Bucegi · Moderate · There and back

Bucegi: Babele and the Sphinx to Omu

From the cable car at Babele past the Sphinx and across the Bucegi plateau to Omu, the highest hut in the Carpathians.

Distance
11.1 km (6.9 mi)
Ascent
348 m
Time
About 3 h 45 min
High point
2,497 m
Grade
Moderate

Line © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), checked by Global Adventurer.

0 km2 km4 km6 km8 km10 km2,496 m2,167 m
Move along the height chart to see each point on the map.
Bucegi: Babele and the Sphinx to Omu
Tiia Monto · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The walk

From the cable-car station at Babele, walk past the mushroom-shaped rocks that give the place its name, the old women, to the Sphinx, a rock that from one side looks like a human head. The path then heads north across the high, open Bucegi plateau, above the cliffs that drop to the Prahova valley, and climbs gently to the summit of Omu, where a stone cabin and a weather station stand at about 2,505 m. Return the same way.

It is 11.1 km there and back with 348 m of ascent; allow about 3½ hours. The grade is Moderate: a clear path over open grass and stones, with no shelter between Babele and Omu.

The plateau is exposed: fog makes it easy to lose the way, and snow can come from October. The cabin on Omu, the highest mountain hut in the Carpathians, opens from March to November and has no mains power or running water. Check the cable car from Bușteni is running before you set out; Babele can also be reached by road.

Park in Bușteni by the lower cable-car station.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.

Good to know

  • Babele, the old women, are mushroom-shaped rocks carved by erosion of layers of different hardness
  • The Sphinx nearby is a rock that looks like a human head from the right angle
  • The cabin on Omu, at about 2,505 m, is the highest mountain hut in the Carpathians; the first was built in 1888
  • Babele can be reached by cable car from Bușteni or by road

Summits on the way

  • Omu 2,507 m · passed close by

Getting there

Start: Babele, top of the Bușteni cable car. 45.40469, 25.47342

Directions to the start

Places to stay nearby

Rooms in and around Babele: Booking.com → Expedia →

Affiliate links: if you book, Global Adventurer earns a small commission at no cost to you.

Paths change, and the weather decides the day. The line and figures come from OpenStreetMap and our own checks; take a map, check the forecast, and turn back if it isn't right.