Stâna de Vale Resort- Exploitation of tourism potential

STÂNA DE VALE RESORT

In Padurea Craiului Mountains from the Western Carpathians, on the western

side of Bihor Mountains, at 1100 meters altitude, in a hollow surrounded by mountains,
is Stana de Vale spa resort. The spa is situated on 6671 acres of land and is famous in
Romania and all over the world for its treatment services, for being a great place for rest
and recreation and for being an important start point for numerous touristic routes
through Apuseni Mountains.

HISTORY
Stana de Vale Resort, situated in Bihor from Vladeasa Mountains was founded in
1880 by the Greek Catholic Church, on the 6671 acres of land donated after the World
War I, by Empress Maria Teresa. The land was for many years thought to be the most
beautiful place in Romania as it had its rustic character and seemed to be parted by

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civilization and forgotten as the few people who lived there were miles apart from each
other.
The name of the resort is thought to have come from the locals that were by
tradition shepherds, and every year in spring time would climb their sheep up in the
mountain and at the end of September would climb down in the hollow where they had
their fold.
Many years the place was visited mainly by tourists that were looking for unique
experiences, that preferred camping to hotels and just recently, in1994 hotels and
cottages were built and in a few years the “wild paradise” as it was used to be called
became a well-known and appreciated resort.

GEOGRAPHY

Between the boundaries of its evolution, the relief of the hollow of Stana de Vale
acquired certain zonal particularities. According to specialized paper works made by
several specialists in geology, it is considered that the hill-like relief of Beius County is a
result of erosion which developed upon storage mound situated at the foot of the
mountain and because its placement, the hills of Beius can be integrated in the class of
mound hills.
The highest peak of Vladeasa Mountain is the Vladeasa peak, 1836 meters, and
Stana de Vale Resort is situated at 1100 meters altitude. The resort is surrounded by
mountains with altitudes varying between 1465 meters and 1205 meters.

CLIMATE

The area is situated in a sub-mountain climate with an annual average

temperature of 5 Celsius Degrees, ozone-rich air, low chances of fog and abundant
snow. At Stana de Vale, the main curative factors are the multiple-mineral and
ferruginous waters, the low atmosphere pressure, intense solar radiation and highly

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ionized air, all of them being recognized to improve endocrine diseases, diseases of
airway system and asthenia neurosis.
Stana de Vale Resort’s climate is conditioned by its placing in the south-western
part of Bihor City, among the Mountains Codru Moma and Bihorului which oppose the
entrance of continental polar winds from the eastern part.
The resort is characterized by a moderately continental temperate climate. The
average annual temperature is between 8 and 10 Celsius degrees. January
temperatures are usually among -1 to 0 Celsius degrees, in July 18 to 20 Celsius
degrees. The extreme value in Stana de Vale resort reached in January 1942, 31, 4
Celsius degrees.
The humidity and the downfall regime are under the influence of maritime air
masses and are relatively high, between 75-80%. The rainiest month is June with 1600
millimeters/ year. The winter season starts in the beginning of November and the area is
covered with snow continuously until late March.

ACCESS
The main road to get to Stana de Vale resort is Oradea-Beius road, from National
Road 76 (504 km from Bucharest). There is a rail-way that leaves from Bucharest every
day but its last stop is in Beius, which is 24 km before Stana de Vale and the only mean
of transportation to the resort, besides the personal
or rental car is the bus-ride that leaves from the train
station every day.

UTILITIES
Starting with 1995, the resort is in continuous
development concerning utilities. In the beginning
years Stanza de Vale was known for its camping
areas and the freedom of self exploring activities for
tourists. Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer spots
for camping, all of which are well determined and closely supervised.

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The resort offers the possibilities for practicing ski, snowboarding and other
winter sports, due to the rich quantity of snow falling in the cold season and to specific
equipment existing in the resort:
Lately, the resort has concentrated its attention on developing in the sense of
expanding the ski slopes and the winter sport utilities.
Presently Stana de Vale has:

 5 ski slopes for different levels;

 2 snowboarding slopes;
 3 ice-skating rings;
 650 meters long cable ski;
 1250 meters long cable car.

The management of the resort is aiming to at least double the numbers of these
equipments by 2012 and also to bring in new ones that will attract more tourists every
year. The new equipment will include an artificial snow blower, modern cable cars and 2
new gondola lines.
Concerning the restaurants and hotels in the resort, the official numbers are
summed up in the following table:
Table nr.1 Accommodation and alimentation units

Year Hotels Hotels with B&B Cottages Restaurant Camping

restaurant s* spaces
1990 3 2 0 4 12 124
1995 14 12 5 26 42 124
2000 28 25 56 87 45 105
2005 32 30 63 91 52 95
2010 65 56 64 85 55 60

Source: Revista Turistului Roman nr. 31, www.turisminromania.ro/index/stana-de-vale-23f56/

*includes all types of public alimentation units (restaurants, fast-foods, bars and pubs,
etc.).
Besides the accommodation and alimentation units shown above, there are 43 spa
and treatment units existent in and around the resort that offer accommodation and
meal tickets to several restaurants in the resort. These spa centers have around 6500
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single, double or family rooms available all year round that can include or not the spa
treatments and curative services.
Furthermore, the hotels and other accommodation centers in the resort are rated
with stars or daisies as follows:

Number

2 37 21

3 84 32

4 28 12

In Stana de Vale resort, the locals are very involved in tourist entertainment and
along with the activities that the resort offers, the local
are offering their own activities for those looking for
more exciting experiences. Mainly the locals are
offering accommodation to tourist in their own homes
and acting as hosts, guides and taking part in their
activities. Tourists are very receptive to this kind of
vacations as they get to live a day like the locals,
doing everyday chores for the locals just to
experience that kind of life.
Regarding to restaurants, the majority of existing
units either choose to serve Romanian traditional
food or European style meals for all of those tourists

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that are not agreeing Romanian food. On the other hand there are many fast-food
centers that are much cheaper and handy for tourists.
Nevertheless, lately many locals got the custom to organize a weekend fare that
includes all meal made by locals, with organic ingredients and traditional dishes which
include the famous “Sheppard’s meal” (Pranzul Baciului) that is very appreciated by
tourists as it includes freshly made sheep cheese, bacon, onion and hot homemade
bread.

