Let’s go straight to the point : it would be extremely unlikely for this site, lingering on Romania’s Tentative list since 1991 (since ever ?) to be inscribed one day. The area has been recognized as a UNESCO Geopark in 2015 and I believe it is fine that way and more appropriate than World Heritage status. It has a very low support rate for inscription on this website. That may be the reason for the absence of review so far – a good reason to write one !

As often with such (paleontological) sites, there is not a lot to see “in situ”. The location marked on this website is correct and accurate, as is the location named “Dinosaurs Valley” on Google Maps. You drive through the small village of Sanpetru (sometimes written as Sinpetru), then you park-as-you-can on the edge of the narrow road, and there you are : 20 meters from the road, a board with images of dinosaurs ; 50 meters further, an outcrop on a hill side with a few layers of rocks where the fossils were found, and that’s it, a 10-minute visit.

The day before, we had visited the Home of the Geopark in Hateg, a city with overwise no reason to stop at. The place has limited opening hours and days (during summer 2025 : Wed, Fri, Sat), we called in front of our visit to confirm someone would be present. Located in a regular house in the centre of the city (no big sign outside), we had a little bit the feeling to enter a private house when we pushed the door, until we met a group of three students, one of them turning as a guide after putting on his official badge. He made his best to introduce the Geopark to us in English and to guide us through the two-room exhibition. There are pictures of diggings and findings (i.e., fossils), eggs in a dinosaur’s nest, and in the second room, a tentative reconstitution of the local “Balaur Bondoc” dinosaur : a mix between a small raptor and a bird. The area at that time was a shallow sea with islands on which dinosaurs evolved to reduced sizes. By the way, we had also spotted on the map the “museum of dwarf dinosaurs” in the village of Sanpetru itself, but found the place closed. Our guide confirmed that place could not be visited at that moment (I could not get the reason why, and if it would reopen one day) and that the Home of Geopark was therefore the only “museum” to visit in relation with palaeontology in the area. The visit is free, but a donation at the end is welcome ; we saw no other visitors.

Even if you are still reading these lines, I doubt they increased your motivation to visit the Sanpetru palaeontological site. However, you should know that the countryside area around is nice, with few tourists but with several points of interest a few kilometres away : the Densus church (TWHS), the Retezat Mountain national park (TWHS) and the roman city of Ulpia Trajana, once the capital of Dacia Roman Province, now inscribed as part of the Dacian Limes and probably one of the best places in Romania to experience this WHS. Finally, Hateg city and nearby Sanpetru village are conveniently located on the way from Targu Jiu to the Dacian fortresses (Sarmizegetusa Regia), two other WHS. So why wouldn’t you stop there for a few minutes ?