Bucharest 6 Day Castle Trip (No Traps)
Six days is our 4-day plan with Sighisoara swapped in for the Bucharest wind-down day our 5-day version uses instead. Sighisoara’s real, less-contested Vlad the Impaler connection earns the extra travel, but only as an overnight, not a bolt-on day trip.
Book these before you go:
- Your Bucharest hotel : nights 1 and 6
- Your Brasov hotel : nights 3 and 4
- A Transylvania and Brasov tour : worth it if you’d rather not self-drive or juggle regional 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 |
| 5 | Travel to Sighisoara, evening in the citadel | 3.5-4h Brasov to Sighisoara | 150-250 |
| 6 | Sighisoara morning, back to Bucharest | 6-6.5h direct, or via 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, 40-50 minutes. Don’t plan on a metro transfer, Line M6 to the airport is still under construction. Check into Old Town, eat, sleep early.
Day 2: Peles and Pelisor castles, Sinaia
Trains from Gara de Nord to Sinaia run several times daily, roughly 75-90 minutes each way, fares around 35-45 RON; check cfrcalatori.ro . Peles runs a timed-slot system since June 2025, 2,000 visitors a day capped, book ahead. Full entry is 100 RON adult, 25 RON student; see peles.ro for hours and booking. Pelisor adds 30 RON. Back to Bucharest for the night.
Day 3: Bran Castle and Brasov, overnight in Brasov
Direct trains from Gara de Nord to Brasov run 2h15-4 hours, roughly 30 departures a day, fares 35-145 RON by class. Bran’s “Dracula” tag is 1970s marketing, not history, Stoker never visited Romania and Vlad’s link to the castle is largely debunked, but the hilltop fortress and Queen Marie’s history still earn the roughly 120 RON adult entry; check bran-castle.com . Stay the night in Brasov.
Day 4: Rasnov Fortress and the Poiana Brasov cable car
Rasnov, 15km from Bran, costs 10 RON for anyone over 12, cards only; the interior is under rehabilitation, check cetatea-rasnov.ro for current access. The Postavaru cable car at Poiana Brasov runs Wednesday-Sunday, 9am-5pm, 20 RON one-way or 35 RON return. Second night in Brasov.
Day 5: Travel to Sighisoara, evening in the citadel
This is the day this itinerary earns its extra length over our 4- and 5-day versions. The Brasov-Sighisoara train covers just 67km but takes 3.5-4 hours on the regional line, budget half your day for it. Arrive by afternoon and spend the evening inside the UNESCO-listed medieval citadel, a Historic Centre of Sighisoara inscription, walking the citadel walls and clock tower. Stay the night inside or just outside the old town.
Day 6: Sighisoara’s morning, then back to Bucharest
Spend the morning at the house traditionally identified as Vlad the Impaler’s birthplace, inside the citadel, a genuinely less-contested claim than anything at Bran. Direct trains back to Bucharest take 6-6.5 hours, five services a day; going back via Brasov instead splits the trip into two shorter legs if you’d rather not sit for one long haul. Either way, arrive in Bucharest by evening for a quiet Old Town dinner.
Is Sighisoara worth two days out of six?
Yes, more than any single extra day trip would be. It’s the one stop in this itinerary with an actual, defensible Vlad the Impaler connection rather than a marketing one, and the slow regional train genuinely rules out doing it as a day trip from anywhere except an overnight base already in Transylvania. Skip it only if six days feels tight already; our 5-day version swaps it for a Bucharest wind-down day instead.
Before you go
Book Peles and your Brasov hotel before you fly; both sell out on summer weekends. Confirm your day 6 return train, whether direct or via Brasov, before you leave Sighisoara that morning, services thin out later in the day. And carry small RON notes throughout, card acceptance on regional trains and at smaller-town kiosks is inconsistent.