# Castles and palaces — tourist attractions in Romania [Romania](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/attractions) › [Categories](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/categories) > Castles, palaces and noble residences. The best-known castles in Romania are, for the most part, noble and royal residences from the last two or three centuries rather than medieval strongholds: manor houses of the Hungarian families of Transylvania, boyar palaces in Wallachia and Moldavia, and the residences the Royal House built after 1870. Most are found in Transylvania and along the Prahova Valley, but every region has at least one palace worth a visit. Many went through nationalisation and decades of neglect, and are now being restored one by one and opened as museums. On the Prahova Valley, [Peleș Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-peles) and [Pelișor Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-pelisor) keep their royal interiors almost intact. In Transylvania, [Corvin Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-corvinilor) is a genuine Gothic castle, while [Bánffy Castle in Bonțida](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-banffy-bontida) shows how a noble estate is being brought back step by step. Further east, the [Palace of Culture in Iași](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-culturii-iasi) and [Sturdza Castle of Miclăușeni](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-sturdza-miclauseni) round off a route through [Moldavia](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/region/moldova). ## Tourist attractions 32 attractions - [Bran Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-bran) — Castles and palaces · Bran, BV · 120 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 20 A medieval fortress built by the people of Brașov on a rock in the Bran Pass, later Queen Marie's summer residence and known around the world as “Dracula's Castle”. - [Corvin Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-corvinilor) — Castles and palaces · Hunedoara, HD · 55 lei · 1½ – 2 hours · Top 20 John Hunyadi's Gothic residence, on a rock above the Zlaști river and reached by a long bridge on stone piers; inside, vaulted halls and towers from the 15th century. - [Peleș Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-peles) — Castles and palaces · Sinaia, PH · 100 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 20 King Carol I's summer residence, built between 1873 and 1914 at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains in Sinaia, with carved wooden interiors, armouries and stained glass. - [Palace of the Parliament](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-parlamentului) — Castles and palaces · București · 85 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 20 The heaviest building in the world, raised by Ceaușescu in the 1980s on Spirii Hill; the guided tour passes through marble-clad state rooms hung with crystal chandeliers weighing several tonnes. - [Brukenthal Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-brukenthal) — Castles and palaces · Sibiu, SB · 50 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 100 The Baroque palace of Governor Samuel von Brukenthal on Sibiu's Great Square has housed Romania's oldest museum since 1817: a gallery of European painting with van Eyck, Titian and Bruegel. - [Cantacuzino Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-cantacuzino) — Castles and palaces · Bușteni, PH · 85 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 100 The Neo-Romanian summer residence of the 'Nabob' Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, with a ballroom lined with coats of arms, a terrace facing the Bucegi Mountains and the Nevermore Academy exterior from Wednesday. - [Cotroceni Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-cotroceni) — Castles and palaces · București · 50 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 100 The royal residence of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, today the seat of the Romanian Presidency and the National Cotroceni Museum: period salons, the king's library, the queen's apartments and Șerban Cantacuzino's rebuilt church. - [Károlyi Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-karolyi-carei) — Castles and palaces · Carei, SM · 40 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 100 Eclectic castle with towers and a moat, rebuilt in 1894–1896 by the Károlyi family in the middle of a three-century-old dendrological park; inside, period interiors, wax figures and African trophies. - [Bánffy Castle in Bonțida](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-banffy-bontida) — Castles and palaces · Bonțida, CJ · 15 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 100 Transylvania's largest Baroque aristocratic residence, gutted in 1944 and being brought back to life by an award-winning training site; neo-Gothic façade, lapidarium and an exhibition on Miklós Bánffy. - [Mogoșoaia Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-mogosoaia) — Castles and palaces · Mogoșoaia, IF · 15 lei · 1½ – 2 hours · Top 100 The Brâncovenesc palace built by Constantin Brâncoveanu in 1702, with its carved stone loggia, the old kitchen, a church from 1688 and a large lakeside park, 15 km from the centre of Bucharest. - [Palace of Culture in Iași](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-culturii-iasi) — Castles and palaces · Iași, IS · 30 lei · 2½ – 3 hours · Top 100 The Neo-Gothic palace with a clock tower and carillon in the centre of Iași, built in 1906–1925 as a Palace of Justice; today it houses four national museums of art, history, ethnography and science. - [Sturdza Castle of Miclăușeni](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-sturdza-miclauseni) — Castles and palaces · Miclăușeni, IS · 35 lei · 50 min · Top 100 A Neo-Gothic palace built by George and Maria Sturdza between 1880 and 1904, its façades covered in coats of arms and stone tracery, set in an old park with ponds; reopened in 2026 after a major restoration. - [Bánffy Palace in Cluj-Napoca](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-banffy-cluj-napoca) — Castles and palaces · Cluj-Napoca, CJ · 16 lei · Top 100 The finest Baroque palace in Transylvania, built between 1774 and 1785 on Cluj's Union Square, with classical statues along its attic; it houses the Art Museum, with five centuries of Romanian and Transylvanian painting. - [Cuza Palace in Ruginoasa](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-cuza-ruginoasa) — Castles and palaces · Ruginoasa, IS · 40 lei · 45 min · Top 100 A Neo-Gothic palace of the Sturdza boyars, bought in 1862 by Alexandru Ioan Cuza and