Camino de România 4

At a glance

• Start / finish: Potlogi, Palatul Brâncovenesc (branching off the Camino de România 2) / Tălmaciu, Podu Olt station (connection to the Camino de România 1)
• Length: 215.5 km
• Duration: 11 stages, avg. 19.6 km (Camino Ninja division); shortest 8.5 km, longest 29.2 km
• Elevation: ↗ 2,939 m / ↘ 2,709 m — net plus 230 m, almost all of it in stages 9 to 11
• Highest point: 1,775 m on the western flank of the Făgăraș on the final stage between Câinenii Mici and Turnu Roșu; lowest point 135 m in Potlogi
• Stages: 11 — Camino Ninja system; the association publishes neither stages nor GPX for this route
• Landscape: Wallachian Plain, plum orchards of Topoloveni, Argeș valley, ridge to the Țara Loviștei, western flank of the Făgăraș (1,775 m) down to Turnu Roșu
• Waymarking: not documented on this route — the association's efforts in 2023–2025 were on other routes; GPS essential
• Traces of St James: stained-glass window of St James in the church of Sf. Petru și Pavel, Pitești (from the Bărăția in Câmpulung, association's information) — otherwise none on the route; before it the Bărăția in Câmpulung (Camino de România 2), after it the shell finds of Sibiu (Camino de România 1); 40 km off-route the Orthodox St James church of Râmnicu Vâlcea (2025)
• Accommodation: no pilgrim hostel; guesthouses and hotels in Găești, Pitești, Curtea de Argeș, Tălmaciu; thin between Șuici and Câinenii Mici
• Connecting routes: Camino de România 2 in Potlogi, Camino de România 1 in Tălmaciu
• Connection to Santiago: none — beyond Borș there are no routes through Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria
• Best time: May to October; the mountain section needs snow-free weeks, the plain does not tolerate high summer

Overview

This route is a single sentence, verified on foot. „De la Curtea de Argeș pelerinii urmau vechiul drum comercial către Sibiu prin depresiunea Loviștei, pe valea Oltului" — from Curtea de Argeș the pilgrims followed the old trade road to Sibiu, through the Loviște depression, in the Olt valley — wrote Ion Nicolae, professor of geography, sixteen-time Santiago pilgrim and president of the association, in 2024 in his case for a Romanian Camino. The Camino de România 2 represents the documented route of 1385 via Câmpulung and Bran; the Camino de România 4 is the western variant of the same corridor. It begins in Potlogi at a palace that Voivode Constantin Brâncoveanu inaugurated in 1699 for his son, runs 121 flat kilometres through maize fields and plum orchards — in Topoloveni they have been cooking since 1914 the plum jam that in 2011 became the first Romanian product to receive EU protection — and reaches in Curtea de Argeș the first capital of Wallachia: the Biserica Domnească of 1365–1369, the relics of St Philothea, killed in 1219, Neagoe Basarab's monastery of 1517 and the graves of Carol I, Ferdinand, Mihai and their queens.

Then it tips. Beyond Sălătrucu the track climbs over a ridge to a good 800 metres and drops into the Țara Loviștei, where Perișani celebrates the Battle of Posada (9–12 November 1330) every year, a battle whose site historians still cannot place. At Câinenii Mici you meet the Olt — and leave it again at once: the final stage climbs on tourist-marked trails over the western flank of the Făgăraș to 1,775 metres, the highest point of the route, and only returns to the valley at Turnu Roșu, where the Defileul Turnu Roșu ends — the gorge itself you do not walk. At Podu Olt station near Tălmaciu, the „Olt Bridge“ where Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Romania joined their tracks in 1901, the Camino de România 1 takes over. To be honest, this is the least developed of the seven Romanian Caminos: no documented waymarking, no hostel, a ten-hour mountain day without a hut at the end, and beyond Oradea no route to Santiago. What there is, is a sentence from a footnote — and 215.5 kilometres that test it.

