27 Jun 2025
We went on a day-long outing from Bucharest to see the Peles and Bran Castles. The mini-bus picked us up at 8 am and did not drop us off till 10:45 pm. We did see the castles and the town of Brasov. There was so much road construction that we were in that minibus for about 8 hours throughout the trip. It was too much.
Because the tour company was determined to fit in all three stops despite the road construction (which has been going on for quite a while), we did not have much time in any of the three places.
It was recommended that we eat lunch at the town of Brasov, but we were warned that a sit down restaurant would take too long. We grabbed pizza, but then we had no place to sit and eat it. We ended up going into an ice cream shop and ordering gelato just so we sit inside out of the blazing midday sun.
We were given a 20-minute tour of the town and then boarded the minibus again to travel to Bran Castle.
We toured the castle and then the bus ride back to Bucharest took 4 (four) hours. We made one rest stop at a gas station that had one individual restroom. We traveled over mountains and the minibus made hairpin turns, passed, tractors, horses, and trucks overloaded with hay that were in front of us on narrow two lane roads. It felt like the driver of the minibus was going faster than the posted speed limit, possibly to make up time but it felt unsafe.
I will say that the tour guide was polite and knowledgeable and we were glad to see the castles. I recommend they skip Braşov while this road construction is going on. It was an exhausting day.