01/09/2026
There are tens of thousands of pictures of the Transalpina out there, but I bet not many people have seen what it looked like back when it was nothing more than a rocky, sometimes muddy, long dirt road.
The story of the Transalpina may go back to Roman times, when Trajan, Emperor of Rome, invaded Dacia. According to the old tradition, the Roman legions used this route to cross the Carpathians and reach the heart of Dacia.
The passage through the Olt Valley was heavily fortified and well defended by the Dacians, so the Roman legions are said to have taken a detour over the mountains.
Even today, there are remains and traces that are associated with the old Roman military routes in the area.
The name Transalpina itself is Latin, meaning roughly “the land beyond the mountains”, and the name has survived through the centuries.
After the Roman retreat, the trail was used mainly for transhumance, by Transylvanian shepherds travelling south with their flocks, crossing the mountains towards Wallachia.
For centuries, it remained little more than a difficult mountain trail, known locally as “Poteca Dracului” — the Devil’s Path.
Then, during the reign of King Carol II, things changed.
Learning the lessons of the First World War, the King wanted a strategic road that could be used by military forces and mountain artillery to move between Transylvania and Wallachia.
The reconstruction works took place between 1934 and 1939. In 1939, King Carol II himself drove across the entire route in an off-road vehicle, accompanied by the future King Michael I and Prime Minister Gheorghe Tătărescu.
After its inauguration, the road became known as “Drumul Regelui” — the King’s Road.
It was later rehabilitated again during the Second World War, when the Germans needed it for military purposes.
For decades afterwards, it was barely maintained and remained a rough, difficult mountain road, accessible mainly to off-road vehicles.
Then, in 2009, the modernisation and paving works began, transforming the old rocky trail into the spectacular road we know today.
Some say its modernisation was the ambition of the president of that time. Others say it was simply the moment when the authorities finally understood the importance of tourism, as well as the strategic value of a fast connection between southern Romania and Transylvania.
Whatever the reason, the important thing is that it slowly became one of the most prized roads in Romania, loved by drivers and, above all, by bikers from all over the world.
Imagine that this road had to compete for fame with the Transfăgărășan, the road made famous worldwide by Top Gear.
And not only did it bravely face that unequal competition, it won it, according to the tens of thousands of people who have ridden it.
We had been exploring it long before 2007, when the reconstruction works began.
This is what the Transalpina looked like in 2006.
