DRACULA HALLOWEEN TOUR 2012 – 7 days

Arriving on Bucharest International Airport. Transfer to the hotel.

Evening on your own. Optional tours of Bucharest and / or dinner at Restaurant Club Dracula.

Overnight at Berthelot Hotel**** or similar.

After breakfast start your journey on Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) trail with a visit at his true castle. We’ll go to Curtea de Arges, the former second capital of Wallachia. Close by is the Poienari Castle. Standing on a cliff but now in ruins this is known as the real castle of Dracula (Vlad Tepes). To get to the top you must climb up its 1400 steps (takes approx. 1 hour). Once you arrive to the top of the Citadel you will find that the citadel is surprisingly small, one third has collapsed down the mountainside in 1888.

Entering through a narrow wooden bridge, you come across the crumbling remains of two towers within; the prism shaped one was Vlad's ( Dracula's) residential quarters, from here, according to the legend , The Impaler's wife flung herself out from the window, declaring that better this way than be captured by the Turks, who were besieging the castle. Legend has it that Vlad himself escaped over the mountains on horseback.

Return to Curtea de Arges. See the Episcopal Church (the monastery) which is a recreation of the original built in 1512 -1517 by prince Neagoe Basarab (rebuilt in 1875 – 1885).

End the day in Sibiu. Overnight at Ramada Hotel**** or similar.

Free time (aprox 2 hours for leisure, shopping and lunch).

Breakfast. Start in the morning with a visit of the Old District. Sibiu is one of the most important fortified towns in Transylvania. The city is reminiscent of old European cities such as Nuremburg and it was founded in 1190 and grew to be the chief city of the Transylvanian Saxons. This amazing town, with the "Old Town" (The Big Square, the Small Square, the Ursuline Church, The Franciscan Church, The staircase Tower, the Tanners Tower, the Lier’s Bridge , the House of the Butcher’s Guild and last but not least with the amazing Bruckenthal Museum) is a gorgeous place to see. Free time (aprox 2 hours for leisure, shopping and lunch).

In the afternoon arrive at Hunedoara. Check-in the hotel and get ready for the amazing party at Hunyad’s Castle, the residence of the brave Transylvanian Governor – John Hunyad (Iancu de Hunedoara). The castle built in XV century is the biggest medieval castle from Romania and it’s also considered one of the most haunted places from Europe.There are good chances that the famous Vlad Tepes to be spent couple days in this castle as a prisoner. Due to the long history of the castle a lot of legends was born and visiting the castle will be a good way to learn more about them.

Halloween Party. Are you ready to spend the Halloween night in a very old medieval castle? Get ready to fit in the old medieval atmosphere full of mystical legends. The 15 century castle is ready to host you this night and to reveals you its history and hidden secrets.  A long night full of surprises is waiting for you. We want to remember the Halloween party form Transylvania as THE BEST HALLOWEEN OF YOUR LIFE!

At midnight Count Dracula will invite you at his wedding. To decline is not acceptable. Participate to a special show and then party all night. Don’t forget about your Halloween costume. There will be a costumes contest and the winner may have a surprise. Maybe a special moment with Dracula…Who knows. Remember, is the Halloween night and Hunyad’s Castle is one of the most haunted places from Europe, a place where nobody dare to spend the night alone. So the ghosts and spirits can join you during the night. Don’t get lost in to the castle! Don’t go behind the locked doors! Don’t disturb the spirits! Otherwise…….

- For those of you who survive - Breakfast in Hotel
- For those of you who do not - well.....Happy Haunting! ( and please give Dracula our regards ...ps..no refunds )
After breakfast we’ll leave from Hunedoara on the route to Sighisoara. Visit the medieval citadel of Sighisoara, . Also called “The Pearl of Transylvania” the old medieval city is include on UNESCO's Word Heritage. The Old Town or the Citadel is the only one still inhabited in Europe - a lost world and still so at the present

Overnight at Sighisoara Hotel*** a 500 years old building, former Bishop’s Palace and City Hall.

After breakfast we’ll leave from Sighisoara and going through a route which cross beautiful old german villages we’ll arrive at Prejmer fortified church, the biggest fortress of its kind from East Europe. the biggest fortified church in the Southeastern Europe built in the 14th century. The fortress has double walls and dungeons. Inside its walls there is a church, but the interesting thing here is the honeycomb like inner wall. Every family had one small room for sheltering in case the village was attacked.

Continue our route to Bran and visit the famous Bran Castle. Also called Dracula`s Castle, it is situated not far from Brasov (25 kilometres) at the entrance in the Bran - Rucar passage. The castle got its fame from Dracula`s legend written in 1897 by Bram Stoker and later on made into a film by Francis Ford Coppola.. The first documents about the Bran Castle appeared in 1377. Along the history, the Castle had a strategic mission being the border between Transylvania and Wallachia. First it was under the rule of the King of Hungary Sigismund of Luxemburg, of the Romanian voievodes Mircea cel Batran and Vlad Tepes and later on it came under the jurisdiction of the City of Brasov. In the XX century the castle was donated to the royal family and becamed a royal residence. The museum preserve the furniture and objects from that period.

End the day in Brasov.

Overnight at Casa Wagner Hotel*** or similar

After breakfast short tour of the magic medieval center of Brasov (2 hours). The city of Brasov is one of the oldest in Europe, dating from 1235. During the Middle Ages, Brasov was known as a powerful fortress surrounded by high stone walls and defended by bulwarks, towers and other small fortresses. The buildings and the streets in the historical centre still preserve a medieval note. Concil Square, Black Church, White and Black Towers, Weaver’s Bastion and Ecaterina’s Gate are the tour highlights.

We’ll continue with the Vlad the Impaler’s (Dracula) grave. For that we’ll go to Snagov, a small village 40 km north of Bucharest, with its beautiful sixteen kilometer long lake; In the centre of the lake is an island occupied by a monastery, built in 1519. The Snagov monastery is situated on the island of the lake with the same name, we have to reach the monastery by crossing the lake by boat (If time and weather permit).
Visitors come here to seek the tomb of Dracula sitting in the front of the church altar. Vlad's murder is believed to have occurred in the forests nearby, where the monks took his body, since both Vlad and his father had both given money to the monastery.

In the afternoon we’ll arrive at Bucharest. Panoramic tour of the city. During the tour you’ll have the chance to see the most importants sights of Romanan Capital, such as: Triumph Arch, Victory Square, Magheru Avenue (comercial street), Royal Palace (nowdays the seat of National Art Museum), Atheneum, Revolution Square, Calea Victoriei Avenue, Unirii Square, Parliament Palace, a "giant" built during the "golden age" of the dictatorial regime and born in the mind of a man for whom the notion of "reasonable size" did not exist. The Guiness Book of World Records lists the building in second place according to its 330,000 sq.m. surface.

Overnight at Rin Hotel**** in the airport area.

After breakfast transfer to Bucharest International Airport for your departure flight.

END OF TOUR SERVICES

PRICES:

690 Euros/person – accommodation in dbl rooms

855 Euros/person – accommodation in sgl rooms

675 Euros/person – accommodation in triple rooms