Other names

The route is called Camino de România 4 — the numbering of the seven Romanian Caminos has been agreed with the association that runs them, with whom we show these pages in cooperation. On its website the association organises by county and publishes six county GPX tracks; for this route those would be Camino Dâmbovița, Camino Argeș, Camino Vâlcea and Camino Sibiu — of these only „Camino Argeș" with 37.37 kilometres is published, and the elevation profile and marking reports suggest that this track lies on the Camino de România 2 between Câmpulung and Rucăr, not here. For the Camino de România 4 the association has neither GPX nor stages. It calls the overall project Camino de România.

The second half of the name needs explaining: Podu Olt is not a village but a railway station — literally „Olt bridge", the station at the exit of the gorge on the territory of the municipality of Turnu Roșu, two and a half kilometres east of Tălmaciu, where the Olt valley railway branches south from the Sibiu–Brașov main line. The route ends in the town of Tălmaciu, German Talmesch; our route data name the destination as Tălmaciu (Podu Olt), the town and in brackets the transport hub that gives it its name. The pass itself carries four names with one meaning: Pasul Turnu Roșu, Roter-Turm-Pass, Vöröstoronyi-szoros, Kızılkule Geçidi. And Turnu Roșu, German Rothenturm, was formerly called Porcești.

Who it's for – and who it's not for

Ideal if you want to read Romanian history on foot: a voivode's palace of 1699 at the start, the first capital of Wallachia in the middle, the battlefield of a founding myth on the ridge, a Roman fort and an Austro-Hungarian border station at the finish — over 215 kilometres. Ideal if you like mixed terrain: 121 kilometres of plain as a run-up, five hill and mountain stages with almost 3,000 metres of climb, and to finish the flank of the Făgăraș to 1,775 metres in a single day. Ideal for anyone coming up the Camino de România 2 from the Danube who would rather turn west in Potlogi than towards Bran — and for anyone who wants to walk backwards from Sibiu airport into Wallachia in ten days.

To be honest, it is not for you if you expect Camino infrastructure: no waymarking is documented on this route — the association's work parties of 2023 to 2025 were in Bacău, Iași, Neamț, Harghita, Covasna, Brașov, Bihor and on the Argeș section of Camino de România 2 — and the network's two hostels, Casa Genoveva in Câmpulung and Casa Mărioara in Șirnea, are also on Camino de România 2. Not for you if you cannot stand traffic: the flat stages run in places along national roads. Not for you if you don't want a long mountain day: the final stage from Câinenii Mici to Tălmaciu measures 29.2 kilometres over the western flank of the Făgăraș to 1,775 metres, about ten hours, no hut, water only from springs — the association says so itself. Not for you between Șuici and Câinenii Mici if you don't book ahead — three beds on which the whole route's planning hangs. And not for you if you want to arrive in Santiago: the association itself calls the east of Europe „o pată albă în partea răsăriteană a continentului“, a white spot. Gaps like these you plan away beforehand, not on the way.

Route & landscape

You start at 135 metres in Potlogi, in front of the Palatul Brâncovenesc — begun in 1698, inaugurated in October 1699 on the feast of St Demetrius, the first of four palaces Constantin Brâncoveanu built for his sons. The first 121 kilometres to Curtea de Argeș are Wallachian Plain and hill country: maize fields, rows of poplars, village streets. Via Crovu, Tomșani and Mogoșani to Găești, via Voia and Leordeni to Topoloveni, where the plums for the magiun grow on around 17,000 hectares, through Călinești and Ștefănești to Pitești, first named in a charter of 20 May 1386 — in it Voivode Mircea cel Bătrân gives a mill to Cozia monastery, which lies in the Olt gorge you reach 105 kilometres later. From Pitești the route follows the Argeș upstream via Bascov, Vâlcelele and Băiculești to Curtea de Argeș, where it has its centre.

Then it gets serious. Beyond Șuici and Sălătrucu the track leaves the Argeș valley and climbs via Poiana, Surdoiu and Pripoare over a ridge — a good 800 metres, forest and pasture — and down into the Țara Loviștei, the mountain basin between Făgăraș and Cozia, with Perișani, Boișoara and Greblești. At Câinenii Mici you meet the Olt — until 1918 the border between the Kingdom of Romania and Austria-Hungary ran here — and here the real mountain begins: instead of entering the Defileul Turnu Roșu, whose valley floor belongs to river, railway, DN 7 and motorway works, the route climbs east of the Olt over the western flank of the Făgăraș, on tourist-marked hiking trails (red cross and other signs) to 1,775 metres, the highest point of the route, then drops through forest and pastures to Turnu Roșu, where the gorge ends — 29 kilometres, about ten hours, no hut, water from springs. The last three kilometres lead to Tălmaciu at around 365 metres, where the Sadu meets the Cibin. Surface: farm tracks and village asphalt in the plain, forest tracks in the Loviște, mountain paths on the Făgăraș flank. Nothing is exposed — the difficulty is length, altitude in one day, solitude and navigation.

