The Nature Reserve Vârghiș Gorges

🌲💧 The city's outstanding symbol is The Devil's Lake, a natural curiosity: a carbon dioxide gas eruption that keeps a vortex of mud and mineral water moving in the city's main square. Walk on to the Zânelor Valley, where you can find information about another unique 19th-century product of engineering genius, a funicular, which used to transport logged timber using only gravity. The Fairy Waterfall is also worth a visit. Afterwards, you can take an hour and a half walk along the air therapy promenade near Nicolae Ceaușescu's villa. Taste the refreshing waters of the springs on the trail of the Hankó-Horgász Valley!

Take a walk to the Óriáspince Hill! 💛 According to the legend, this hill was once inhabited by a giant who buried his treasure under the Óriáspince Hill. The sacred hilltop is reached by a special staircase of 12 gates, recalling the 12 turbulent centuries of Covasna County, at the very end of which a stone altar stands beneath a huge wooden platform resembling a yurt. Here, you will notice some stone pillars, which are "talking stones": they were oriented in such a way as to point in the direction of the settlement whose name and the year of its first written entry can be read on the stone slab. From the top of the Óriáspince Hill, you can enjoy a beautiful view of the basin of Covasna County. 🌄 This location has a fascinating story - we invite you to discover it HERE! ✨ 🐴 Every year, the Szekler Gallop, the preliminary stage of the Hungarian National Gallop, is held here: an event full of adrenaline and cheering. Location: Moacșa Walk's duration: ca. 1.5 - 2 hours

🌿🐸 Balázs Orbán, writer and ethnographic collector, called the Birches of Reci nature reserve area "the Sahara of Covasna County" because of its structure of sand dunes. Here you can find many characteristic rare plants, rich fauna and seasonal lakes. You can use the marked hiking trails for walking, cycling or horse riding. At the moment the site is heavily anthropized, the birch biocenosis has been almost totally deforested, pine forests being planted in their place. The meadow grassland biocenosis has been heavily modified by grazing. The site has a special scientific importance due to the hygrophilous species, rare for Romania, represented by hygrophilous species of sloughy soils and margins of wooden swamps. The saga trail leads through a forest inhabited by fairies and giants, as evidenced by the animated saga of the Birches of Reci, which you can watch while walking. The 5 km comfortable hike is recommended for families with young children. 💚 👉 Carry water, there are no springs on the routes. Wear comfortable clothes suitable for a light hike!

The site has a total area of 5993.34 ha located on the administrative territory of Bixad and Turia villages, in the north-central part of Covasna county, in the north of the Bodoc Mountains, south of Harghita Mountains. In the north it borders with the Natura 2000 site Lake St. Ana and Mohoş peat bog ; in the west it overlaps on an area of ​​1805.32 ha site with the Bodoc Mountains-Baraolt Special Bird Protection site. Ciomad-Puturosu Massif is the youngest volcanic formation of the Harghita Mountains. The average altitude is 914 m with 641 m minimum and 1244 m maximum. It is characterized by a high relief energy, with significant variations in the inclination of the slopes, with caves or different sizes. It is a volcanic area, characterized by post-volcanic phenomena such as sulfurous and carbon dioxide-filled pits, grottos and caves of all sizes, mofettes, mineral water springs with a large variety of mineral content, taste and smell.

The place is a Natura 2000 site since 2007. The area is located in the Nemira Mountains, in the Apa Roșie creek (Red Water creek) basin, at an altitude of 990-1030 m, on a substrate of flysch (sandstone).  The peat bog from this site preserves three peatland habitats of Community interest, two of which are a priority for conservation, given their very good state of preservation due to isolation.  The site has very well preserved natural structures of forest habitats represented by a great diversity of ages and dimensions, with the presence of a massive natural regeneration of the tree species important for the habitat, as well as the vigorous growing of the scots pine and the moor birch. The site is complex, in its composition we can find peat glades with scots pine, norway spruce and moor birch alternating with oligotrophic and meso-oligotrophic peat bogs.  On the higher places, one could encounter small areas of acidophilous spruce. The trees are characterized by a high dimensional variability, the natural regeneration being active. The associations of herbaceous plants have a high floral diversity. The peatlands shelter populations from two species of community interest, Ligularia sibirica and Angelica palustris, both of which have a good conservation status.

🌿 Natura 2000 protected area since 2007 and a nature reserve of national importance. It covers an area of 977 ha, 90% of which belongs to Covasna County and 10% to Brasov County.  The site hosts numerous steppe species in a region of high and mountainous hills. The species of steppe plants are located on the southern and western slopes of the Ciocas, Beldie and Viţel hills. An European priority interest habitat was identified in this site, as well as peri-panonic sub-continental hedges and six species of community interest. 🦉 The region overlaps with the bird protection area of the Bodoc and Baraolt Mountains, therefore it is very important for bird conservation (e.g. black stork, owl, red-footed falcon). The area offers a wide range of biological, geological and archaeological values. The archeological vestiges of the Aruișd culture were discovered on the Tyiszk hill.  📸 Nicu Farcas (via Wikimedia) 

The site fully covers the Baraolt Mountains and partially the Bodoc Mountains, 70% of its area being covered by ​compact forests with meadows and few farmlands. All these habitats are ideal nesting areas for raptors and black storks, but also for several species characteristic to the beech forests. The site preserves important populations from 21 species protected at European level, almost all of which are nesting, except for the red-footed falcon and the ferruginous duck which are only passing through the area. The corn crake, which is declared a species of global conservative interest, is present with significant populations. The site also preserves important populations of the following nine species threatened at the European Union level: lesser spotted eagle, european honey buzzard, ural owl, black stork, grey-headed woodpecker, white-backed woodpecker, black woodpecker, collared flycatcher and red-breasted flycatcher. Other important species from other groups: yellow-bellied toad (Bombina variegata), northern crested newt (Triturus cristatus), carpathian newt (Triturus montandoni)