OFF64 Valea de Brazi – Curmătura Tulișa

The area around Petroșani is very attractive for motorcyclists. There are many beautiful roads both paved and unpaved. We have the Jiului gorge, the road to Valea Cernei, the road to Obârsia Lotrului and a little further Transalpina. For off-road enthusiasts we have the TransVâlcan, the road to Valea Cernei, the road to the Sohodol gorges, and the road that goes up from Petrila to the Șureanu ski domain (https://2ride.eu/en/segment/off50-sureanu-petrila/). A little further is Strategica military road (https://2ride.eu/segment/off14-strategica/). You can find all the offroad segments on our website or on the YouTube channel.

The portion through the forest

Now we will present to you a road that starts from DN66A, near Uricani and goes up to Curmătura Tulișa at 1552 m altitude. At the beginning the road is paved. That’s just until we get out of the village. Then the paved road turns left and goes up towards an animal shelter and we will have to go ahead on the forest road. We will cross the Valea de Brazi gorges and then start to climb.

The road has a lot of stone but in some places it is quite uneven. There is a slightly steeper section where it gets really rocky and very bumpy. After this section the next few kilometers are more ok. We ride smoothly along the river bank and the road is quite leveled.

Then we reach 2 hairpins and immediately we reach an intersection. A small rest stop was set up here and there is a statue of Gheorghe Tătărescu.

Here we will have to take the road to the right. The following section we go through the forest with slightly less stone on the road, but with a smooth slope. As soon as we pass a hairpin to the left, the road starts to climb steeper and we have slopes of more than 20%. You’ll know you’ve passed this climb when you come out of the woods and see a sheep farm on your right.

Alpine area

After the sheep farm there is a short, steeper slope, then you reach the summit and the view opens up to almost 360 degrees. The landscape is gorgeous and in front you can see the road that goes up to Curmătura Tulişa. Another kilometer and a half and we reach the turnpike. Here it is worth taking a longer break and admiring the scenery. The road continues through the peaks of the mountains and leads to the Tulișa Refuge. We didn’t have time to go further but I understand that it is possible to get to the refuge with a big adventure.

This route is worth all the effort for the scenery that can be admired once you get out of the forest. To the south are the Vâlcan Mountains, to the east are the Parâng Mountains and to the west there are the Retezat Mountains.