Stages, terrain & difficulty

We divide the route into 11 stages averaging 19.6 kilometres — Camino Ninja system, because the association publishes neither stages nor GPX for Camino de România 4; externally attested are only the four counties it works in: Dâmbovița, Argeș, Vâlcea and Sibiu. The kilometres come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to the 215.5 kilometres of our route data; the association confirmed the course of the final stage in September 2026. Difficulty: stages 1 to 7 flat to hilly, stage 9 a ridge at a good 800 metres, and then the final stage — 29.2 kilometres, 1,775 metres, the whole mountain in one day.

1. Potlogi – Costeștii din Vale (17.0 km) — Palatul Brâncovenesc; Crovu, Miulești, Mărunțișu, Tomșani. Completely flat.
2. Costeștii din Vale – Găești (18.7 km) — Puțu cu Salcie, Mogoșani, Merii; maize fields.
3. Găești – Leordeni (19.8 km) — Potlogeni Vale, Pătroaia Vale, Voia; county border Dâmbovița/Argeș.
4. Leordeni – Pitești (24.2 km) — Cârciumărești, Topoloveni with the Magiun plum orchards, Călinești, Vrănești, Viișoara, Ștefănești; Biserica Sf. Gheorghe (1656), St James window in Sf. Petru și Pavel.
5. Pitești – Vâlcelele (25.4 km) — Uiasca, Bascov, Dobrogostea, Malu Vânăt; up the Argeș valley.
6. Vâlcelele – Curtea de Argeș (15.8 km) — Crâmpotani, Băiculești; Biserica Domnească, monastery, royal tombs.
7. Curtea de Argeș – Șuici (21.2 km) — Borobănești, Bănicești, Ceparii Pământeni, Rudeni; first climbs.
8. Șuici – Sălătrucu (8.5 km) — Shortest stage, preparation day before the mountain.
9. Sălătrucu – Perișani (15.9 km) — Poiana, Surdoiu, Pripoare; ridge at a good 800 m, down into the Țara Loviștei; no supplies.
10. Perișani – Câinenii Mici (19.8 km) — Cucoiu, Boișoara, Găujani, Greblești; descent to the Olt, Pons Vetus fort. Last beds and last water before the mountain.
11. Câinenii Mici – Tălmaciu (Podu Olt) (29.2 km) — Over the western flank of the Făgăraș on tourist-marked trails (red cross and others), highest point 1,775 m, no hut, water from springs; descent to Turnu Roșu, Podu Olt station, connection to Camino de România 1. About ten hours. Hardest stage.

The hardest day is the last stage: Câinenii Mici–Tălmaciu, 29.2 kilometres, the highest point at 1,775 metres, no hut, no shop, no arrow except the tourist waymarks — the association reckons on about ten hours. Take water for the whole day from Câinenii Mici and refill at the springs along the way; GPS with a spare battery, early start, a buffer day if in doubt. Stage 9 over the Loviște ridge is the second one without supplies. Don't treat stage 8 as a rest day but as a preparation day, and fix your nights in Sălătrucu, Perișani and Câinenii Mici before you leave Curtea de Argeș — in between there is nothing you will find on the spur of the moment.

