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Bran, Romania
Romania

Things to do in Bran

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Bran

A village at the mouth of the pass between Transylvania and Wallachia, with a customs castle on a rock above the road. It is the most visited monument in the country and the reason is a novel whose author never came here. The castle is worth seeing on its own terms, as a fourteenth century toll post later turned into Queen Marie's country house. What surrounds it is a market of vampire souvenirs, and the way to enjoy the place is to arrive before the coaches and then keep driving south into the pass.

4 places on record

Things to do

4

  1. Bats Cave

    Landmark · 1.5 hr

    A cave in the limestone above the Rucăr-Bran corridor with about a kilometre of surveyed passage, used by several bat colonies and open on guided visits only. It is a genuine cave rather than a lit walkway.

  2. Bran Castle

    Castle · 1.5 hr

    A customs fortress of 1377 on a rock above the pass, given to Queen Marie in 1920 and furnished by her as a residence, which is the interior visitors actually see. Bram Stoker never visited Romania and Vlad the Impaler almost certainly never held it.

  3. Conacul Bratescu

    Hotel

    A 1900s manor house on the hillside above the village, restored as a small hotel with a library and a walled garden, and far enough from the castle car park to be quiet.

  4. Rucăr-Bran Pass

    Viewpoint · 2 hr

    The corridor between the Bucegi and the Piatra Craiului that carried the trade and the customs post, running south through hay meadows and scattered shepherd holdings. It is the drive that explains why the castle is where it is.

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