It’s time to talk about Peles Castle in Romania, one of the most famous castles in the country, together with Dracula’s Castle in Bran!
I revisited Peles with my family and found it just as impressive as ever. I decided to update this article with new photos and everything you should know about it: how to get there, operating hours, ticket prices, and my personal opinion about the place.
You’d think that after visiting something as impressive as the Palace of Parliament, nothing else can impress you anymore, but fortunately, that’s not the case!
How to get from Bucharest to Peles Castle in Sinaia
The easiest way is to book this full-day Peles & Dracula Castle day tour, which includes everything (leaving from and returning to Bucharest) and allows you to see the two most famous castles in Romania, not just one! All for a low price, skip the line tickets, and a guide. It can’t get any better or easier.
If you’re more of the DIY type, you have trains leaving regularly from the Gara de Nord in Bucharest (over 20 trains per day), with ticket prices starting at around €11 for a second-class seat, for the ~1.5-hour ride. You can check out all the options on the CFR website.
For a similar price, you can also take a bus, but I recommend the train as it’s more comfortable. You can check out the bus options here.
We always travel by train, no matter the time of the year. The train station in Sinaia is an attraction too (make sure to check out my article about all the things to do in Sinaia here for even more amazing things while you’re there).
Once you get to Sinaia, the best option is to take a taxi to the castle (they will rip you off a bit, so expect to pay up to 15 Euros, although a fair price would be around €5).
Read my article on how not to get scammed by taxi drivers in Romania to prepare for the encounter.
EXTRA TIP: While the taxi driver will most likely give you their card (ours did), make sure you ask for one if they don’t, in case you want to call them for a ride back.
Or you can do like we usually do and hike up to the Peles Castle. From the train station, it’s about 30 minutes if you’re in decent shape, and you will also pass by most of the other main attractions in the city.
Peles Castle opening hours & ticket prices
Castle’s location: link to Google Maps (you can walk there from anywhere in Sinaia, but expect to walk up a lot).
Castle’s opening hours:
- Mon & Tue: Closed
- Wed: 10 AM to 5 PM
- Thu – Sun: 9:15 AM to 5 PM
Peles ticket limits:
Starting June 2025, the number of tickets available is limited to 2000 people/day at Peleș Castle and 1500 people/day at Pelișor Castle. Also, purchased tickets are not refundable, nor can they be rescheduled.
This is why it’s best to book your ticket in advance, when you know exactly when you will visit: you don’t want to get there to find out that all the tickets for that day have been sold!
This is the skip the line guided tour I recommend you get in advance if you don’t get the full day tour recommended in the intro.
My Tip: If you don’t get my recommended skip-the-line ticket, get there early in the morning to secure your ticket, as it’s the least crowded and more tickets are normally available. Starting around 11 AM, it gets REALLY crowded.
Peles ticket prices:
There are various discounts available for students, seniors, and young Euro Card holders under 26. Also, children under the age of 7 can visit the Museum for Free (but they still need a ticket).
The regular ticket price for an adult (ground floor and 1st floor) is 100 lei (€20). The tour takes around 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Free guided tours are formed at the entrance, in both Romanian and English, but you are free to visit without a guide. Also, if you purchase a ticket from the links I recommended above, you will have a guide included.
IMPORTANT: Until June 2025, there was an option to book a tour including the 2nd floor. This is no longer available, unfortunately, but the 2nd floor was overkill in my opinion, as the most amazing parts of the castle are on the ground and 1st floor anyway.
You can check all the prices and discounts by visiting the castle’s official website.
Visiting the Peles Castle
Now, it’s time for all the amazing spoilers: photos from the castle itself, as well as additional details you need to know. The place looks, as the photos in this article show you, like a fairy tale that came to life.
IMPORTANT! Don’t forget: I highly recommend booking this skip the line, guided tour here. Not only will you learn everything about the castle, but you will also avoid this:
Back to the Peles castle itself, it’s indeed beautiful, and the mountain views, with all that fresh mountain air and green grass (or beautiful snow) and trees, make the whole thing even better. You can’t help but fall in love with the place as soon as you see it!
Everybody was looking at that snow pile on the roof, which can be seen in the photo above, which actually fell before we got in – but the area below it was fenced, so there was no risk for the tourists
As for Peles, construction work began in 1873, when Romania’s King Carol I decided to build a summer retreat for himself and his family.
