Busteni
Situated in Prahova Valley, 135 km away from Bucharest and 37 km away from Brasov, at an altitude of 800-900 meters, at the bottom of the high Bucegi Mountains, Busteni health resort offers throughout the year best conditions for vacation, holidays, and the week-end in an amazing mountain frame. Protected by Caraiman Mountains (2384m ) and Costila Mountains (2489 m) and crossed by the Prahova River, the Busteni resort distinguish itself by its picturesque surroundings and possibility of practicing various forms of tourism: mountain trips, mountaineering, winter sports, chalets stay. There are a lot of hotels, chalets and other places to stay in Busteni which are at tourists’ disposal, which contribute that the Bucegi is the most visited mountain range in Romania. A cable car climbs from Hotel Silva to Cabana Babele /old ladies/, on the top of the mountains. This area features unusual rock formations like Sphinx and Babele, which become landmarks of the Bucegi Mountain range. Omu Peak, 2504 meters is the highest peak of the Bucegi Mountains. If the weather is nice, you can enjoy the spectacular panoramas of Prahova Valley.
Busteni resort is one of the starting points to mountain trips, along the most attractive pathways in Bucegi Mountain Mass. The most important pathways, that offer the tourists amazing natural monuments, are: Busteni-Valea Urlatoare Mare-Urlatoarea Waterfall (1 hour on foot); Busteni-Gura Dihamului Chalet-Diham Chalet (3 hours); Busteni-Pichetu Rosu-Omu Chalet (6-7 hours, in winter the road is accessible only till Pichetu Rosu); Busteni-Poiana Costilei-Malaiesti Chalet (in winter, the road is accessible only for mountaineers and skilled skiers); Busteni-Cantonul Jepi-Piatra Arsa Chalet-Caraiman Chalet-Babele Chalet (5-6 hours, the road is accessible in winter only for trained tourists). Ialomita Cave is set at an altitude of 1.500 meters on the right side of the Ialomitei Canyon. At the entrance to the cave is a monastery (Ialomitei Monastery), built in the 16th century and dedicated to Saint Apostles Peter and Paul, founded by the Voivode of Romanian Country, Mihnea the Evil. To reach the Ialomita Cave visitors should take the cable care from Busteni to Babele and then change cable car in direction Pestera (Cave). Then by foot 10 minutes on the off road (there are also markings with Ialomita Cave). The Ialomitei Cave features both galleries and halls, and its interior is mixed going on for about 480 meters on a single level, of which 400 meters are accessible to tourists to the point called the Altar, followed upstream by a portion of another 80 meters of galleries and halls. It is surely worth-doing.
In winter, the tourists can ski and sledge in Bucegi Mountains. There are ski slopes with different difficulty levels. For the beginners in skiing and sledging, the slopes at the foot of the Zamora Mountain are recommended. The skilled skiers have the slopes from the Bucegi plateau and the outskirts of the Babele and Caraiman chalets at their disposal. In Busteni town, there are some places which may raise the tourists’ interest: “Cezar Petrescu” memorial museum that presents the writer’s life and activity, “Ultima grenada”(the last grenade) monument, which is dedicated to the hero Vasile Musat, who died in the First World War,The House Of Culture, The trout stock farm. The Meteorological Station is situated in Bucegi Mountain Massive and it’s one of the few meteorological station in Europe that lies at such a high altitude (2507 m), with human craft working inside it. Because of her geographical position, it is hit by all the air masses and that is very important, because the atmospheric fronts can be detected, and so the evolution of the weather can be predicted. At this height, 2507 m, one may see half of the country if the sky is cloudless: you can see lights of Bucharest during the night, the Eastern Carpathians, the Western Carpathians. Observing the evolution of a meteorological phenomenon from Babele station, the station at Omu Peak Mountain and Sinaia station (1500 m altitude), comparative observations cam be made regarding the same phenomenon: wind, the air temperature, atmospheric precipitations. Thus, if it happens to be a cloud break at Babele, at Omu might rain, but at Sinaia it might not rain at all. If you leave Babele station in full winter, you may find out another season when you get to Sinaia. After the wind passes the mountain ridges, it increases its speed on the way to Prahova Valley, so when it reaches Caraiman Chalet or the piers of the cable railway that transports people from Busteni to Babele, the wind reaches the maximum speed. That explains how the roof of the Caraiman Chalet was torn out many times and that the cable railway cannot work, even if at the upper station the working conditions of the cable railway are satisfied. All of these assure us of the great importance of Babele meteorological station.
