Piatra Craiului Mountains

Piatra Craiului Mountains
height	2238 m
location	Romania
Mountains	Carpathians
Coordinates	45 ° 32 ′ 0 ″ N , 25 ° 13 ′ 0 ″ E Coordinates: 45 ° 32 ′ 0 ″ N , 25 ° 13 ′ 0 ″ E

The Piatra Craiului Mountains ( German Königsteingebirge , Romanian Munții Piatra Craiului , Hungarian Királykő-hegység ) is a mountain range consisting of Jurassic limestone in central Romania , not far from the city of Brașov . It is a sub-mountain range of the Southern Carpathians and is located near the Carpathian Angle on the territories of the Brașov and Argeș counties ; to the west are the Făgăraş and Iezer mountains , to the east the Leaota and Bucegi mountains .

location

Munții Piatra Craiului in Romania

The approximately 25 km long ridge runs perpendicular to the main ridge of the Southern Carpathians in a north-south direction. The highest peak is the Vârful La Om (also Piscul Baciului , German: "Hirtenspitze", 2,238 m). Especially to the west, the mountains drop very steeply. The rock favored the formation of a large number of caves and the growth of a considerable variety of plants; there is also a vital population of large carnivores ( wolves , bears ).

The Piatra Craiului Mountains have been protected in the form of a national park on an area of 148 km ² since 1990 . Supported by a World Bank project , a national park administration based in Zărneşti has existed since 1999 . In spring 2007, the construction of a new visitor center started in this place, which was opened in 2016. Entrance to the park costs 5 lei per person (around 1.10 euros) for seven days.

The region is well developed for tourism; there is a dense network of hiking trails and several mountain huts and refuges.