It is said that he simply fell in love with the area when he first saw it – and I can totally understand why.
The architecture combines different features of classic European styles. Even more interesting is the fact that the castle was built in a few stages, new additions appearing in 1893 and 1914, both created by a different architect.
He was really good, because today it’s impossible to guess that this isn’t a palace built in one go.
As you can see, this is indeed a palace (by the looks of it and based on what it was used for), but for some reason everybody calls it a castle in Romania.
I am not really sure if there’s an explanation for this or King Carol was just a modest man who thought “palace” sounds too fancy. He had no reasons to feel embarrassed with his place, though!
There is a lot more to see and learn about the Palace, but I don’t want to spoil everything for you. However, there are two more important photos that I want to share:
All in all, I really enjoyed the visit there and I found both the interior and the exterior jaw-dropping. Definitely a must-visit if you are in Romania – and even more so if you already are in Bucharest, Brasov, or one of the nearby cities.
It’s great for adults and children alike – our son, who was 10 when we last visited, admitted that he didn’t get bored and instead enjoyed exploring the castle, even though he did get bored a bit towards the end.
Check prices for the tour here (book it in advance!)
And for those who can’t have enough, there’s also an extra bonus, just a few hundred meters away: the Pelisor Castle (which would translate as “the Small Peles”). Really makes you feel like you’re in Austria, right?
We decided against visiting it and I guess it was more or less the same thing as its bigger brother.
The smaller version was built in 1889 for Ferdinand, the heir to the throne. Interestingly, Ferdinand was not Carol’s son, but his nephew and he was brought to Romania from Germany to take on the duties of the king.
Where to stay
If you want to spend the night over in Sinaia (we spent three the last time we visited), I recommend staying close to the city center, as that’s the most beautiful part of the town:
- Cozy House Sinaia – We stayed here and loved it. Central, yet in a more secluded area, silent, and with nice views over the mountains. Also, budget-friendly.
- Castelul Stirbey – An amazing place and… it’s a castle. So if you truly want to feel like royalty, this is the place to be. It’s also one of the city’s attractions, so you know you’re spending your time in an amazing place. Book well in advance, as there are only a few rooms available and they sell out quickly (and the prices are lower than you might expect).
- Hotel Sinaia – A classic hotel, renovated and modernized, it is in the heart of the city, with amazing views over the mountains and offering tons of facilities (including indoor pool, spa, and more).
Also, if you don’t know where to eat, we’ve also tested the restaurants in Sinaia and I have a list of the best ones.
PIN this for later
Wrapping up
As you can see from my photos above, visiting Peles Castle is a must. The city itself – Sinaia – looks really good and, even though small, it can offer some nice views and great dining spots, including a great one right next to the castle.
Put aside at least half a day for the whole thing or, even better, plan to get there in the morning and leave in the evening so that you fully enjoy the entire experience: outside of the castle, there are sometimes small huts selling all sorts of trinkets, corn on a cob and various snacks or sweets.
Or, of course, spend the night in Sinaia if you’re in no hurry. It’s a place where every nook and corner can and should be explored.
Having lived in Romania for over 4 decades, I am here to tell you everything about this beautiful country. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, I love traveling and I’ve been writing about Romania since 2013. Currently living in Constanta.
Hi Ho Calin,
Very beautiful edifice! Your photos are impressive, for sure! The whole experience seems reminiscent of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.
I will say it seems Peles appears more temporal than the “Disneylandish” Bavarian castle.
Is there a gift shop on the premises?
Even tho’ it’s a schlep to Peles by foot, do a lot of people do it, anyway? I remember there were buses from city center to Neuschwanstein, and taxi, and horse-drawn carriage options, too. I think it’d be nice to have a carriage option to the castle Peles.
Re Uber, how do the licensed cab drivers relate? Isn’t Uber a drain on their income? (Even the rip-off cabs
must be upset, too.;-)
Thanks!
~Teil (USA)
Hello Teil,
Many people still go by foot to the castle – we do almost every time we visit. And now that you mentioned it, I don’t remember seeing a gift shop there, but there are unofficial vendors outside the castle, so you can’t leave empty-handed.
