Romania is enchanting and captivating as it is mysterious. My husband, sister and I decided to have a city getaway in March 2021 in the midst of a house renovation – so what better way than to spend a long weekend in Romania. Nestled between Moldova, Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria, Romania is known for its dark forests and its iconic Transylvania. We decided to take a day trip from Bucharest to Transylvania to explore Peles Caste, Bran Castle and Brasov. We booked this group tour via get youyourguide.com and we paid £30 each where we were joined by 6 other people who booked the same tour. I would definitely recommend booking this online in advance as it sells out quickly!

The tour guide picked us up at 7am in front of our hotel and then we started the journey to our first stop – Peles Castle.

Peles Castle

Located in the Carpathian Mountains of the Prahova County, Peles Castle was home to Romania’s first king, Carol I in the 19^th century. We were blown away by its beauty and is one of most stunning castles I’ve ever seen – it looks like it came straight from the pages of a fairy-tale!

Our tour guide led us around this massive structure and explained about its importance and history. The castle was one of the first places to show movies in Romania and the first castle in Europe to be lit by electricity.  

As we went on a Monday, the castle was actually closed so we couldn’t go inside, but I feel that the castle is so beautiful from the outside, It didn’t really matter. The castle features a magnificent garden filled with unique sculptures, plants and walls which can make walking through really enjoyable.

After exploring the grounds and taking a few photos, we walked back to the minibus when we continued onto the famous Bran Castle.

Bran Castle

Bran Castle, or famously known worldwide as Dracula’s Castle. The tour guide was able to sneak us into just the main grounds so that we could take a few pictures and then explore it on our own. This old fortress was built in 1211 and was once home to many of Romania’s royal family before it got turned into a museum.

The tour guide explained that Bran Castle is the only castle in Romania that fits Bram Stoker’s description of Dracula’s castle in his classic horror novel from 1897. Bram Stoker never actually visited Romania but he depicted the imaginary Dracula’s castle as being located high above a valley and it being perched on a rick with a flowing river below.

Though Dracula is pure fiction, Stoker named his infamous character after a real person that lived in now Transylvania who have a taste for blood: Vlad Tepes, Prince of Wallachia or better known as Vlad the Impaler. Vlad Tepes impaled over 20,000 people in his lifetime but his only connection to the castle is that his army through Bran several times.  The name Dracula actually from his father’s surname, Vlad Dracul which means “the Devil” in Romanian.

As we visited the castle in Winter, it was so beautiful seeing the snow settle on its ground and it actually a lot eerier and more hunted in the morning fog.

After being shouted at by the Romanian security guard and having a snowball fight with Khaled and Yaz, we made our way (or more like sprinted) to the minibus for a lunch stop at Brasov before the 3 hour journey back to the hotel.

Brasov

The city of Brasov is located near Bran Caste and is the gateway into Translyania and so is one of Romania’s most visited cities. It is very small and you could probably cover the entire city in less than an hour.

The first thing we spotted when entering the city is that it has its own Hollywood sign on the mountain, which was cute.

By this point, my sister Yasmin made sure she made friends with pretty much everyone on the minibus (there were two guys from Greece, a mum-in-law and daughter duo and then there was this elderly man who loved travelling on his own). So when our tour guide dropped us off in the heart of the old town, we made our way with the newly-found group for lunch in the buzzing square, Piata Sgatului to enjoy some traditional Romanian food. We decided to sit outside to soak up the atmosphere and I ordered polenta mash and beef dish which was delicious.

We then parted from the group so we could explore. The Piata Sfatului has an ancient clock tower from the 13^th-century town hall which chimes every hour and the square is filled with locals meeting for lunch and the sound of the dancing water fountain. I can imagine it being really nice in the summer.

Another main attraction here is the Black Church which is right next to the town’s square. It is the largest Gothic church in Eastern Europe and stands our next to the cute pastel-coloured buildings surround it. The church got its names from a 1689 fire that destroyed the interior and blacked the walls.

We finally made our way back to the minibus. It was a 3-hour long journey back to Bucharest but we all slept the whole way as we were exhausted from the early start and jam-packed day. We had the best day out and this is one of the highlights of our short weekend break to Romania.