A route that consists of a single sentence

Prof. Ion Nicolae has reached Santiago sixteen times and in 2014 wrote down on 700 pages why the Camino is „drumul care a făurit Europa", the road that made Europe. On 17 February 2024 he published the case for a Romanian Camino, and in it stands the sentence this route consists of: „De la Curtea de Argeș pelerinii urmau vechiul drum comercial către Sibiu prin depresiunea Loviștei, pe valea Oltului." Documented is a different route: Peter Sparnau and Ulrich von Tennstädt, two Germans on their way back from Jerusalem, passed in 1385 through Târgoviște, Câmpulung, Brașov, Sibiu, Cluj and Oradea — today that is the Camino de România 2 and the Camino de România 1. The Camino de România 4 is the variant the historian says was walked just as much: same destination Sibiu, but over the Olt pass instead of Bran. To be honest, he has no charter for it, only the logic of the terrain — the Red Tower Pass lies at 352 metres because it is not a saddle but a gorge, and whoever wanted to get from Curtea de Argeș to Sibiu has come through here since the Romans. Trajan placed the fort Caput Stenarum at the valley exit and had 60 kilometres of paved road laid through the gorge; two kilometres south of Boița its remains still lie. The Saxons began a fortification in 1360, from the 15th century the Red Tower collected tolls, in 1442 and 1493 Ottoman incursions failed here, in 1901 the railway came, and today seven tunnels are being bored for the A1. For two thousand years everyone has done the same thing: used the one hole in the mountains. Not you — beyond Câinenii Mici the Camino de România 4 climbs over the flank of the Făgăraș to 1,775 metres and only comes down again at Turnu Roșu, where the hole ends. Two thousand years of through-traffic you watch from above.

What the sentence does not deliver, the middle of the route does. Curtea de Argeș, „the court on the Argeș", was the first capital of Wallachia; Basarab I, who from 9 to 12 November 1330 destroyed the army of Charles I Robert of Anjou in a Carpathian gorge and thereby founded the first independent Romanian principality, began the princely church here — it was completed in 1365–1369 by Vladislav I Vlaicu, for Basarab died in 1352 and lies in Câmpulung. The Illuminated Chronicle of Vienna preserves the king's words about him: „He is the shepherd of my sheep, and I will take him out of his mountains, dragging him by his beard." Where the battle took place is disputed; Perișani in the Țara Loviștei claims the site and celebrates it every year as „Serbările Perișaniului – Posada 1330". Between the church and the gorge lie, on this route, 51 kilometres and a mountain ridge. In the same church lay for 500 years the relics of St Philothea, born around 1206 in Tarnovo, killed by her own father on 7 December 1219 because she gave the household's food to the poor; rescued from the Ottomans to Vidin in 1393, brought to Wallachia by Mircea cel Bătrân, „ocrotitoarea Țării Românești", patron saint of the country. Opposite stands Neagoe Basarab's monastery of 1512–1517 with its two twisted domes — which according to legend only stood because Meșterul Manole built his wife Ana into the wall, and in front of which the Fântâna lui Manole „curge neîntrerupt de secole" flows —, royal necropolis since 1886: Carol I and Elisabeth, Ferdinand and Marie in the old church; Queen Anne, King Michael I and the reburied Carol II in the new cathedral, consecrated on 7 December 2018, the feast of Philothea. The kings and the saint lie in the same courtyard.

And St James? On Camino de România 4 itself the tally is thin — but not zero. In Pitești, in the church of Sfinții Petru și Pavel, hangs a stained-glass window of the Apostle James, brought here decades ago from the Bărăția in Câmpulung (association's information) — a piece of Camino de România 2 that migrated to Camino de România 4. Otherwise no dedication, no fresco, no pilgrim badge between Potlogi and Tălmaciu — saying so honestly is stronger than bending something into shape. The traces lie before and after: the Bărăția in Câmpulung, according to Nicolae the oldest documented church of Wallachia, on Camino de România 2; and 20 kilometres beyond the finish Sibiu, where the excavation monograph on Piața Huet (Crîngaci-Țiplic, 2007) records, according to Nicolae, „cele patru pandantive tip scoică (a Sf.Iacob)“, four shell-shaped pendants from graves around the parish church, two from the 12th–13th, two from the 13th–15th century. The youngest trace is two years old and Orthodox: on 13 September 2025 Archbishop Varsanufie consecrated in Râmnicu Vâlcea, 40 kilometres downstream of Câineni, a wooden church with the double dedication „Acoperământul Maicii Domnului“ and „Sfântul Apostol Iacob“ — James the Greater, feast on 30 April, depicted inside as a teacher; its founder is a member of the association and has himself walked to Santiago several times. The association calls it Romania's first Orthodox St James church; the archdiocese itself makes no such claim. That is how Camino de România 4 goes: from a church without St James, past a window that moved house, to a city with four shells, along a sentence nobody has waymarked yet.

