Bucharest to the Castles: 6 Day Itinerary
Six days keeps the 5-day route through Sinaia, Brasov, and Sighisoara, but stops asking your last afternoon to absorb a 6 hour train. Sighisoara gets a real second day here, artisan shops and citadel walls at a walking pace, before the long ride back to Bucharest happens with a full day to spare rather than a rushed one. The 7-day itinerary adds one more thing entirely: the real Vlad the Impaler fortress that Bran only pretends to be.
Book these before you go
- Peles Castle timed entry slot at bilete.peles.ro before you leave Bucharest
- Brasov hotel for one night
- Sighisoara hotel for two nights , the citadel’s own guesthouses book up in summer
- Train tickets at cfrcalatori.ro for both the Brasov and Sighisoara legs
| Day | Focus | Travel time | Daily cost (RON) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrival, Old Town | OTP to center, 25 to 50 minutes | 150 to 250 |
| 2 | Sinaia, Peles and Pelisor | Train, 1h25 to 1h30 each way | 250 to 350 |
| 3 | Travel to Brasov, Bran Castle | Train 2.5 to 3h, taxi 30 to 45 min | 300 to 450 |
| 4 | Brasov old town, travel to Sighisoara | Train, about 1h15 | 250 to 350 |
| 5 | Sighisoara citadel, full day | On foot | 150 to 250 |
| 6 | Sighisoara morning, train home | Train back to Bucharest, about 6h | 200 to 300 |
Day 1: Landing in Bucharest, not staying long
Rail shuttle from Otopeni to Gara de Nord runs about 6.50 RON. Settle into an Old Town hotel and eat somewhere serving mici and a cold beer.
Day 2: Sinaia, Peles and Pelisor castles
Train to Sinaia takes 1 hour 25 to 1 hour 30. Peles Castle (100 RON) and Pelisor (30 RON) fill the day comfortably. Back to Bucharest for the night.
Day 3: Travel to Brasov, then Bran Castle
Train to Brasov, 2.5 to 3 hours, then a taxi or bus a further 30 to 45 minutes to Bran, 120 RON adult, a genuine fortress carrying an invented Dracula story. Overnight in Brasov.
Day 4: Brasov’s old town, then on to Sighisoara
Morning in Brasov for the Black Church, Council Square, and Sforii Street. Afternoon train to Sighisoara, about 1 hour 15. Check in for two nights and walk the clock tower square before dinner.
Day 5: A full day inside Sighisoara’s citadel
No trains today. Walk the fortified walls, the covered wooden stairway, and the house traditionally identified as Vlad the Impaler’s birthplace, a claim historians treat as far more plausible than Bran’s. Browse the artisan shops built into the old guild towers, and eat dinner inside the citadel rather than rushing for a station.
Day 6: A last Sighisoara morning, then the ride home
Use the morning for anything you skipped, the clock tower’s small museum or a slower coffee in the main square, then start the roughly 6 hour direct train back to Bucharest by early afternoon. You arrive with the evening still intact, not scrambling for a late departure.
Does splitting Sighisoara into two days actually change the visit
Yes, mostly by removing the pressure to see the citadel with a train departure hanging over you. The 5-day version treats Sighisoara as a stopover; here it gets treated as the destination its UNESCO listing suggests it is, with time left over for the artisan quarter that a rushed visit skips entirely.
What is the single best reason to add a sixth day over a fifth
The return train. Six hours on a route with the daily grind already behind you feels routine; six hours as the last thing standing between you and a flight home does not. That single change is worth the extra hotel night on its own.
Buy your Sighisoara hotel for both nights in one booking; the citadel’s guesthouses are small and separate one-night bookings sometimes land you in different buildings on either side of the old walls.