Romania has had very little snow and unusually high temperatures so far this winter and many ski slopes are still closed.

However, up in the mountains, there are some places where the snow is good for skiing while in lower altitude resorts, some ski slopes are covered with artificial snow.

The best places to ski right now in Romania are at Ranca, in Gorj county, and Straja, in Hunedoara county. At Ranca, the medium snow layer is 32 centimeters while at Straja there are 27 centimeters of snow, according to RomaniaTuristica.ro tourism portal.

However, ony one of the five sky slopes at Ranca, a privately operated one, has been open in the past days, according to Digi24 news station. The other four slopes, which are managed by the local authorities, have been closed as they don’t have equipment to make artificial snow.

Tourists can reach Ranca via the Transalpina high altitude road. It takes a 4-hour drive to get from Bucharest to Ranca, as the shortest route is some 280 kilometers.

It takes over 5 and a half hours to get to Straja, some 340 kilometers away from Bucharest. The ski resort is located near the Valea Jiului coal mining region.

The Valea Prahovei ski resorts are closer to Bucharest. The best conditions for skiing here are at Sinaia, on the Valea Dorului and Valea Soarelui slopes. Azuga also has some open slopes. The slopes in Busteni and Predeal, however, are closed.

A little farther away, at Poiana Brasov, the slopes are open, but the conditions are not great as the warm weather makes it hard to maintain the artificial snow layer.

Some of the ski slopes at Paltinis, near Sibiu, are also open, as are those at Arieseni, in the Apuseni Mountains, some 140 kilometers west of Cluj-Napoca.

Up north, you can also go skiing at Cavnic, near Baia-Mare, in Maramures.

As the weather is expected to get colder on the following days and some new snowfall is expected in the mountains, more ski slopes may open in Romania for those who want to start the new year skiing.

editor@romania-insider.com