Bran is situated at less then 30 km from Brasov, on the road going out through the old Bartolomeu neighborhood and which relates the city of Brasov to Campulung Muscel, the first capital of Valahia, the place where Piatra Craiului Mountains meet the Bucegi Massif.

The region between Bucegi and Piatra Craiului has sparked a series of historical episodes, from prehistoric days until current times, all due to one major geographical and historical factor: the Bran Gorge. The Bran Gorge, one of the most important trans-Carpathian passages, has had a dynamic history. Its story has been characterized by two major components: the trade routes of its crossroads, and the recurring military invasions that utilized them.

A natural amphitheatre, guarded from the East by the Bucegi Mountains and from the West by the Piatra Craiului Massive, the Bran Gorge offered, due to its concave space, a wide panorama both to Burzenland (Tara Bârsei), and to the hills and valley of Moeciu.

Following archaeological excavations, it can now be affirmed, mainly due to the quality of the gorge's natural conditions, that the oldest traces of human habitation of the gorge area date back to the Middle Paleolithic period (120,000–35,000 B.C.). More concrete evidence has been obtained from the Upper Palaeolithic period (16,100–14,600 B.C.), through discoveries made in the Bat-Cave (Pestera Liliecilor) of the Pestera village (Moeciu township).

The first concrete events attesting to the importance of the Bran region were the military conflicts of antiquity, the Dacian-Roman wars. It is clear that some of the Roman legions coming from the Moesia Inferior would pass through the Bran Gorge on their way to the South-eastern region of Transylvania . The strategic importance of the gorge remained for the Romanian military campaigns that followed. Romanian military troupes were evidently stationed in the Cumidava (Râsnov) camp. Their task: to watch over and regulate the Bran passage. In the early Middle Ages, when all of Europe was in the process of a mass political and social reorganization, Transylvania was overwhelmed by waves of migration coming from the immense Asian steppes. After the formation of the Magyar state and its Christianization under King Stefan around the year 1003, the Magyar sovereignty adopted a policy of territorial expansion and extending its political influence over neighbouring populations, including the Carpathian-Danubean area. During the reign of King Andrew II (1205–1235), the Magyar crown's influence began to trickle down to the South-eastern gorge of Transylvania. This period briefly coincided, with the dwelling, on the other side of the Carpathians, of a migratory people called the Cumans. The Cumans' relentless invasions of the Transylvanian section of the Carpathians strongly preoccupied the Magyar sovereignty. King Andrew II, seeking security, became determined to formulate a defence plan. This, in turn, sparked the most controversial episode of Transylvanian history: the debate regarding the possible presence of the Teutonic Knights in the South-eastern region of Transylvania to ensure the enforcement of Magyar policies in the region.

Unfortunately, to this very day, sufficient evidence has yet to be discovered corroborating the Knights' presence in Burzenland during the period between 1211–1225. If these crusaders were present in the area, there is no doubt that they would have exploited its geo-political advantages, as the Bran Gorge had become an strategic area essential to anyone wishing to gain military control over the gorge.

Regardless of the presence of the Teutonic Knights in the South-eastern region of Transylvania, however, the Magyar Sovereignty understood the importance of fortifying the Transylvanian borders. Concurrently with the beginning of the German migration into the intra-Carpathian territory, the Magyar Crown developed a vast network of fortifications. The need to construct such fortifications became imperative, for military purposes, especially in the southern regions of Transylvania. The period between the mid-14th century and the themed-16th century, therefore, was the richest period of fortification construction in the history of Medieval Transylvania. Towards the end of the 14th century, the Magyar Sovereignty developed a more elaborate defence plan, which relied on interior fortresses in addition to those on the kingdom's borders. During the reign of Louis I of Anjou (1342–1382), the Magyar crown continued its expansionist policy in the Balkans. This was also the time that Walachia and Moldavia were cemented as formal political entities. The great military expectations arising out of these formations culminated in a series of battles between the Magyar King and Walachia. The Magyar King's military strategy heavily relied on the fortification of the gorges that allowed military access to Walachia. The ongoing conflicts and misunderstandings between King Louis I of Anjou and Walachia convinced the King to approve a plan for the construction of a fortress at Bran.

