Castles & Palaces
Bran Castle in Transylvania at dusk, Romania

10 historic sites

Castles in Romania

Transylvania's medieval fortresses and Carpathian mountain citadels make Romania one of Europe's last great castle frontiers. Less visited but no less spectacular than its western neighbours, Romania offers extraordinary castle heritage without the summer crowds.

Alba Iulia Citadel (Cetatea Alba Iulia) in Transylvania, Romania — Gate III (the Kaisertor) of the Habsburg Baroque star fort built 1716–1735, with relief sculptures depicting Habsburg military victories and the Cathedral of Saint Michael beyond

romania · Transylvania, Alba County

Alba Iulia Citadel

The Baroque star fort where Romania was born — a Habsburg military citadel built in 1716 on Roman and medieval foundations, where the union of Transylvania with Romania was proclaimed in 1918 and the first Romanian kings were crowned in 1922

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Mogoșoaia Palace's Brâncovenesc loggia reflected in the lake near Bucharest, Romania

romania · Ilfov County

Mogoșoaia Palace

The finest surviving example of Wallachia's own architectural tradition, built by a prince beheaded for it

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Rupea Fortress (Cetatea Rupea) on its basalt rock above the Olt valley in Brașov County, Transylvania, Romania — the three levels of the medieval Saxon refuge fortress restored by a 2010–2013 EU-funded project

romania · Brașov County, Transylvania

Rupea Fortress

Transylvania's Saxon refuge fortress on a basalt rock — Rupea commands the Olt valley corridor from a natural volcanic outcrop, with a Bronze Age Dacian presence, a medieval cistern carved from the rock, and a 2013 EU-funded restoration

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Făgăraș Fortress (Cetatea Făgărașului) in Transylvania, Romania — the best-preserved water-moated castle in Romania, with its continuously filled moat, corner bastions, and the Făgăraș Mountains in the background

romania · Transylvania, Brasov County

Făgăraș Fortress

The best-preserved water-moated fortress in Transylvania — built by the Voivodes of Wallachia in 1310, standing in the open farmland beneath the Făgăraș Mountains, surrounded by a moat that has been filled continuously for 700 years

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Bran Castle perched on its limestone rock in the Bran Pass, Transylvania, at dusk

romania · Transylvania

Bran Castle

Transylvania's Dracula Castle — Gothic, dramatic and more complex than the legend

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Cetatea de Scaun a Sucevei — the Throne Citadel of Suceava above the city in Bukovina, Romania, the medieval fortress of Stephen the Great and seat of the Moldavian princely throne from 1388 to 1565

romania · Bukovina / Suceava County

Citadel of Suceava

The throne fortress of Stephen the Great — the Moldavian medieval citadel above Suceava where the 47-year reign that made Moldavia a European power was conducted, now 20+ years into a comprehensive restoration

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Peleș Castle in Sinaia — Neo-Renaissance towers and painted gables rising from Carpathian mountain forest

romania · Wallachia / Carpathians

Peleș Castle

Romania's fairy-tale mountain palace — 160 rooms of Neo-Renaissance splendour in the Carpathians

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Poenari Castle ruins on the limestone crag above the Argeș River gorge, reached by 1,480 steps from the Transfăgărășan road below — Vlad the Impaler's cliff-top fortress in Argeș County, Romania

romania · Arefu, Argeș County, Wallachia

Poenari Castle

Vlad the Impaler's real fortress — a ruined clifftop citadel reached by 1,480 steps, far wilder than Bran

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Corvin Castle in Hunedoara, Transylvania — Gothic towers and drawbridge rising dramatically above the Zlasti river

romania · Transylvania

Corvin Castle

The most dramatic Gothic castle in Eastern Europe — turrets, a bear pit, and a Vlad the Impaler legend

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Chindia Tower (Turnul Chindiei) at the Curtea Domnească of Târgoviște — the 15th-century tower built by Vlad the Impaler at the medieval capital of Wallachia

romania · Dâmbovița County, Wallachia

Royal Court of Târgoviște

The medieval capital of Wallachia — Vlad the Impaler's princely court and the Chindia Tower he built

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