Azuga is a small resort town in the mountains of Prahova County in the historical region of Muntenia,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. It is located at the foot of the

Baiu Mountains The Baiu Mountains ( ro, Munții/Muntele Baiu/Baiul/Baiului/Munții Gârbova, hu, Baj-hegység) are mountains in central Romania, a few kilometers south of Brașov. Within traditional Romanian classification the Baiu Mountains belong to the ...

and contains several ski slopes, including the longest ski run in Romania, the Sorica. Once heavily industrialized, Azuga contains a bottled water factory, (a leftover from a notable beer factory that brewed Azuga Beer, now produced elsewhere in Romania under license), a sparkling wine factory,

wine tasting Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onward. Modern, professional w ...

, and lodging (Cramele Rhein, owned by Halewood International). The town offers a view over the Bucegi Mountains, from street level to the top of the Sorica mountain, where a gondola arrival station is located. Azuga is one of the most famous mountain resorts of Prahova Valley. Until the winter of 2002, Azuga was known as an industrial town. After that date, the town was turned into a resort to capitalize on the mountain landscape of the

. Shortly after, the Sorica slope was certified by the International Ski Federation. Today, Azuga houses many hotels and hostels that provide accommodation for tourists. Accommodation in local homes can also be found for a lower price. Notable demolished buildings include the beer factory, the glassware factory and the wool cloth factory. The refractory materials factory, while still standing, is closed.

Natives

* Stelică Morcov * Gheorghe Voicu * Ion Zangor * Simona Păucă * Alexandru Vagner

Climate

Azuga has a warm-summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(''Dfb'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

Tourism

The town is an emerging ski resort, with extensive development in tourism infrastructure. Sorica is a ski slope with a length of over and a vertical drop of . The slope is recommended for both beginners and experienced skiers. There are also two slopes descending the Cazacu mountain, one is 1,920 meters long (with a drop of 530 m) and the other, more suitable for beginners, is 400 meters long, with a drop of 115 m. Slopes are equipped with ski lifts and a Leitner gondola lift, which goes to the top of Sorica slope, allowing skiers to choose between the two main slopes (access to Cazacu slope requires some tens of meters of ascending, possibly by a small ski lift). Because of the almost constant winds on the ridge during winter, the uppermost station is a few meters below the top. A higher station would have likely had icing issues, making morning startups difficult as sometimes the only alternative is the snow groomer - snowmobiles not being able to travel in fresh high snow. In the summer, Azuga is a hiking destination, being a starting point for trips to various mountain destinations in Predeal,

Bușteni Bușteni () is a small mountain town in the north of Prahova County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located in the Prahova Valley, at the bottom of the Bucegi Mountains, that have a maximum altitude of . Its name literally means tree-logs in Romanian. ...

, or

Sinaia Sinaia () is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Muntenia. The town was named after the Sinaia Monastery of 1695, around which it was built. The monastery, in turn, is named aft ...

. Unpaved

forest road Forest tracks or forest roads are roads or tracks intended to carry motorised vehicles or horse-drawn wagons being used mainly or exclusively for forestry purposes, such as conservation or logging. Forest tracks may be open to ramblers or mountain ...

s attract many bicycle enthusiasts, who can ride along the Azuga River, which is peppered with small wooden artificial waterfalls that oxygenate the water for the many

Trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

s that naturally populate the river.

References

{{Prahova County Towns in Romania Prahova Valley Populated places in Prahova County Ski areas and resorts in Romania Localities in Muntenia