Bran Fortress was built both for strategic and economic reasons. Its purpose was to intercept the road that leads to Transylvania, including the gorge, and to ensure the protection of the Magyar customs centre.

At the time of Bran Fortress' establishment, trade through the Bran Gorge was prohibited. Instead, trade migrated upstream to Rufla Arbor (Rucar). In order to receive aid for the construction of the Fortress, Louis I of Anjou promised the residents of Brasov that the customs centre would be moved to the new fortress they would build at Bran. The document specified the following: the residents of Brasov, “willingly and uncompelled, generously and unanimously” promised to build a “new fortress on the Dietrich's cliff,” (novum castrum in lapide Tydrici aedificare). It would be built “through their own efforts.” They were also obligated “to clear the woods there, high and low, as is seen fit; to level the ground, bring and supply stones, cement, and wood; as necessary for the construction of the Fortress.” Additionally, they supplied “builders, stone carvers, and carpenters, at their own expense.”

On December 1st 1920, the people from Braşov – through the voice of their mayor, Mr. Karl Schnell – have given the castle as a present to the Romanian royal family, in whose possession the castle remained for the next twenty seven years.

After becoming property of the royal family, between 1920 -1930 the castle suffered a series of architectural renovations, aiming to transform it into a modern summer residence. The renovation works were lead by the Czech architect Karel Liman, who also worked at the castles Peleş and Pelişor. Two towers for stairs were added, the bulwarks and the shooting gaps became windows, the stoves and the hearths became modern fireplaces.

In order to make it inhabitable by the royal family, the Bran Castle was equipped with all utilities compulsory in a genuine royal residence. The water was supplied by the 57 meters fountain dug in the inner court of the castle. The illumination of the castle was insured by a turbine power station, built by will of Queen Maria in May 1932, to which the communes Bran, Şimon and Moeciu were also connected, “poor and strictly Romanian communes, who wouldn’t have had such an advantage in the near future”, as shown by a thanking letter sent to Queen Maria by the inhabitants of the three communes. The turbine – manufactured by the Voith Company – was brought into operation on August 29th, 1932. A water power station of 85 hp was also built on Turcu River in December 1932, to illuminate the castle and the surroundings.

The communication with the exterior was facilitated by the existence of three telephone stations in the castle. The telephone system and the telephone exchange were altered and replaced in 1941 and 1944, at the request of Princess Ileana. Since the castle had – besides basement and ground floor – four floors, it was equipped with an elevator, same as the Peleş Castle. The elevator was set up in order to facilitate the queen’s walk from the park to the castle. A cable way was installed for an easier communication with the Tea House, carrying from the castle kitchen the food the queen and her guests helped. The house was equipped with plumbing for cold and warm water, with electric light and sewerage, being specially fit out for small receptions in a natural frame.

The Bran Castle, as many other palaces and castles, is the place where the architectural imaginative view of Queen Maria has fully manifested. Thus, there were built a hunting house, a wooden small church, a wooden house (with seven rooms) and … two bawdy houses (one for the queen and one for Princess Ileana

The Bran Castle was – next to the Palace from Balcic – the dearest residence of Queen Maria who, due to her imagination, changed the solid and unwelcoming fortress into a warm, modern and comfortable summer dwelling.

The queen’s favorite field of interest was the decoration of the interiors, the saloons from Pelişor and Cotroceni baring the stamp of the style imposed by the sovereign. The Bran Castle has also experienced such changes, although the rigid architecture of the castle did not allow too many changes of the interiors. Yet, one might remark: The Large Room, actually a dinning room decorated in the style of the German Renaissance, The Yellow Saloon of Queen Maria, The Music Saloon, The Tyrolese Room of King Carol II, The Saxon Room of Prince Nicolae, all these revealing the sovereign’s taste. In the series of all these changes is enlisted also the building of several outbuildings around the castle: The Tea House, built out of wooden beams (144 m2), The Guest House, built of rough stone (78 m2), the house of Princess Ileana’s children (43 m2), the private new house (176 m2), the staff house (378 m2), the stables for horses and six garages.

