Cheile Râmețului and Brâna Caprei: a circuit through the water

The Râmeț valley — also called the Geoagiu — cut through an old karst plateau to make this gorge in the Trascău mountains. The classic way to see it is a circuit: climb out on the Brâna Caprei ledge with dry feet, and come back down through the gorge itself, in the water, which is the only way to do it properly.

5–6 hours · Difficult · exposed ledge, then wading the gorge

• Circuit: 5–6 hours
• Route: Cabana Râmeț – gorge entrance – Brâna Caprei – Cheia village – back down the gorge in the water
• Difficulty: Difficult
• Gear: Grippy shoes for the ledge; water shoes and shorts for the gorge
• Water: 2 litres per person

Getting to the start

The access road is asphalt almost to Râmeț Monastery, then gravel that gets steadily worse up to the trailhead, where there is safe parking. Our car was low-slung so we left it at Cabana Râmeț and walked the 3 km of gravel — 45 minutes.

Cabana Râmeț is not on Google Maps. It is visible on Mapy.cz, and there is information about it on Carpati.org.

The waymarks and the timings

• Blue triangle and blue cross: gorge entrance to the start of Brâna Caprei — 15 minutes
• Blue triangle: Brâna Caprei to Cheia village — 1h30, 1.4 km, 74 m up, 71 m down
• Blue cross: Cheia village back down Cheile Râmețului — 2 hours, 1.9 km, 147 m up, 158 m down

A quarter of an hour into the gorge the waymarks split: the blue triangle goes right onto Brâna Caprei, the blue cross stays on the water. To get onto the ledge you cross the river and follow the blue triangle.

Footwear, honestly

We had no spare shoes or sandals, so we waded in our hiking boots. We ruled out going barefoot. Bring water shoes — it is the single thing that would have improved the day.

Part of our guide to hiking in Romania beyond Brașov and the Bucegi.