the plateau by Caraiman and Babele, down past Peștera into Valea Doamnele, the Bătrâna refuge, then the long traverse west past the folds and down through Poiana Gaura and Șaua Polițe to Poarta and Bran.

![Bușteni to Bran](https://hikingbeast.com/content/images/2026/10/ghost-f12ca4c3ef3d-busteni-batrana-bran-1.png)

Bușteni to Bran

## If you would rather take two days

Sleep at Babele or the Bătrâna refuge and split it. The route is the same and you get the plateau at dawn, which is the part worth slowing down for.

*Part of our guide to* [*hiking from Bușteni*](https://hikingbeast.com/hiking-from-busteni-bucegi/)*.*

🇷🇴

**Căutați în română?** Acest traseu este descris pe larg, cu mai multe fotografii și track GPS, pe [greuladeal.ro](https://www.greuladeal.ro/busteni-batrana-bran/?ref=hikingbeast.com).  
Looking for the Romanian version? This route is written up in full, with more photos and a GPS track, at [greuladeal.ro](https://www.greuladeal.ro/busteni-batrana-bran/?ref=hikingbeast.com).