ATTRACTIONS

Besides as a ski resort, Stana de Vale is also known for its summer vacancies in the
wild, with a series of touristic attractions, beautiful sceneries and unique hiking routes.
There are being organized trips to Izvorul Minunilor, Cascada Iadolina, hiking routes
through 16 official tracks, all of which pass the biggest waterfall in Romania, Saritoarea
Bohodei (96 meters high), trips to Pestera ursilor, Pesterile Freice, Oceasa, Alunului si
Meziad, and furthermore they also organize
barbeques, camping trips and camp fires.
From early spring to late autumn, the
healthy climate is determining tourists to visit
this resort not only for its therapeutic
advantage but also for sight-seeing, as there
are numerous waterfalls like Iadolina,
Iedutului, Moara Dracului, and one of the most
beautiful tourist attraction in Romania, Cetatile
Ponorului.
Cetatile Ponorului is one of the biggest
karsts centers (landforms created as a result
of erosion of limestone by underground
waters) in Romania. Also known as The
Everest of Romanian Speleology (the science
of cave study), this center was mentioned for

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the first time in 1886 by Nagy Sandor. The first 300 meters of the cave were explored by
the Speleological Institute of Cluj team in 1949 and only in 1957 another team reaches
the end of the cave and in 1972 a mountaineering team succeeds to climb the 126
meter high wall of the cave’s end without finding any continuance trail. Nowadays the
explorations are still continuing.
The caves of Ponor are situated on the Karst surface of Padis at 950 meters high,
approximately 2 hours hike from Stana de Vale, on the blue trail. The cave has a main
gallery of 2 km long of impressive dimensions in which probably the largest
underground river in Romania floats creating waterfalls. The entrance in the cave is
made through a door which is 70 meters high and 30 meters wide and actually carves
the first valley which is enormous (300mters deep and 1000 meters diameter).
After passing the naturally lighted area, the trail gets much more difficult to pass as
there are several rocks and tree trunks that built barricades and waterfalls. After
reaching the main gallery, you pass into the Camp Hall followed by the first navigable
lake. After passing more barricades, 5 impressive halls and lakes you reach the biggest
lake which is 85 meters long and the first stone sculptures in the Stone Flowers Hall
with gorgeous stalagmites. The following portion
looks to be partially flooded by lakes 10, 11 and
12 but continue with The Venetian Gallery which
is the highest 115 meters high and ends with the
last spring.
The cave can be visited by tourists at the
surface but in the underground gallery too up to
Camp Hall but further then that only experienced
speleologists are allowed to enter.
The mineral water spring called Izvorul
Minunilor is known not only for its healthy
chemical ingredients but also for its story. The
story says that long ago the land was separated
between two kings, the King of Fire and the King
of Ice, which were always in war and always wanted to have the other’s half to add to

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his kingdom. Both kings had children at the

same time. One had a girl and the other one a
boy. The story says that the war between the
kings lasted until The Princess of ice met the
Prince of Fire and fell in love, and from that love
sprang the Wonder Spring that melt the Land of
Ice and put out the fire from the Land of Fire.

The waterfall from Stana de Vale resort is

the biggest in Romania, approximately 96

meters high, flowing over a massive cliff

creating an impressive “V” shaped waterfall.
The access to the waterfall is made
through the path called Valea Aleului, which
twists and turns passing along multiple
waterfalls that create a unique scenario.

Furthermore, another attraction feature

for tourists all over the country and world are the 16 hiking paths that surround and
cross the area offering beautiful sceneries all year round.

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All paths are accessible for tourists on their own but there are also many guides
available for those less experienced in the wild. Furthermore, the hiking paths are
divided on difficulty categories and all of them pass the important attractions.

ENTERTAINMENT

Recently, the resort has started to develop more and more entertainment centers.
Traditionally the resort was thought to be a treatment and spa resort, which did not
involve many activities except the daily treatment program and visiting the main tourist
attractions.
Lately Stana de Vale became a well known
resort for its offers in the winter season, mainly for
skiers and those that practiced any winter sport.
Thereby, the resort developed after ski
entertainment centers as well as night
entertainment centers. Therefore, the station has
one cinema, one mall, and approximately 15 bars
and pubs.
The resort can be described as a very active
resort as everything there is to do there involves
some kind of movement. Thereby, even the bars
and pubs are either discos or plain liquor bars that

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have some kind of games like pool tables, darts, foosball tables and bawling tracks, that
entertain customers.
For visitors entertainment also the locals are organizing traditional fares, wearing
their traditional costumes and teaching tourists about their cultural heritage, the
traditional dances, and food.
There are also more modern activities for tourists like ATV cars and mountain biking
routs and motocross competitions. For those looking for a human-nature connection
there are organized bird-watching trips, bear-watching and hunting.

HANDLIST

1. www.wikipedia.ro/stana-de-vale.34h58.
2. www.turismroman.ro/arhiva/date/35fa225/stana_de_vale.pdfg.pdf

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3. www.rtr.ro/files/index/bihor.txt
4. www.roturism.ro/home/publicatii/cazare-stana-de-vale/113872sc/
5. www.izvorulminunilor.ro/home/istoric
6. www.romaniasiturisuml.com/blogspot/george/album-stana-de-vale/

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