Highlights along the way

• Palatul Brâncovenesc, Potlogi — estate bought 1689, built from spring 1698 under Mihai Corbeanu, inaugurated October 1699 on the feast of St Demetrius; first of Constantin Brâncoveanu's four palaces for his sons, intended for Constantin beizadea, executed with his father in Constantinople in 1714; saved from demolition 1907, restored with EU funds.
• Topoloveni — Magiun de Topoloveni, sugar-free plum jam, first factory 1914 (Maximilian Popovici family), cooked for ten hours, at least 55 percent dry matter; on NATO bases since 2009, supplier to the royal house since 2010, PGI since 2011 under Regulation (EU) No 338/2011 — Romania's first protected product.
• Pitești — first charter 20 May 1386, Mircea cel Bătrân gives a mill to Cozia monastery; Biserica Sf. Gheorghe (1656, Prince Constantin Șerban); Trivale forest; Regio station to Curtea de Argeș with stops in Bascov and Băiculești, two waypoints. In the church of Sfinții Petru și Pavel a stained-glass window of the Apostle James, brought here decades ago from the Bărăția in Câmpulung (association's information).
• Biserica Domnească „Sf. Nicolae", Curtea de Argeș — begun under Basarab I, built 1365–1369 by Vladislav I Vlaicu, painted 1369; overpaintings 1748–1752, 1829, 1916; princely necropolis; 500 years the resting place of the Philothea relics; open Mon–Thu 9–17, Fri from 9:30, Sun from 8:30 (as of September 2026).
• Mănăstirea Curtea de Argeș — 1512–1517 by Neagoe Basarab, around 30 m long and 30 m high, limestone, two twisted side domes; 1875–1885 reconstructed by André Lecomte du Noüy and Nicolae Gabrielescu, royal necropolis 1886; relics of St Philothea since 1893; Fântâna lui Manole; admission 5–10 RON (approx. €1–2), photo 10–15 RON (as of September 2026).
• New Archiepiscopal and Royal Cathedral — foundation stone 10 May 2009, consecration 7 December 2018; tombs of Queen Anne (2016), King Michael I (2017), King Carol II (reburied 2019); modelled on the Basarab building without exceeding its dimensions.
• Curtea de Argeș station — 1898, designed by André Lecomte du Noüy, the same architect who reconstructed the monastery church.
• Perișani and „Posada 1330" — claims the site of the battle of 9–12 November 1330 (Basarab I against Charles I Robert, 7,000–10,000 against around 30,000 men); location scientifically disputed; annual „Serbările Perișaniului – Posada 1330".
• Limes Alutanus — the Roman Olt frontier in the mountain section: „Pons Vetus" fort near Câinenii Mici, Praetorium II near Racovița, fort near Titești.
• Câineni — Câinenii Mari and Câinenii Mici on either bank of the Olt, site of the old border between the Kingdom of Romania and Austria-Hungary; station on the Olt valley railway of 1901. In Câinenii Mici the final stage over the mountain begins — last water before the springs on the way.
• Defileul Turnu Roșu — 19 km northern sector of the 47 km Olt gorge between Câineni and Boița, „cel mai lung și variat defileu din țara noastră"; Roman salt road, Via Carolina of Charles VI in the 18th century; today DN 7 / E 81 and A1 construction site. The Camino de România 4 does not walk through it — it crosses the flank of the Făgăraș to the east and only meets the gorge at its exit in Turnu Roșu.
• Turnu Roșu (Rothenturm) — Red Tower, toll station from the 15th c.; church 1653 under Matei Basarab, frescoes inside and out, bell tower 1750; neighbouring village Sebeșu de Jos with the „boștinărit" (beeswax) and the „Hora de la Rusca" since 1784.
• Boița (Oschendorf) — Trajan's fort Caput Stenarum, „Drumul lui Traian" with visible remains 2 km south; Saxon fortification from 1360, completed 1370; Landskron castle / Cetatea Tălmaciului with three towers. Lies west of the Olt, a few kilometres off the track — side trip.
• Podu Olt station — the namesake: Olt valley railway 1896–1901, opened 1 August 1901, 40 km, 10 tunnels, 18 iron bridges (Mihail Râmniceanu, Gheorghe Panait), curved bridge near Proieni made in Paris in 1899; junction station Sibiu–Brașov / Piatra Olt.
• Tălmaciu (Talmesch) — first charter 1318, town since 1989, 6,711 inhabitants (2021), at the confluence of the Sadu and Cibin; finish of the route and connection to the Camino de România 1.