made the ruling family's residence; today a memorial museum with rooms recreated from Elena Cuza's inventory. - [Iulia Hasdeu Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-iulia-hasdeu) — Castles and palaces · Câmpina, PH · 18 lei · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100 The temple-castle built by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu in memory of his daughter Iulia, to plans he claimed she gave him in spiritualist séances; today a memorial museum. - [Palace of Culture in Târgu Mureș](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-culturii-targu-mures) — Castles and palaces · Târgu Mureș, MS · 30 lei · 1 – 1½ hours · Top 100 A masterpiece of Transylvanian Secession architecture, completed in 1913, with a gold-ground mosaic façade, the Hall of Mirrors and its 12 stained-glass windows, a concert hall with an organ and the Mureș County Museum's art galleries. - [Pelișor Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-pelisor) — Castles and palaces · Sinaia, PH · 30 lei · ½ – 1 hours · Top 100 Queen Marie's Art Nouveau castle, built between 1899 and 1902 next to Peleș, with the Gold Room, the Gold Bedroom and interiors designed by the queen herself; her heart is kept here. - [Primăverii Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-primaverii) — Castles and palaces · București · 85 lei · 45 min · Top 100 The Bucharest home of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu from 1965 to 1989, also known as the Ceaușescu Mansion or Spring Palace, with its lavish interiors, mosaic pool and private cinema, seen on guided tours only. - [Royal Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-regal) — Castles and palaces · București · 32 lei · 2½ – 3 hours · Top 100 The former residence of Romania's kings on Revolution Square, now the National Museum of Art of Romania: the Throne Hall, the Voivodes' Staircase and the country's largest collection of Romanian and European art. - [Săvârșin Royal Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-regal-savarsin) — Castles and palaces · Săvârșin, AR · Top 100 The Royal Family's Neoclassical residence in the Mureș valley, with a historic park open for guided tours and the Royal Village, where King Michael's garage is now a car museum; open at weekends, May–October. - [Bethlen Castle in Criș](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-bethlen-cris) — Castles and palaces · Criș, MS · ½ – 1 hours The most complete Renaissance residence left in Transylvania, seat of the Bethlen family: a tower with soldier reliefs, an arcaded loggia and bastioned walls, now under restoration. - [Bethlen-Haller Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-bethlen-haller) — Castles and palaces · Cetatea de Baltă, AB · 39 lei · ½ – 1 hours A Renaissance castle with four round towers, built by the Bethlen family on a hill above the Târnava Mică; today it is the emblem of Jidvei wines and is visited on hourly guided tours. - [Baroque Palace of Oradea](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-baroc-oradea) — Castles and palaces · Oradea, BH · 25 lei · 1 – 1½ hours The Roman Catholic bishops' residence, built in 1762–1777 by Franz Anton Hillebrandt, is Romania's largest Baroque palace; today it hosts church art exhibitions, and the garden is open daily. - [Black Eagle Palace](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-vulturul-negru) — Monuments and historic sites · Oradea, BH · Free · 30 min A Secession building from 1907–1908 on Piața Unirii in Oradea, with a glass-roofed passage and a stained-glass window of a black eagle, from which it takes its name. - [Brâncoveanu Palace in Potlogi](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/palatul-brancovenesc-potlogi) — Castles and palaces · Potlogi, DB · 30 lei · 1 – 1½ hours The princely court built by Constantin Brâncoveanu in 1698 for his eldest son, with a loggia-fronted palace, walled courtyards and restored gardens, ~50 km from Bucharest. - [Craiova Art Museum](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/muzeul-de-arta-craiova) — Museums and memorial houses · Craiova, DJ · 30 lei · 1 – 1½ hours The museum in the Jean Mihail Palace, built in 1898–1907 to plans by Paul Gottereau, holds six works by Brâncuși, including “The Kiss”, as well as Romanian and European art. - [Dacia Hotel](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/hotelul-dacia-satu-mare) — Monuments and historic sites · Satu Mare, SM · Free · 15 min The former Pannonia Hotel, built in 1901–1902 in Liberty Square to plans by Zoltán Bálint and Lajos Jámbor, is one of the finest Secession buildings in Satu Mare. It can only be seen from outside: it is under restoration. - [Darvas-La Roche House](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/casa-darvas-la-roche) — Museums and memorial houses · Oradea, BH · 20 lei · ½ – 1 hours The Secession villa of the industrialist Imre Darvas, designed by the Vágó brothers in 1909–1912, now houses Romania's first Art Nouveau museum, with period interiors and a garden. - [Huniade Castle](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-huniade-timisoara) — Castles and palaces · Timișoara, TM · 20 min The oldest building in Timișoara, a royal residence in the Middle Ages and the historic home of the Banat Museum; closed for restoration and visible from the outside only. - [Kálnoky Castle in Micloșoara](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-kalnoky-miclosoara) — Castles and palaces · Micloșoara, CV · 30 lei · ½ – 1 hours A Renaissance hunting manor of the Counts Kálnoky, begun in 1648, with bastions and rare stucco work, restored and opened in 2017 as the Museum of Transylvanian Life, with guided tours. - [Lázár Castle in Lăzarea](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castelul-lazar-lazarea) — Castles and palaces · Lăzarea, HR · 35 lei The Renaissance castle of the Lázár family, with four bastions, a gate tower and walls topped by ornamental crenellations, at the edge of the forest near Gheorgheni; Gabriel Bethlen spent his childhood here. - [National Museum of Art Timișoara](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/muzeul-de-arta-timisoara) — Museums and memorial houses · Timișoara, TM · 1 – 1½ hours The museum in the Baroque Palace on Union Square holds old European painting, Banat and Romanian art and the Corneliu Baba collection, in a building begun in 1754. --- Full page: https://peplaiuri.ro/en/castele-si-palate Other languages: Română: https://peplaiuri.ro/castele-si-palate.md · Deutsch: https://peplaiuri.ro/de/castele-si-palate.md · Italiano: https://peplaiuri.ro/it/castele-si-palate.md Source: Pe Plaiuri (https://peplaiuri.ro/en) — Guide to tourist attractions in Romania