Regarding Uber, taxi drivers protested in Bucharest, but most of the people are with Uber here. The taxi drivers are known for behaving rudely, refusing rides and treating passengers with disrespect, which is the total opposite of Uber and the reason why more and more people go with the latter. Unless they change, I am sure they will be removed from the picture – and deservedly so!
Absolutely gorgeous images! It is a beautiful place and we were both duly impressed. It deserves the hype and we had a wonderful time visiting. My mouth is watering with the recollection of that burger and especially those chips..so light and crispy. Great breakfast indeed! My gosh..to think we almost missed that train! What a way to meet your wife..haha! running through the train station! The staircase for show was so cute. I always say this when l visit this castles! It’s good to be the king. I remember one of the old dogs lying and soaking up the sun in the garden when you guys first went down. I was thinking he had the right idea. Thanks for taking us to experience this wonderful place. Awesome place and memories :-).
I am happy you enjoyed it! It is indeed something else to experience it live and we were lucky that the weather was on our side too! And the running thing – that’s part of the game and the funny stories to remember 🙂
I could kick myself for passing that up. I remember the train stopping at the train station which I thought looked pretty nice. The history of the Romanian royal family is interesting and I am going to totally mangle it (please correct me). I think King Carol I was already a German prince who was imported to be the king of the new Romanian nation which was comprised of Moldova and Wallachia. He came from Hohenzollern in Baden-Württemberg and a branch of the Prussian royal family. The family has a very fancy castle back in Germany. It’s probably just propaganda, but Carol I and his successors did a lot to make themselves “Romanians” by converting to the Orthodox religion and trying hard to make the common Romanians like them by being benevolent and all that. That Romania became a “great” nation in 1918 with all its regions united into one country certainly didn’t hurt their mystique. I find it remarkably prescient that they threw Romania onto the side of the Allied Powers during WW I when their roots might have encouraged them to throw in their lot with Germany or remain neutral. Unfortunately, King Carol II did not have the same wisdom and Romania started WW II on the side of the Axis Powers before switching under his son Mihai to the Russian and allied side and eventually being forced out by the Russians and the Romanian communists in 1947. The family lived in Switzerland ever since and have suffered a scandal recently regarding the “third-in-line” to the throne who knocked up a young Romanian woman and won’t accept paternity of the child. But I don’t think the Romanians will be restoring the monarchy any time soon. Sorry, maybe your readers aren’t that interested in history, just pretty pictures and you gave them a lot of those, thanks!
Hello Stuart,
Yes, you are correct about the imported king. The main reason why he was “imported” – apart from the fact that there weren’t any blue-blooded people in the country – was the fact that they needed somebody with solid influence and backup for the united Romania to be accepted by the world. And he was indeed the one who greatly helped evolve the country into the modern times.
And yes, there are scandals within the royal family, now that king Mihai is taking his final breaths. One of the younger relatives (I really don’t follow this so I don’t know exactly whose grandson he is) actually tried to visit Mihai a final time, wasn’t allowed to and a fight started on the premise… talk about royal behavior!
I will do my best to include a bit of history in future articles. When you live here and you’ve heard the stories a million times, you start considering them boring or known by everybody else 🙂 That is clearly not the case and I will do my best to find the right balance between information and entertainment.
Excellent and beautiful place but everyone should focus that the castle closes ridiculously early , especially in the summer.
Yes, that is indeed the case. More time to enjoy Sinaia afterwards 🙂
Hello!
We plan to pay a visit of Peles Castel, on the 24th of this month, during a privat journey in Romania.
Thanks for the nice and helpful presentation. You’ve helped us to take some decisions about the visit.
I din’t find any possibility to purchase tickets ahead by internet or by other means. Are you familiar with such a possibility, in order to save some time on the lines, which are supposed to be quite long in this time of the year, especially on Sunday ?
Thanks for your effective and kind help,
(UPDATED answer): You can purchase skip-the-line tickets – I’ve linked to them in the article above. You can also visit the castle’s official website for regular ticket purchases.
I don’t know if the second floor is “over kill”. A lot of tourists come from very far away to see these sights. So, if I’m there, I want to see it all. After all, it’s not like I’m there all the time. I know I saw the second floor when I toured it way back in 2010. Sure, it’s not as nice, but now that it’s not being offered as part of the tour, I’m glad I did it.