One should get bonus points having visited this remote and obscure site. Only 6 registered WHS enthusiasts did so before me - this puts the Dacian Fortresses on the same difficulty level as Nisa (Turkmenistan) or Sana'a (Yemen). Information about the site, practical or historic, is hard to get. The more interesting ones that I found on the web I've added to the Links section at the left of this webpage.

I planned to visit Costesti (2 locations) and mainly Sarmizegetusa Regia. Finding it is easy nowadays: the Dacian sites of Costesti are signposted from the main road in Orastie. All went very smoothly until I had to start the unpaved road to Sarmizegetusa Regia. It's 18km long and full of potholes. Unfortunately, it rained too, so that made driving there in a non-4WD even more adventurous. My effort ended about 2km from the site, where the road is full of loose stones and starts to go uphill. I didn't want to get stuck here, I doubt there will be more than a handful of visitors daily. So I parked the car at the side of the road and hiked the remaining part. It was still raining but I felt very determined in getting there!

After many turns, I finally arrived at a signboard "Sarmizegetusa Regia". From there it's still a short walk through the forest. There I already saw part of the Dacian road (impressively flat) and defense towers. The main complex is on an open field. I had seen pictures of it beforehand, but I still was impressed by the scale and variety of the remains. Especially the huge solar disc draw my attention.

Rain was still pouring so I didn't stay for long (I was also afraid that all the rain would make the road even worse). But I arrived safely back in Costesti. I had a look around how to get to the two fortresses here, but they are only accessible on foot (40-60 minutes). I decided against that as I already had enough of walking in the rain. On a summer day however this will be a wonderful trip, the scenery along the road is lovely (a river, a couple of farms and a mixed forest).