The castle was inhabited only by some of the members of the royal family, who benefited by separate sweets. Queen Maria stands out between them, occupying an apartment made up of hall, dressing room, two saloons (including the yellow one), bedroom, bathroom and dinning room, apartment where the sovereign collected all sort of art objects (sets of china, icons, statues, paintings, books).

The total surface of the Bran Domain – evaluated after the queen’s death – was 134.5 hectares, plus 105.6 hectares of forest (beech trees and pine trees), 53.7 hectares of grassland and 1.15 hectares of hay field.

As long as the queen stayed in Bran, she constantly tried her best to help the surrounding villages and their inhabitants. A large number of villagers worked by day on the Domain, in the park, in the gardens or at diverse works that were done at the castle in that period, being remunerated for their work. After the power station was initiated, three villages from the area (Bran, Şimon and Moeciu) were connected to the new network, the Vocational School from Bran benefiting from illumination for free. The tradition of helping the surrounding villages was kept by her successor at the castle, Princess Ileana. In June 1939, she agreed to let a House of Culture for the inhabitants of the Bran commune function in four rooms of the ground floor from the castle.

During Queen Maria’s period the castle was not only a summer residence, but also the place where royal receptions and feasts took place. For example, in 1934, the menu of such a feast contained: one rabbit, seven doves, fifteen chickens, one hundred twenty eggs, ten kg sturgeon, seven kg melons, etc.

Queen Maria passed away on July 18th 1938, thus ending a glorious age in the history of Romanian monarchy. Although she had arrived in the country only the day before, the queen manifested her will of going to Bran and Balcic, her favorite residences. The King Carol II noted in his diary “She tells us how happy it makes her to have returned home and how she wishes, after a short rest here (at Pelişor), to go to Bran and Balcic”. Unfortunately, her last wish could not be fulfilled.

The queen elaborated a will and a letter addressed “to my country and my people”. The text of the Letter addressed to the country constitutes an emotional moral will – a supreme testimony of the queen’s love for the people she was chosen to lead. In the same document Queen Maria expresses for the last time the passion she used to build and set up her two favorite residences – Balcic and Bran – , manifesting her wish that her heart should be “brought and placed in Stella Maris, the church I have built by the sea”.

Through her second will, Queen Maria left the Bran castle to Princess Ileana. The Princess – who lived with her husband, Anton of Habsburg, in the Castle from Sonnenberg (Austria) – will not arrive in country in time to find her mother alive. She will still participate to the funeral that took place at Curtea de Argeş. “For me – she will later remember – she was my mother, my queen and the best friend I ever had”.

On August 3rd, 1938, after the queen’s death, the architects D. Antonescu and Eugen Dimitriu have issued the evaluation document of the Bran domain. The castle was evaluated at 4.967.500 lei, the land at 5.800.000 lei and the other buildings belonging to the complex at 9.264.500 lei. Altogether, the Bran Domain was worth 20.032.000 lei. After a week, on August 11, the official partition was made, the castle becoming property of Princess Ileana, who will permanently return to the country only after the abdication of King Carol II, in September 1940.

Today,legend and history are entwined and is being kept alive by the throngs of tourists who visit destinations like the Monastery of Snagov near Bucharest, and Bran Castle(Draculas Castle) near Brasov. At Halloween, the castle is a favourite haunt for American and British tourists visiting Romania. It is one of the few places in Romania where you can live the true Halloween atmosphere.

There are available touristic accommodations in the nearby cities. The local tour guides offer airplane reservations, private transfers and different adventure trips . Located at the entry in the Rucar - Bran corridor, on the commercial road connecting since the oldest times Brasov to Campulung, Bran area comprises the following communes:

Bran, with the villages Poarta, Simon, Predelut and Sohodol.
Moeciu, with the villages Moeciu de Jos and Moeciu de Sus, Cheia, Pestera.
Fundata, with the villages Fundatica, Drumul Carului and Siruca.

You can get easily to Bran Castle by flight. From Bucharest, at 160 km from Brasov, there is the Henri Coanda International Airport - http://www.otp-airport.ro/, but also the Baneasa International Airport - http://www.baneasa-airport.ro/. Form Sibiu - at 150 km there is the Sibiu International Airport http://www.sibiuairport.ro/.