1. What territory does the destination include and what is specific about it?

Located in western Romania, Pădurea Craiului is part of the Apuseni Mountains and stretches between Crișului Repede Valley and Beiușului Land.

The relief in Craiului Forest is specific to the karst relief, caves, narrow valleys, and gorges. This specific relief makes the Craiului Forest a special area, one where you can explore two worlds, one on the surface and an entire universe underground.

The spectacular gorge of Crișului Repede, the longest cave in Romania (Cave of the Wind), the oldest designed cave in Romania (Vadu Crișului Cave), the only designed cave where you can admire calcite crystals (Cave with crystals from Mina Farcu), the first network of tourist caves (4 prepared caves) and speotourism caves (9 caves equipped for speotourism) in Romania, and many others make this destination an area of superlatives.

It is an easily accessible destination, located at relatively short distances from the airports of Oradea, Cluj-Napoca and Debreţin (Hungary). From these cities, the European roads E60 and E79 take tourists right to the edge of the Craiului Forest. The tourist areas inside the destination are accessible through a network of county roads. The Oradea – Bucharest railway reaches the northern limit of the Craiului Forest, in the Bratca – Şuncuiuş – Vadu Crişului area.

The tourism destination Pădurea Craiului partly overlaps the territories of two Natura 2000 sites (Defileul Crișului Repede – Pădurea Craiului and Defileul Crișului Repede – Valea Iadului) and over the administrative territories of 9 municipalities, Vadu Crișului, Bratca, Şuncuiuș, Bulz, Roșia, Remetea , Câbești, Aușeu and Magești.