Enjoy Romania’s beautiful countryside and haunting legendary tales with a visit to Hunedoara. The city lies in the heart of Transylvania, a pleasant and inviting area of rolling hills, meandering rivers and tranquil old villages. The region is a very real place made famous as a setting for great horrors in stories of bloodsucking vampires and amazingly painful cruelties. While Hunedoara is in fact a peaceful modern town, local residents take pride in their place in legends and stories of infamy.
One of the city’s highlights is the Hunedoara Castle, also known as Corvin or Hunyadi Castle. You may recognise it as the backdrop for several haunting movies. This castle was built and added to over several centuries, resulting in a multi-towered and somewhat forbidding appearance with a mix of Renaissance and Baroque architecture and a surrounding moat. Visit its dungeon and torture chamber. According to legend, one prisoner here, Vlad Tepes, the Prince of Wallachia, after being driven to insanity, became one of the century’s cruelest oppressors. Bram Stoker supposedly modelled his literary Count Dracula after this evil tyrant.
Make a pilgrimage to the Prislop Monastery south of the city where the Romanian monk Arsenie Boca is buried. Many visitors bring flowers to the gravesite of this priest, beloved for his spiritual and anti-communist acts.
Farther south see the Cetatea Colț or Colt Citadel. Hike up a hill to the ruins of this 14th-century castle that may have inspired Jules Verne's novel The Carpathians’ Castle.
Hunedoara offers attractions that are typical of modern Romania. Sample home-made meals of sausages, stuffed cabbage and boiled cornmeal and see festivals with colourful folk costumes.
Travel to the town from Budapest or Bucharest in about 5 hours by car. Alternatively take the train or bus and enjoy the scenic ride through Transylvanian countryside.
Read or reread Bram Stoker’s Dracula before you visit Hunedoara. Then picture yourself in a Transylvanian horror movie while you enjoy the contrasting views of today’s beautiful countryside.
