Peleş Castle is one of the finest pieces of architecture you will find in Romania and one of the most beautiful castles in Europe. Despite the name, it wasn’t conceived to be the usual fortress to protect a border, but a royal palace located in a strategic place. Once the old principalities of Wallachia and Moldova merged to form the Romanian Kingdom, King Carol I ordered the construction of a palace in a quiet area where he could work in tranquility. He chose the Bucegi Mountains, secluded enough but still close to the main road connecting Bucharest to Braşov.
The castle’s interiors are mainly made in wood, perfectly carved by expert woodcarvers.
Visitors are allowed to enter only with a guided tour that you can book at the moment of buying your tickets at the booth. There are guided tours in different languages including German, Italian and French other than Romanian and English.
You cannot book your tickets in advance, so it is advisable to reach the place early in the morning to beat the crowd. The best time to visit is spring or late summer, when the weather is good and the number of visitors is limited. In peak season, i.e. July and August, you can expect longer waiting time to both buy the tickets and start the guided tour.
Note: Peles website is in Romanian only. Use your browser to translate it or write to museum@peles.ro for info.
The tour starts at the Hall of Honour and a knowledgeable guide will walk you through the rooms of the residence while explaining the history behind them. It is a memorable journey that we recommend you to do.
Below are some of the most famous rooms you are going to explore and our tips on how to reach the place.
Peleş Castle Rooms
The Hall of Honour
The hall of honour is the main reception hall of Peleş castle, decorated in German Renaissance style, where the guided tour starts. It is the most impressive room of the plase, built to shock the visitors with walnut carved wainscots and embroidered with ebony, rose and ash wood essences. 16 meters above the floor there is an amazing glass-lined ceiling that gives natural light to the area.
The Hall of Weapons
King Carol I was passionate about weapons and armours and decided to move part of his collection to Peleş castle. Among the many weapons and other memorabilia, you will find an equestrian armour, a unique piece you won’t see anywhere else in Romania.
King Carol’s Office
King Carol spent most of the day in his office busy with audiences. The room is fitted with hand-made oak furniture and decorated with stained-glass windows.
The Royal Library
According to our guide, Peleş castle’s library has over 700 volumes of history, literature, medicine and geography in different languages. The spiral staircase you can see in the library was actually a secret passage hidden behind a portion of it.
The Arabic and Turkish Rooms
There are many other rooms you will visit during your guided tour. They are all impressive but the two that particularly caught our attention where the Arabic and Turkish rooms. Probably because they are so different from the others. Turkish and Arabic environments were very popular at the beginning of the 20th century.
How to Reach Peleş Castle
If you have rented a car, you just need to head towards Sinaia and then follow the signs to Peleş and Pelişor Castle. There are authorized parking areas along the road, where you can drop your car and walk to the castle. An option is to park next to Sinaia Monastery (Mănăstirea Sinaia in Romanian), visit the beautiful monastery and walk for 5-10 minutes through the forest on street Aleea Carmen Sylva to reach the castle. The street that takes you to the castle is the one with many souvenir shops.
In case you are in Bucharest, you just need to head to gara de nord train station and get a train to Braşov that stops at Sinaia. You can buy the tickets at the station and check the timetable on the train company’s official website beforehand. Once in Sinaia you have two options: walking to the castle or getting a taxi.
The walk can be a way to explore the town while climbing up to the castle. It takes 30 minutes at a normal pace and it isn’t a difficult one. Otherwise you can take a taxi from the train station and reach the castle in 5-10 minutes circa. The fare is reasonable and the service reliable.
We have walked our way up to the castle stopping at the monastery for a quick visit. On our way back we took a taxi that brought us back to the train station because we were tired.
Don’t forget to visit Pelişor
Next to Peleş castle there is a small building called Pelişor that you can visit. Built for King Carol’s nephew and heir, it is small but cute. Photos are not allowed inside the palace so we don’t have any to share. But trust us, the gold room alone is worth the 20 Lei (5 €) entry ticket.
