Visit Transylvania

The Dracula myth is one of the biggest Hollywoodian creations of the XX century. The Bram Stoker novel, Dracula published in 1897 was transformed by the Americans movies into a universal humanity brand. Everybody knows something about Dracula, about the vampire legends, about the Prince Vlad the Impaler, about his Castle from Transylvania.

And after the publicity starts the business in Transylvania, Romania…

Now we have three castles in Transylvania that are fighting each other for the Drácula heritage.

Bran Castle

1. The Bran Castle is known like the Dracula Castle by a false publicity, by his proximity to Bucharest, by his beautiful medieval image, etc. Now this general mistake is a truth!

In fact, the Dracula castle imagined by Bram Stoker in his book is situated in Borgo Pass, close to Bistrita city, near the border with Bucovina, into the Carpathian Mountains. Bran Castle is situated at 300 kilometres south from the Bram Stoker Real Dracula Castle.

But the mass-media, the travel companies and the public ignorance made from Bran Castle the most popular tourist attraction from Transylvania – the Dracula Castle.

When you are visiting the Bran Castle from Transylvania you want to see the real Dracula face, the truth story of the Prince Vlad the Impaler and nothing from there reveal this. The Bran Castle has nothing conected with the Count Dracula. Just the market products, souvenirs from outside remember the Dracula tourist attraction. Some tourists are disappointed, others are enthusiastic…

Dracula Communist Castle

2. We must admit that the tourists from all over the world want a real castle of Dracula. The Romanian Communist Party in the time of Nicolae Ceausescu made one: a hotel in the Borgo Pass. So now we have 2 castles: the commercial castle from Bran and the Communist Dracula Castle from Borgo Pass, in the district of Bistrita-Nasaud.

This hotel – castle is also a commercial attraction without any historical relevance and any architectural style, but situated on the road to Bucovina, into the Borgo Pass like the Bram Stoker book. More than this, the communists made a scary show by improvising a downstairs cellar where you can see the Dracula tomb. In fact, an actor is painted and dressed like the American Dracula icon and attack the tourist by frighten them when the light is unexpectedly closed. In general all the tourists are getting out laughing and smiling. This was the Communist Dracula…

Dracula winter Castle from Arcalia

3. The Third Dracula Castle is the Arcalia Castle from the same Bistrita-Nasaud County, known like the Dracula winter Castle. We speak about another legend invented by the local people. How the Transylvanian winter is difficult and the meteorological and transport condition to Borgo Pass are hard, the Arcalia Castle is the closed castle from the Carpathian Mountains. It is situated near the Bistrita city (the town visited by Jonathan Harker in his voyage to the Dracula Castle), at the bourn of the mountains with the filed of Transylvania. This castle less known is an authentic one and is situated in the middle of a deontological park. The Dracula winter castle is build by a strange Hungarian nobleman into the Byzantine style in the XIX century. This Castle is an estate of the University Babes-Bolyai from Cluj-Napoca (the most important Transylvanian University) and here every year is making an aristocratic New Year Party, like the old romantic balls from XIX century that inspired Bram Stoker.

So if you want to find the Real Dracula Castle from Transylvania, you must admit that just in the imagination exists one and for your visit in Transylvania you have three alternatives, pick the one you like best!

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Arcalia Real Dracula Castle?

How the Transylvanian winters are hard winters, the legend says that the Count Dracula is getting down in the winter period from his Carpathian Castle from Borgo Pass to the Arcalia Castle. So, the Dracula Winter Castle from Transylvania is the Arcalia Castle.

The Dracula Winter Castle from Arcalia is situated at 60 kilometers from the Dracula Castle from Borgo Pass, at the border between the Carpathian Mountains and the Field of Transylvania, at just 15 kilometers from the Bistrita City, the last town where Jonathan Harker arrived from London in his travel to meet the Count Dracula.

Dracula dinner Castle Arcalia

The Dracula Winter Castle from Arcalia is a unique castle from Transylvania. It was built in the XIX century by a strange Hungarian aristocrat that has no relatives today and his coat of arms is a snake.

The Dracula Winter Castle from Arcalia is different from the others castles and palaces from Transylvania: is the singular castle built in the Byzantine style. An extraordinary combination of 5 onion domes, 4 towers with crenels, Byzantine arch windows, 4 similar entrances for each cardinal point, just one floor, big stairs all over and a huge cellar.  The main entrance is leading you into an imposing lobby; from here you enter into a solemn dining hall, on the left are the ballroom and next is the library. Each one of his 4 towers is in fact a bedroom. No kitchen. No chapel…

When you are inside you have the feeling that here nobody is cooking, just waiting the guests for the dinner and the sleep, maybe more than a sleep in the empty underneath cellar…

Transylvania Carriage

The Dracula Castle from Bran is a medieval castle, here at Dracula Winter Castle from Arcalia, Bistritz you meet a romantic castle like in the Bram Stoker Dracula novel.

The Arcalia Castle is situated into a botanic park with tree species from all over the world. It seems like a world traveler get tree seeds from the entire globe to have it in his own garden.

It is strange that near the Dracula Arcalia Castle are living gypsy families. They are working on the estate like the gypsies from the Bram Stoker book.

Maybe this Castle is not a legend and it is the Real Dracula Castle?