How pilgrims reach this route

On foot there is exactly one feeder, and it is unambiguous: the Camino de România 4 branches off the Camino de România 2 in Potlogi. Coming up from the Danube at Giurgiu via București, after around 150 kilometres you stand in Potlogi with a choice: north-east via Târgoviște, Câmpulung and Bran to Brașov — the route of 1385 — or north-west via Curtea de Argeș and the Olt pass. Both are the same historical corridor in two variants; the Camino de România 4 is the western one.

If you think of the route in reverse, you come along the Camino de România 1 to Tălmaciu — from Sibiu it is 20 kilometres — and walk over the flank of the Făgăraș up into the Loviște and down into Wallachia; the elevation then gets harder, 2,709 instead of 2,939 of ascent sounds like less, but the ridge remains the ridge. From Sibiu the Camino de România 7 also leads west through the Mărginimea Sibiului. Without a Camino: Potlogi lies 50 kilometres west of Bucharest, Titu station a few kilometres north; Găești, Pitești and Curtea de Argeș have stations right on the route.

Continuing on?

Yes — and the connection is the reason this route exists. In Tălmaciu the Camino de România 4 meets the Camino de România 1, the 1,226.8-kilometre main axis from Iași to Borș on the Hungarian border, and you have two directions: north-west via Sibiu — with the four shells of Piața Huet —, Sebeș with its St James chapel of around 1420, Alba Iulia and Cluj-Napoca to Oradea; or east via Avrig, Șoarș and Brașov into Moldavia. From Sibiu the Camino de România 7 branches off, between Hălchiu and Șoarș the Camino de România 6 runs parallel, at Valea Crișului the Camino de România 5 comes in from Moldavia, and in Oradea the Camino de România 3 arrives from the Banat.

To Santiago, nothing leads at present. Beyond Borș, 15 kilometres after Oradea, the Romanian network ends; through Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria there is no marked connection, the next Way of St James begins in Budapest, 250 kilometres on. The association calls this „o pată albă în partea răsăriteană a continentului" — and has been working on it since June 2024 as a member of the Camino Europa Compostela federation. If you want the Compostela, you fly: the Camino Francés is reachable from Sibiu or Bucharest with a flight to Spain. The marker in Iași says 4,500 kilometres; the Camino de România 4 delivers 215.5 of them and the connection to the axis.

Preparation & practical matters

Best time: May to October. The plain can be walked almost all year, but without shade and at 35 degrees in high summer; stages 9 to 11 with the highest point at 1,775 metres need snow-free weeks and daylight. September and early October are the smartest weeks — plum season in Topoloveni too. Waymarking and navigation: not documented on this route; the association marks „kilometru cu kilometru", but from 2023 to 2025 on other routes. You walk with the waypoints of our route data and offline maps; the easiest way is to plan it directly in the Camino Ninja app together with your stages and accommodation. Ask the association (office@caminoromania.org) before you start. Credencial: issued by the association since 2018, 10 RON (approx. €2), order by e-mail; stamping points are not published — stamps in monasteries and parish offices are a matter of negotiation. Language: Romanian; English in Pitești and Curtea de Argeș, often not in the mountain villages; in Tălmaciu also German among older people. Emergency: 112. The association confirms: you can ask for a stamp wherever you stop — but there are no custom pilgrim stamps like on the Camino in Spain or Portugal; the only stamp made specially for pilgrims is at the hostel Casa Genoveva in Câmpulung Muscel (Camino de România 2). Contact: if you want to walk the route, write to the association at office@caminoromania.org — it puts you in touch with its local representatives, who can tell you about accommodation, the route and everything else; their contacts are also listed at caminodesantiago.ro/contact/.

