Know Before You Go: Celebrating Halloween at Dracula's Castle

Most bookable packages include a tour of the castle followed by access to the Halloween Party, which takes place in a marquee outside. Be aware that the castle tour is not a haunted house experience, which (thankfully) means no machete-wielding murderers pursuing you down spiral staircases. Instead, costumed actors mill around, posing for pictures, performing skits, or answering questions. There are some frightfully good photo ops to find along the way, including a room full of medieval torture devices and a secret passageway.

The rumors about long entry lines are no joke, as we learnt upon arriving at opening time to be faced by an already enormous crowd. Fortunately, we had booked skip-the-line tickets so we weren’t outside for too long. Still, you’ll need a coat, as getting caught in the rain would be enough to dampen even the most enthusiastic spirits. And families with small children would be better off on a daytime tour to avoid any Halloween-night chaos.

Dressing up in a costume is a must. Well, it’s not a prerequisite for entry, but you’ll be really missing out if you don’t. Walking up the path towards the castle surrounded by all manner of monsters, vampires, and pop stars was truly memorable, with the costumes encouraging camaraderie among fellow merrymakers. That said, there’s no need to spend a lot of money or bring anything heavy from home. As you can see, I felt quite comfortable in an old tablecloth.

The experience is a great way to meet fellow travelers and locals and almost everyone is there for the party, so there’s already that in common. The party itself features DJs (playing quintessentially Euro-club music), dancers, acrobats, and other performers, plus plenty of backdrops for spooky selfies and ghoulish group pics. Though the atmosphere is undoubtedly revelrous, plenty of non-alcoholic options means you can easily dance the night away sober. Just be prepared to pay the usual club prices for alcoholic drinks.

Bran Castle is often referred to as Dracula’s Castle, which can give visitors the wrong impression of what to expect. Bran Castle doesn’t actually have any direct relation to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and its links to Vlad the Impaler (who inspired the character) are tenuous. It got the nickname mostly because tourists thought it looked like a spooky vampire castle, certainly no bad thing for a Halloween Party destination. If you want to learn more about Vlad, an important figure in Romanian history, you’ll find his birthplace in nearby Sighisoara.

It’s worth booking a taxi home in advance or looking for a tour package with transfers. There are plenty of taxis waiting outside at the end of the night but you may need to haggle a price. And public transport isn’t an option in the early hours of the morning.