Bucharest 4 Day Castle Trip (No Traps)
Four days fixes the one real flaw in our 3-day plan : instead of a 12-hour Bran-and-Brasov round trip from Bucharest, you stay the night in Brasov and add Rasnov Fortress and the Poiana Brasov cable car on day 4. Same castles, none of the grind. Want Sighisoara too? Our 6-day version has room for it.
Book these before you go:
- Your Bucharest hotel : for the first and last nights
- Your Brasov hotel : book ahead for summer weekends
- A Peles and Bran day tour : a guided option if you’d rather skip managing three separate trains
| Day | Focus | Travel time | Est. daily cost (RON) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrival, Old Town settle-in | 20-50 min from OTP | 100-150 |
| 2 | Peles and Pelisor castles, Sinaia | 75-90 min each way by train | 250-350 |
| 3 | Bran Castle and Brasov, overnight in Brasov | 2h15-4h Bucharest to Brasov | 350-450 |
| 4 | Rasnov Fortress, Poiana Brasov cable car | short local bus or taxi from Brasov | 150-250 |
Day 1: Land, settle in, don’t sightsee yet
Take the direct rail shuttle from Henri Coanda to Gara de Nord, about 6.50 RON, 20-25 minutes, or Express Bus 100 for roughly 3 RON and 40-50 minutes. Skip the metro idea entirely, Line M6 to the airport is still under construction. Check into Old Town, have an easy dinner, sleep early; the next three days are all on the move.
Day 2: Peles and Pelisor castles, Sinaia
Trains from Gara de Nord to Sinaia run several times daily, roughly 75-90 minutes, fares around 35-45 RON each way; check cfrcalatori.ro for current times. Peles Castle’s timed-slot system, in place since June 2025, caps entry at 2,000 visitors a day, book ahead. Full tour is 100 RON adult, 25 RON student; see peles.ro for hours and booking. Pelisor next door adds 30 RON. Back to Bucharest for the night.
Day 3: Bran Castle and Brasov, stay the night
Direct trains from Gara de Nord to Brasov take 2h15-4 hours depending on service, roughly 30 departures a day, fares 35-145 RON by class. Bran Castle’s “Dracula” branding is a marketing invention from the 1970s, Stoker never visited Romania and Vlad’s link to the castle is largely debunked, but it’s still a genuine 13th-century fortress worth the roughly 120 RON adult entry; check current pricing at bran-castle.com . This time, don’t rush back. Check into Brasov for the night and spend your evening in its Saxon old town rather than on a train.
Day 4: Rasnov Fortress and the Poiana Brasov cable car
Rasnov sits about 15km from Bran, an easy add-on if you haven’t already stopped there, entry 10 RON for anyone over 12, cards only; the interior is currently under rehabilitation, so check cetatea-rasnov.ro for what’s open before you go. A short drive away, the Postavaru cable car at Poiana Brasov runs Wednesday-Sunday, 9am-5pm, 20 RON one-way or 35 RON return, and gets you above the tree line for real mountain views without a hike. Train back to Bucharest by evening.
Do you need a car for this itinerary?
No, and it would slow you down. Every leg here runs by train or short local transfer, Bucharest-Sinaia, Bucharest-Brasov, Brasov-Rasnov-Poiana Brasov, and Romanian mountain roads plus Bucharest traffic make a rental car a liability rather than a shortcut. Book trains a day or two ahead in peak season and you won’t need to think about parking once.
Before you go
Book the Peles timed slot and your Brasov hotel before you fly; both sell out on summer weekends. Pack for genuinely different weather in the mountains than in Bucharest, Brasov and Poiana Brasov sit noticeably cooler even in summer. And if a driver near Bran offers a flat “day tour” price that sounds too easy, confirm what’s actually included, entrance fees are almost always extra.