Travel to BICAZ, Romania

Travel to BICAZ, Romania by Travel Deal.Expert

Bicaz is a town in Neamț County, Romania situated in the eastern Carpathian Mountains near the confluence of the Bicaz and Bistrița Rivers and near Lake Bicaz, an artificial lake formed by the Bicaz Dam on the Bistrița. Bicaz used to be a border town until 1918. Six villages are administered by the town: Capșa, Dodeni, Izvoru Alb, Izvoru Muntelui, Potoci and Secu.

Economy

Before the construction of the dam (1950–1960) the settlement was just a mountain village in Eastern pluta); a raftman (Romanian: plutaş) used to drive the raft on the Bistriţa river downstream to wood processing facilities in Piatra Neamț.

Carpathians where the main economic activity was timber harvesting. By tradition, the tree trunks were linked together, forming a raft (

Building the dam created also a horizontal industry: two cement and aggregate plants were built in Bicaz proper and nearby Tașca. This, together with the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Stejaru (10 km to the east) triggered a relative economic boom during the communist period.

Bicaz cement plant was shut down after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 and is slowly being taken apart. On the other hand, the Tașca cement plant was acquired by the German group HeidelbergCement and completely overhauled. The town has also a few timber factories and wood processing facilities.

Access

The town has access to two national roads: DN15  and DN12C  while Bicaz railway station is the terminus station on CFR Line 509 with scheduled daily service to Bucharest North. The town served also as a port with scheduled ferry service with the villages on lake shore in the 1960s and 1970s. Today the facility offers only seasonal leisure cruises.

Tourism

The town is located in the proximity of two important tourist destinations in Romania: Ceahlău

Massif (12 km north) and Cheile Bicazului-Hășmaș National Park (25 km to the west). The impressive Bicaz Dam built on the Bistrița River in the 1950s (one of the biggest in Romania) and the resulted Bicaz Lake are also popular tourist sights. Durău, the only ski resort in Ceahlău is located about 30 km north.

source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicaz

The Cheile Bicazului - Hășmaș National Park is located in north-eastern Romania, in the Eastern Carpathians mountain chain. The reservation territory is part of Neamţ and Harghita counties.

The park administration is located in Izvorul Mureşului, in Harghita County.

The park's most important geologic features are Cheile Bicazului (Bicaz Gorges), a deep canyon dug by the Bicaz River, Lacu Roşu (the Red Lake) - a natural dam lake, and the Hăşmaş Mountains.

The parks area of 6575 ha is divided into two zones: the special conservation zone (78%), and the protection zone (22%).

Natural reserves: The Bicaz Gorges (Neamț district - 1,600 hectars and Harghita district - 2,128 hectars) and Lacu Rosu, Cheile Sugaului (10 hectars) Avenul Licas (5 hectars) the Hasmasul Mare - Piatra Singuratica (the Lonely Stone) and Hasmasul Negru (800 hectars).

The Bicaz River  is a right tributary of the river Bistrița in Romania. It starts at confluence of headwaters Veleșchia and Hăghimaș in the Lacul Roșu . It discharges into the Bistrița in Bicaz. 

The Lake Izvorul Muntelui, also known as Lake Bicaz, is the largest artificial lake on the interior

waters of Romania; it was created after the completion of a dam built on the river Bistrița. The dam is located a few kilometers north of the town of Bicaz.

The dam was built between 1950 and 1960 and is used to generate hydroelectricity at the Bicaz-Stejaru hydro-plant. It has a height of 127 meters, a length of 435 meters, and a maximum width of 119 meters. The lake has a length of 40 kilometers, an area of 33 km² and a maximum volume of 1,250 million m³.

The lake is a popular tourist destination in the region, especially in summertime, when visitors can take the ferryboat from the Bicaz port for a short trip on the lake, enjoying the magnificent view of Mount Ceahlău on the west shore.

In the 1960s and 1970s there was regular ferry service between the Bicaz port and the villages on the lake shore.

At Potoci, a few kilometers north of the town of Bicaz, there is a biological research facility, equipped with a small submersible used for underwater explorations. The facility was visited by the marine biologist Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1984.

source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Izvorul_Muntelui

Bicaz-Stejaru Hydro Power Plant is a hydropower development on the Bistriţa River, Bicaz, Romania.

near

The project was started and finished in the 1950s. It consists of a dam, a reservoir and a hydro power plant.

The dam is a reinforced concrete structure with a height of 127 m; it formed and holds Bicaz Lake reservoir, also known as Mountain Spring Lake ("Lacul Izvorul Muntelui").

The reservoir is the largest artificial lake in Romania; it manages river levels downstream, provides fishing, attracts tourism, fuels the power plant, and controls flooding.

The Oak Hydro-power plant ("Hidrocentrala Stejaru") is equipped with six turbines (four-27.5 MW and two-50 MW turbines) for a total installed capacity of 210 MW. The plant generates an average of 500 GWh of electricity per year, at a capacity factor of 30%; it has produced over 20 billion MWh of electricity in the first 50 years since commissioning.

The Ceahlău Massif  is one of the most notorious mountains of Romania. It is part of the Bistriţa Mountains range of the Eastern Carpathians division, in Neamţ County, in the Moldavia region. The two most important peaks are Toaca (1904 m altitude) and Ocolaşul Mare (1907 m altitude). It is bounded to the east by the Bistriţa River and Lake Bicaz, to the south by the Bicaz River. From the south, the main access point is the village of Izvorul Muntelui, located 12 km north from the town of Bicaz. To the north, Mount Ceahlău is also accessible from Durău.

Activities

Ceahlău - "Piatra Lată din Ghedeon" rock formation

Leontopodium alpinum, edelweiss or floare de colţ is a protected species in Romania since 1933

Ceahlău National Park shelters a large variety of flora and fauna; some of the species are endemic or rarely seen elsewhere in Romania.

Hiking

Mount Ceahlău is a popular hiking destination in Romania. There are seven main marked trails built for hikers and tourists. There are entering fees for visiting Ceahlău National Park. and fines for non respecting park's regulations. The park is monitored by local rangers and there is also a mountain rescue service (Salvamont).

Skiing

There are ski slopes located at Durău.

Camping

Camping is permitted only in a few designated places: in Durău, near Dochia Chalet and in Izvorul Muntelui.

Chalets and refuges

• Izvorul Muntelui Chalet (757 m of altitude, basecamp), near Bicaz
• Dochia Chalet (1750 m, near Toaca Peak)
• Fântânele Chalet (1220m, near Durău)
• Ceahlău - Toaca weather station

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