Castles of Transylvania: Private Day Trip from Bucharest

Peles Castle, Bran Castle & Brasov - excellent day tour with our guide Gabriel who was very welcoming and knowledgeable.

We had a limited time to try and see as much of Romania as possible and believe me, this tour delivered. Gabriel picked us up at 7:30 sharp and spent the next 14 hours driving, entertaining and educating us about the country and the places we visited. He has an amazing memory for dates and interesting facts. Be warned, it is a long day and in hindsight we probably should have spent the night in Brasov to make it less hectic. But Gabriel made an exhausting day fly.

This tour was more entertaining than we were expecting. Our tour guide, Christian, brought the fun along with all the knowledge. We loved his open candor about all things. It was refreshing, Some people may find going to Dracula’s castle as cheesy but we loved it. It gave us an opportunity to see other parts of Romania and We would recommend it to anybody traveling here. The highlight for our group was Brasov, a quaint medical town. We did a private tour and happy we did that because Christian was super flexible about what we saw and did. He was open to making updates depending on our goals. It’s worth it he just be warned you’re in the car for a long time. If you get Christian it’ll feel like no time because he’s so damn entertaining

we had a wonderful day with our driver Claudio, he was very informative about the trip as he was a Brasov local.

This was the best tour of Transylvania we've ever done and our tour guide was simply the best! Picked up early so we had loads of time at each location and to cater for all the road works (plus single lane roads) and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing Peles & Bran again. Cristian was amazing, she got us on to an English tour almost as soon as we'd arrived, which saved us queuing and we had loads of time to have morning tea in the Castle gardens. Next stop Bran Castle and again plenty of time and straight through without queues (the benefit of being on a private tour, it is well worth it if you're undecided). It really was great to have an early start as we got to see things we previously didn't have time for, as well as a short time shopping in the markets in front of the castle which are pretty cool. Our last stop in Brasov offered a cool insight to a former citadel city and we got to walk the narrowest street in Romania, soak up the sights, sounds & atmosphere in the main square, eat some freshly made ice-cream and just all-round we had a great day and experienced some of the highlights of Romania. Thanks for a great day Cristian!

Gabriel guided us on this tour on 20 May 2019. Unsurprisingly, before the tour our greatest association with Transylvania was Dracula, and the mystique around him. However, Gabriel made the tour so much more. He is quite focused on the fact that Dracula is fiction. He is also focused on the many wonderful non-fiction things that Transylvania can offer. Unfortunately, we were required to take this tour on Monday when Peles Castle was closed. Yet we were able to tour the outside of this impressive place. The tour of Brasov and lunch there were also enlightening of the non-fiction Transylvania. We ended at Bran Castle (set as Dracula's), but actually the castle of Vlad the Impaler. The history of that is impressive. Finally, it would be remiss to not mention how impressive it is to drive from the flat plains of southern Romania into the Carpathian Mountains. We truly enjoyed this tour. If you take it, I hope you get Gabriel as a guide.

We did this private tour with Gabriel (UnzipRomania). He brought a wealth of knowledge to the experience and a good sense of humour. It is worth doing the optional second floor at the Peles Castle. A good experience here depends on the speed of guided tours ahead and behind you. Bran Castle was also interesting but more of a "follow the person in front of you" tour. Don't look for coffins and vampires... they're not in this castle. Gabriel knows where to find them. We decided to take Rasnov instead of Brasov (both nearby) and the flexibility of the private tour was appreciated. Impressive fortress ruin. As it is a very long day tour, decide what is worth spending more time on.

I booked the trip one month before our flight to Bucharest by phone via tripadvisor / Aviator and paid with credit card. At first I was a little suspicious when I didn't get confirmation directly from the travel agent with the name and details of the trip a week before (I read so much about how people get cheated). At Aviator's receipt there were telephone numbers for travel agent, UnzipRomania Travel. Then I called them two days before the trip. A male voice replied that I would get the name of the guide and the details already the same day. And I got it. We were five young mature women who were picked up at the hotel early in the morning. Our guide is called Lucian. He is so caring and efficient. Speak perfect English and answer all our questions. He knows everything about Romênia. We visited two castles and a little town Brasov, which is very beautiful. The first castle is Peles castle built by Romenia's first king in the late 1800s. The king was German and built castles after German fashion. The other castle was Bran castle built in the 13th century. After visiting the two castles, Lucian took us to a local restaurant in Brasov to eat local and very good food. Then we had time to explore the city of Brasov. We could decide how long we would stay in Brasov. But we chose to go back to Bugarest at 4 pm because it takes 3 hours from Brasov to Bucharest. We really recommend this trip with this little tour operator.

We loved the "Dracula castle" and exploring the countryside. Our guide was helpful, knowledgeable, and flexible when we got tired and cold at the end of the day.

This was a very good trip, thoroughly enjoyable. We saw a lot of Romania. Our guide was very pleasant and helpful.