Bran Castle
Bran Castle is situated 30 km from Brasov, between the Bucegi and Piatra Craiului mountains, on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia (Muntenia).
The castle is famous around the world as being Count Dracula's (a Bram Stoker character based on Vlad the Impaler) castle despite having little to do with the mentioned character. This nickname is the result of the castle being "cast" in multiple film adaptations of the "Dracula" book by Bram Stoker. Fortunately, the local economy speculated this connection to the maximum, many t-shirts and other souvenirs with Dracula and the castle being available for tourists.
The castle was built by the Teutonic Knights around 1212 after they had been relocated in the area from Palestine.
Tourists can visit the castle either alone or as part of a tour. As an extra, there is an ethnographic museum of the village of Bran nearby. The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday between 09:00 and 17:00 and closed on Monday.
The prices in 2006 were:
- 12 RON per person - for both Romanians and foreigners;
- 6 RON - for students and military personnel;
If you plan on bringing a photo camera or a video camera, there are special taxes for them, of around 10 RON for the photo camera and double for the video camera.
The Bran Castle was confiscated by the Communist government in 1948 after being seized from Princess Ileana of Romania. The Romanian government returned the castle in 2006 to Dominic von Habsburg, an architect from New York and the Princess' son.
Accommodation
Please visit our page of Bran hotels to get further information on Bran accommodation or to comment or rate a specific hotel.