Retezat National Park

Retezat National Park is Romania's first national park, established in 1935 on the initiative of the botanist Alexandru Borza and the biologist Emil Racoviță, with an initial area of about 13,000 ha. Today it covers more than 38,000 ha, 87% in Hunedoara County, 11% in Caraș-Severin and 2% in Gorj. Since 1999 it has had its own administration, the Retezat National Park Administration (RNP Romsilva), based in the village of Nucșoara, Sălașu de Sus commune. The massif has about 50 peaks above 2,000 m; the highest is Peleaga (2,509 m), followed by Păpușa (2,508 m), while Retezat Peak (2,482 m), which gives the mountains their name, is the third. The park holds more than 80 glacial lakes, 54 of them permanent: Bucura is the largest glacial lake in Romania (8.9 ha), Zănoaga the deepest (29 m), and Tăul Porții, at 2,260 m, the highest in the massif. The flora numbers almost 1,190 species of higher plants, and the fauna includes brown bear, wolf, lynx and chamois. The strict protection zone consists mainly of the Gemenele Scientific Reserve, created in 1955 (1,840 ha according to the park administration), which only staff and researchers may enter, with the approval of the Romanian Academy and the park administration. The park was designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1979, a status it later lost because it did not meet the newer MAB requirements on inhabited communities in the transition zone; in 2026 an effort to regain it is under way. It is a Natura 2000 site (ROSCI0217 Retezat and ROSPA0084 Munții Retezat). The entry points are Gura Zlata and Gura Apelor (DJ 685, from Brazi), Râușor (DJ 686, from Râu de Mori), Cârnic (DJ 667A, from Ohaba de Sub Piatră), Stâna de Râu and Baleia (DJ 667, from Hobița), and Buta and Câmpușel (DN 66A). Visits are allowed only on marked trails and require the visitor fee, and camping is permitted only in designated areas.