Descending 48 metres underground only to find yourself standing before a block of ice that has existed for over 4,000 years — that is the magic of Scărișoara Ice Cave. Home to the largest subterranean glacier in Romania, this extraordinary place in the Apuseni Mountains offers a journey back to the Ice Age without leaving the Carpathians.

The adventure begins at the surface with a dramatic natural shaft — an aven some 60 metres wide, opening up in the forest at the edge of a karst plateau. A narrow path carved into the rock and metal ladders anchored into the walls guide you down to the bottom, where a thick layer of snow lies even in the height of summer. From there, a portal 24 metres wide and 17 metres tall leads into the 'Great Hall', whose floor is the glacier itself — a solid ice block of 80,000 m³ that has been here for millennia. To the right, the ice floor drops steeply into a section called the 'Church', where the first ice stalagmites appear. This is the tourist zone; beyond it lie two scientific reserves filled with more ice formations and spectacular cave decorations — stalactites, columns, curtains and cave corals. The Coman Gallery descends to the cave's maximum depth of 105 metres, where it comes within just a few metres of the neighbouring Pojarul Poliței cave.

• From Gârda de Sus village centre (Arieș Mare valley, 32 km from Câmpeni on DN75) — red cross marked trail via Mununa hamlet, approx. 10 km, moderate difficulty.
• Paved road through the Ordâncușa valley (23 km) to the Ghețar hamlet — most convenient option by car.
• Forest road through Mununa from the Gârda Seacă valley (12 km from the junction).

• The cave is open to visitors and has a team of licensed guides.
• Temperatures inside are well below freezing all year round — bring a warm jacket regardless of the season.
• Entry involves descending metal ladders in the aven shaft — not suitable for visitors with significant mobility issues.
• Protected as a speleological nature reserve since 1938.

Ice cores drilled here in 2005 allowed scientists to reconstruct 4,000 years of local climate history — including when fires swept the region and when the ancient Dacians were mining gold in these very mountains.