Accommodation: No pilgrim hostel. Guesthouses (pensiuni) and hotels in Găești, Topoloveni, Pitești, Curtea de Argeș and Tălmaciu; thin between Șuici and Câinenii Mici — book Sălătrucu, Perișani and Câinenii Mici in advance, those are the three beds the route hangs on. Food: shops in almost every village on the plain; on stage 9 between Sălătrucu and Perișani and even more so on the final stage between Câinenii Mici and Turnu Roșu (no hut, water only from springs) nothing — water and food for the whole day. Packing list: hi-vis vest for national roads, head torch (the forest tracks of the Loviște get dark early), power bank, offline maps, two to three litres of water capacity, rain gear for the ridge, cash in lei — card payment is not a given in the villages. One date: on 7 December Curtea de Argeș celebrates St Philothea with crowds of pilgrims — not a walking month, but worth a trip of its own. Membership: APCS annual fee 50 RON (approx. €10), students and pensioners 25 RON (approx. €5), as of September 2026.

What the route costs

To be honest, this is a cheap route on which there is only one thing you cannot save on: the pre-booked mountain nights. All amounts as of September 2026, exchange rate 1 EUR ≈ 5.0 RON. Documented: Curtea de Argeș monastery admission 5–10 RON (approx. €1–2), photo permit 10–15 RON (approx. €2–3), Muzeul Municipal 5 RON (approx. €1); guesthouse in Curtea de Argeș from 150 RON (approx. €30), typical double room 200–320 RON (approx. €40–64); Regio seat reservation 4.50 RON (approx. €0.90); APCS membership 50 RON (approx. €10). Guide values: hotel in Pitești 200–350 RON (approx. €40–70), village room in Perișani, Câineni or Turnu Roșu 120–200 RON (approx. €24–40); set lunch 30–50 RON (approx. €6–10), dinner 60–100 RON (approx. €12–20), daily shopping 40–70 RON (approx. €8–14), coffee 8–15 RON (approx. €1.60–3). We give no rail fares for Pitești–Curtea de Argeș and Sibiu–Podu Olt — the CFR portals were unreachable at the time of writing.

Realistic daily budget: frugal with village room and self-catering 150–220 RON (approx. €30–44), mid-range with guesthouse, a hot meal and admissions 250–380 RON (approx. €50–76), comfortable with hotel and restaurant in the towns 450–650 RON (approx. €90–130). For 11 stages reckon roughly 2,000–3,500 RON (approx. €400–700) on the ground; travel to and from via Bucharest or Sibiu comes on top.

Getting there

To the start (Potlogi): Potlogi lies around 50 kilometres west of Bucharest on the Bucharest–Pitești axis. Train from București Nord on line 901 to Titu or Găești, from there bus or taxi to Potlogi; the A1 passes right by. Bucharest-Otopeni airport (OTP) with rail and bus links to the North Station. Anyone coming up the Camino de România 2 from Bucharest walks through Potlogi anyway.

Along the way and from the finish (Tălmaciu / Podu Olt): stations in Găești, Pitești, Curtea de Argeș (1898) and Podu Olt; the Regio Pitești–Curtea de Argeș stops in Bascov and Băiculești right on the route. Tălmaciu lies 20 kilometres south of Sibiu on the DN 7 / E 81, the A1 is open between Sibiu and Boița over 13.2 kilometres; Podu Olt station on the Sibiu–Brașov main line. From Sibiu you fly from Sibiu (SBZ) or take train and coach to Cluj, Brașov, București and Budapest.

• Romanian railways: bilete.cfrcalatori.ro — CFR Călători, București – Titu – Găești – Pitești, Sibiu – Podu Olt
• Timetable information: mersultrenurilor.infofer.ro — all trains, including Regio Pitești – Curtea de Argeș
• Info: caminodesantiago.ro — Chronicle, credencial
• Monastery and royal tombs: biserica-domneasca.ro — Biserica Domnească, opening hours
• Sibiu airport: sibiuairport.ro — departure from the finish