Description
Moneasa, nicknamed ”Perla Apusenilor” (”Pearl of the Apuseni Mountains”) lies at an altitude of almost 300 meters, at the foothill of the Codru Moma Mountains. The resort is known since the 16th century, being appreciated mostly for its mesothermal springs. The title of resort was given by the Imperial Ministry of the Interior of Vienna, in 1886.
The only cave open to the public in Arad County offers visitors a spectacular journey into the underground world of the Codru-Moma Mountains. The cave features a 200-meter fully electrified route and can only be visited through guided tours led by specialists. What you can discover inside: the artificial access tunnel, the "Cave Paintings Gallery – Coliboaia Cave" exhibition (dating back approximately 36,000 years), authentic fossils of the cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), and the impressive and spectacular Czárán Gyula Hall. The cave was developed for tourists in the spring of 2025 by the Transilvania Cave Diving company.
The Belvedere Point from Moneasa has been furnished by the Moneasa City Hall with the help of Forestry Office Sebiș-Moneasa and the County Public Service Salvamont-Salvaspeo Arad.
You can reach the Belvedere Point by following the Moneasa-ruins of the iron melting furnace-red marble quarry (red point marker) trail or by following the access road towards the quarry. From there to the Belvedere Point you need to take 200 meter long trail to reach it (double white and red circle marker).
The public pools from Moneasa has three pools with a depth from 80 cm to 1,90 metres, with water from a thermomineral spring with a temperature of 31 °C, having beneficial effects for one's health.
The church in Moneasa is an Orthodox one. It is located on a hilltop, right in the center of the village. Its cornerstone was laid on the 29th of June 2010 and the church was put under the patronage of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
Next to the area of the public baths there is the park of the resort which comprises paved alleys, benches, coniferous trees, squirrels and birds. Also located here we got the stone sculpture gallery.
The Village Museum in Moneasa features a collection of old objects that reconstruct the traditional household: tools, furniture, pottery, newspapers, costumes, etc. The museum can be visited upon request by calling the following phone number: 0755 830 548.
Locals often tell that no one could visit Moneasa without taking a look at the thermal water lillies, located at Valea Văilor. Next to the lake lies the first villa built in the resort back in 1891, called ”Nufărul”, which belonged to the count Weincheim.
Also famous is the so called ”boatlake”, a small artificial lake on which you can enjoy a boat ride either using a simple boat or a pedal boat.
The black and red marble quarry is remarkable because of the modern rock exploitation methods, but most of all because of its impressive landscapes. The black marble is exploited at the basis and the red marble is exploited above it. During the exploitation many caves were discovered, but unfortunately most of them are either destroyed or inaccessible.
The iron melting oven from Moneasa is 10 meters high, built out of granite stone with brick trims in the interior. Nowadays we can still observe the vents used for supplying the fire and for the leaking of the cast iron and also those for the cooling procedure, the water being supplied from the creek nearby.
This oven is an important vestige of the intense activity of iron smelting of the 18th and 19th century.
