Peles Castle: Romanian Royalty & Elegance
A Day Trip Post
Transylvania is a trip of a lifetime. It’s spooky, eerie, yet elegant in nature. It’s so much more than the stories by Bram Stoker. With Transylvania being a large area of Romania, it is hard to determine where to go if you’re on a time constraint. Although Bran Castle is often thought of before Peles Castle, we think Peles Castle is definitely worth a visit. It is our personal favourite of the 2 main castles you’ll find in this gorgeous part of Romania.
Peles Castle was the former summer retreat for the royal family. What makes this castle so extraordinary is the fact that nearly everything in the castle is authentic and original. Additionally, Peles Castle became the very first castle to fully be powered by electricity.
When King Carol I, the first king of Romania, first saw this pristine land, he knew it would be the perfect spot for a summer retreat and hunting grounds. Being from Germany, King Carol wanted something more reminiscent of his home country. The first 3 designs were not to his liking because it lacked originality, freshness, and were all too costly to construct. Once agreed on the design, the foundation was laid to build this stunning castle in 1873. Although the king used portions of the castle as soon as possible, it wasn’t officially complete until 1914 – the year he died. Overall, the construction of Peles Castle would have cost roughly $120 M today (I wonder how much it would have been in the rejected designs, being “too costly”).
Peles Castle became a team effort from many countries. It truly became a universal project put in with love from everyone represented. As stated by Queen Elizabeth of the Romanians:
“Italians were masons, Romanians were building terraces, the Gypsies were coolies. Albanians and Greeks worked in stone, Germans and Hungarians were carpenters. Turks were burning brick. Engineers were Polish and the stone carvers were Czech. The Frenchmen were drawing, the Englishmen were measuring, and so was then when you could see hundreds of national costumes and fourteen languages in which they spoke, sang, cursed and quarreled in all dialects and tones, a joyful mix of men, horses, cart oxen and domestic buffaloes.”
Although she didn’t mention it in her journal, even Americans were put with an important task within the castle. All of the portraits displayed within the castle were painted by American George Healy, a popular portrait artist during his time (and lookalike to Adam Driver).
Not only had Peles Castle become the summer home for the royal family, it had other purposes, such as hosting royal balls, royal births, and inaugural celebrations. But, in 1947, the king at the time, King Michael I abdicated and the Communist regime gained control of the castle. When Nicolae Ceauşescu, the last Romanian Communist dictator, took over, he closed the entire estate and the only people allowed were maintenance and cleaning services. The communist party allowed to let the castle rot over time. It wasn’t until after the December 1989 Revolution that the castle was reopened to the public.
In 2006, the Romanian government restored the castle to its former glory and is now open for everyone to see. Peles Castle receives nearly half a million tourists annually.
It tends to get overshadowed by the popular Bran Castle nearby, but this castle was honestly our favourite part of Transylvania. We definitely, along with many Romanians, think this castle is the better of the 2 and is worth a visit.
There are restaurants and hotels (what used to be the Guards Chambers and Economist Building) nearby the castle that offer stunning views and warm beverages.
Hours: 9:15 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Average Cost: 50 Lei
