A night at Dracula’s Castle in Transylvania was right up my alley. Airbnb and its partners once sponsored a contest with a chance to win an exclusive event and stay at Bran Castle on Halloween night. The contest’s submission page advertised velvet-trimmed coffins placed in a dark, candlelit room enclosed by stone walls draped with dark curtains. You know, the typical vampire lair. A vampire lair! That is all it took to grab my attention and draw me in. Into a trap, that is.

Bran Castle had been on my radar for quite some time. Since seeing Airbnb’s contest, I had looked for cheap flights to Romania every autumn. I figured visiting the castle would make for the perfect Halloween weekend trip. I had no plans to travel to Europe in January. I was excited to finally visit Turkmenistan over the long holiday weekend. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a letter of invitation in time, which is a requirement for the visa. Airfare to Bucharest from Chicago was trending at an all-time low. Decision made. Romania for the weekend it was!

Bucharest
It only took me about an hour to convince my best friend Katie to join me on this Eastern Europe weekend trip. Less than two weeks later, we arrived at Henri Coanda International Airport in Bucharest on the evening of Friday, January 12, 2018. I booked a three-night stay at the Little Bucharest Old Town Hostel in a private double room.

When booking accommodations, location is most important to me. The hostel is situated in the heart of Bucharest’s Old Town, the center of all the action – Restaurants. Bars. Nightclubs. Exactly where we wanted to be. Getting around Bucharest is cheap. Uber operates throughout the city. But, we wanted to be within walking distance of the city’s nightlife.

First impression? The people are beautiful. From the time that we left the airport to the time that we arrived at dinner, we must have tapped each other on the shoulder and said, “Look at him!” about a hundred times. Speaking of food, Romanian cuisine is equally as delicious as the people. We had dinner at Caru’ cu bere on our first night in Bucharest and at Taverna Covaci on our third. Caru’ cu bere is the place to be – the most recommended restaurant in Romania. Opened in 1879 and moved to its current location in 1899, the Romanian restaurant is located inside of a beautiful gothic revival building and puts on traditional dance performances throughout the night. The restaurant draws in large crowds, and felt very touristy.

We tried Palinka (traditional fruit brandy) and Mici (grilled ground meat rolls) at Caru’ cu bere.

Taverna Covaci offers a similar dining experience, but felt more authentic.

Here, we finally tried Papanasi (Romanian traditional fried pastry, filled with a soft cheese and topped with sour jam).

All delicious, but heavy food.

Ploiesti. Sinaia. Bran. Brasov.
Bran Castle was the destination – the only reason for our weekend trip. Given its popularity, day trips from Bucharest to visit “Dracula’s Castle” are abundant. Prior to arriving in Romania, I booked the “Castles of the Prahova Valley Private Tour” with Adrian on ToursByLocals for the same price of a group tour.

The next morning was our first full day in Romania. Adrian picked us up from the hostel in his Fiat and we immediately started driving towards the city of Ploiesti. About two hours later, we arrived at Peles Castle.

I really did not know anything about Romania or its history. All I knew was that this Neo-Renaissance castle is situated in the Carpathian Mountains and has one scenic backdrop. We definitely spent more time outside of the castle than walking around inside.

On our way out of Ploiesti, we made a quick stop at the Sinaia Monastery before heading to Bran.

Approaching the castle, I already started to experience mixed emotions.

Even from a distance, the castle did not look anything like the pictures on Google Images.

Keeping an open mind, we walked up the famous steps and entered the castle.

Disappointment. We felt so disappointed. Adrian laughed at our expectations. We expected Bram Stoker’s imaginary depiction of Dracula’s Castle. We expected lamp-lit corridors and creepy nooks, as advertised by Airbnb. Instead, we only got squeaky staircases. No velvet. No coffins. No Dracula. Bran Castle did not live up to its hype. Opinions are subjective, but in my opinion, Bran Castle is overrated – it is just another medieval castle.

On the way back, we made a quick stop in Brasov to see the Black Church.

Surrounded by colorful baroque buildings, we walked around the cobbled old town.

Exhausted, we napped the entire drive back to Bucharest. A little less than three hours later, we said our goodbyes to Adrian and decided to experience the city’s nightlife on a bar crawl organized by Bucharest 2Night before taking a day trip to Bulgaria a few hours later [see post: Over the Border: Day Trip to Bulgaria].