Two days private trip to the Ice Hotel and Bran Castle

In the morning, our tour guide will pick you up from your hotel in Bucharest. Our tour will begin with a road trip from Bucharest to Sibiu, through the Olt Valley. This is a great season to admire some of the stunning untouched landscapes of the region.

We will reach Sibiu, a city that was named the European Capital of Culture in 2007, where we will take a walking tour of a city that triumphantly blends history and multicultural elements. In your city tour, you will explore the Main Square of Sibiu, from where you will explore the Brukenthal Museum and the Roman Catholic Cathedral, before visiting the Huet Square with its Evangelical Church. Afterwards, you will go through the passage of stairs and cross the famous Bridge of Lies.

Next, you will head towards Balea Lake, one of Romania’s most impressive natural wonders. The glacier lake has been carved 2034 meters up into the Fagaras Mountains, named the ‘Transylvanian Alps’ by the French Geographer Emmanuel de Martonne.

After dinner, you will check in at the ice hotel, and spend the night in the only ice-made hotel in Eastern Europe. Every year, the hotel is built with a new theme, and this years’ theme is Frozen Love – the love of nature, which is revealed in the hearth of the mountain. The ‘crown jewel’ of the hotel is the restaurant, named after our beloved King Ferdinand I of Romania, to celebrate 100 years of the Great Union.

After a warm night, we will check-out and drive to Bran Castle. Bran Castle is by far the most famous castle in Romania. Set atop a 60-meter cliff, it was built in the 13th century and it owes its fame to the myth created around Bram Stoker's character, Count Dracula, hence the name of Dracula's Castle.

The rooms of the castle are connected through narrow stairways and underground passages which contribute to the eerie atmosphere of the castle. Bran Castle was the favorite home and retreat of Queen Marie, and after her death, it was inherited by her daughter, Princess Ileana, who ran a hospital there during World War II.

Today, the castle is a museum that displays art and furniture collected by Queen Marie throughout her life.

The next objective in our itinerary is Peles Castle, built in the 19th century, according to the specifications of King Carol I, and it soon became the royal residence of the Romanian Royal Family. Its architecture combines the German style with the Italian Neo-Rennaissance one, and it holds no less than 160 rooms.

King Carol was very passionate about architecture, thus, numerous rooms were designed and furnished according to various European architectural styles. The estate was used as a private retreat for statesmen from the entire world.

Among the personalities that visited the Peles Castle are the American president Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and PLO leader Yasser Arafat.

After the visit at Peles Castle, we will drive back to Bucharest, where the trip will come to an end.