Romania road trip part 1: Train or car? The Peles Castle

Romania road trip part 1: Train or car? The Peleș Castle

Here I say let the road trip begin! After my friends spend a day and a half in Bucharest I want to get them out of this city because in Romania there are so many beautiful things to see outside the capital city. On Saturday morning we pop in one of my friend’s car and start our travel going towards north where the mountains, the charming medieval cities and the so known Transilvania region is patiently waiting for our arrival.

To not lose time and see as many things as we can in a relatively short period of time, we have made a plan since before beginning this road trip including the places we will visit and the accommodations.

Going with a car or by train? Which option is better

At first, we wanted embark on this excursion by using the train which for my Romanian friends and I would have been not cheaper, but free because in Romania travelling with the train is totally free for students. Besides, my two foreign friends would have to pay for the train tickets even if they are students too and that’s because the rule applies only to the Romanian students ( I am sorry my international fellows! ).

As we were searching for the train tickets and their prices, we realized that the cost by going with the train would have been much higher than the cost by driving with a car. In addition, we were about to travel in one of the crowded periods of the year when all of the students, workers and families are going either home, in the country side or on a Christmas vacation with the train which meant that the possibility of not finding tickets would have been higher.

To these aspects I add the comfort of travelling with the car: we don’t have to carry all of our backpacks with us everywhere, but leave it in the trunk and we are not on a strict schedule in every place we go worrying about catching the next train.

Leaving Bucharest behind and heading north towards Transilvania 

We meet in the morning at McDonald’s in Piața Buzești, discuss for a bit, drink some coffee, put the backpacks in the trunk, get in the car, set the app called Waze – which by the way works very good in Romania and I recommended to people who want to travel across the country ) -, and finally start our road trip. We are passing by Ploiești and stop in Câmpina to take the last missing person of the group: my brother. So, now the group is complete!

Arriving in the middle of the Bucegi Mountains where The Peleș Castle is located 

The following destination is the mountain resort Sinaia where we want to visit the Peleș Castle. We enter the road leading to the castle and pay 20 lei/per car for the parking. We get out of the car in the fresh air of the surrounding mountains. 

But before going to the castle we are kind of hungry and eat the snack we have brought with us, especially the "covrigi" ( romanian pretzels ) which are delicious and should be definitely tried out by the foreign people travelling in Romania. 

Is a sunny day and we are lucky because we can see the high mountains peaks in the distance, thus the castle is placed in a wonderful wide landscape which has a fairytale vibe attached to it.

One of the most visited destination in Romania

We walk slowly to the palace castle while admiring the views and notice that we are not the only visitors of the day, but there are quite same people populating the front yard of Peleș which are probably waiting for the guided tours to start. Actually, the Peleș Castle is among the most visited destinations in Romania both by Romanians and foreigners who are discovering here a part of the history of the country’s Kings.

How much it costs to visit the Peleș Castle? 

We buy the tickets which cost 15 lei – meaning 3,10 euros – for students and wait for the English guided tour to start and because we have to wait for about 15 minutes until it begins, we go around the castle to enjoy more the views and the beautifully designed and constructed historical building which determine us to take the first group photo of the road trip, plus many other pictures.

The Royal Palace of the Kings: The outside look 

Among all of the statues placed in front of the castle, the one that stands out the most is representing Carol I which was the first king of Romania starting with the year 1866. The Peleș Castle used to be the royal summer residence of its family.

More information about the castle is found in one of my previous articles: Sinaia, the mountain city and the royal residence and if the mountains you see here are calling you, in that article you can read about a very accessible trekking path which starts near the castle and leads, by following the so known in Romanian “poteca regilor” ( The Royal path ), to a sightseeing that opens over the Prahova Valley creating a spectacular and worth watching view over the mountains – Bucegi and Baiului – and their small cities situated in valleys.

I can share in this article only photos from the outside façade of the castle because taking pictures is forbidden inside of it unless people pay a high fee to be allowed to photograph the interior. The outside appearance of the Peleș Castle is impressivedue to its architecture, the building being designed in a swiss way by some of the greatest architects of that period like Johannes Schultz and Karel Liman – at least this is what our guide said.

The interior of the Peleș National Museum: my favorite rooms 

Walking through the castle from one room to another is like travelling to various places of this world because each room has a themed design inspired by different art styles and cultures such as the Italian and German Neo-Renaissance, the French rococo, baroque or Turkish, Spanish, indian cultures.

Among the numerous interiors that Peleș has there are two which impress me the most. The first one is named "The Hall of Honor" situated at the entrance of the castle and having a very high ceiling made out of glass, decorated with stained glass windows and which can also be opened electrically. The second one is the "Armoury Hall" where I could see the king’s large collection of weapons belonging to different cultures like African, Persian, Indian, Japanese, Spanish or French.

Is it worth visiting Sinaia and the castle of the kings?

Unfortunately, or not, I don’t have photos of the rooms and objects I am writing about, so you should go there and see it by yourself. Adding the Peles Castle on your list of destinations to visit in Romania is worth it and highly recommended by me. The guided tours are offered in 5 languages so people can get to know the diverse aspects of the palace’s history, architecture, belongings and its former inhabitants.

Leaving the castle and heading to another one 

The guided tour lasts for more than an hour when we have a walk back to the car, have a snack again and head towards the next destination which happens to be another castle, the most famous one in Transilvania, known by the people outside Romania as Dracula’s castle.

Photo gallery