I booked the tour thinking I had booked directly with the presidential palace. We therefore headed to the visitors centre. At the last minute, I checked the booking confirmation and saw the meeting point was the travel agent office. My husband and friend went to the visitors centre and were there for 3pm;our tour time. I arrived and went to the back of the passport queue check. A palace employee asked for our tickets. She politely said there were two types of ticket and to wait there. The next thing, the Transylvanian Wonders representative came rushing in asking for my name. She brusquely said to follow her and then in front of the rest of the group started to berate me for being late. I fully admited I was late but she continued to ask me to confirm my telephone number and show me the message she had sent me. I kept saying that I believed her and then got very upset. After that, she was very friendly. I had received a scam message that morning so incorrectly assumed her text was one too. Another trip I booked had the name of the trip at the beginning so I knew straightaway that was not a scam. Perhaps this could be adopted. I fully acknowledge I was in the wrong for not being early but it was the way I was berated in front of everybody that I didn't appreciate. I have seen another negative post about the company on TA and this was the only one that the company responded to so I expect this will happen here too.

The tour in the palace was interesting, the guide from headout.com was giving information very emotionless and seemed like she was happy to finish. The operator who walked us to the palace treated us quite harsh and rude. We left the meeting point office later than planned and operator ran to the palace shouting to hurry up or lose the access. Tour operator is definitely not well organized and not recommendable.

If you're a student of recent European politics, this place is absolutely fascinating. Doesn't look too much from the outside, but inside it's very large and (for its time) very luxurious. To see how much splendour this dictator lived in with his family whilst his people were brought to near starving under the communist yoke is heart-breaking. Every mod con is installed, but the decoration is in somewhat dubious taste. Everywhere there are photos and objects given to the Ceausescu family by world leaders. You have to go on a guided visit, you can't just wander around. And, annoyingly since March 2024, no photography is allowed inside. Well worth a visit.

Bran Castle is a beautiful castle, epitomising the traditional fairy tale castle. I believe it is the most visited attraction in Romania. Whilst I enjoyed the castle and exhibits, including the unbelievably gruesome torture exhibition ( pay extra) it is so, so busy. Like a production line. I didn’t feel I had time to read the info or take in what I was seeing as you felt pressured to keep moving.

Book this tour if you want to question your life choices. Otherwise, get your ticket directly in person or online (60 lei) and save the 32 pounds as there was no value-add from my tour today. Booked after reading reviews here and was looking forward to it, but the actual experience made me feel like I was scammed. The tour lasted around 25 min, had a grand total of no more than 200 words said to me. Would've been shorter if I hadn't insisted on just reading the museum descriptions on the wall myself while the gentleman stood there waiting. I was the only one for my time slot, and was not assigned any of the tour guides praised here in other reviews. My guide did not seem like he really cared about the castle nor knew anything substantial to share with visitors. The recipe went: we go into a new room, "this is the king's bedroom", point at fireplace, "many fireplace, keep them warm, very nice", then we would hurry into the next room to repeat a similar repertoire with the same level of detail. You can imagine the disappointment and irritation one might feel hearing the stark contrast vs other tour guides that are leading other tours in the same room - providing any amount of actual tour-guiding.... I kept waiting for the guide to start giving the tour, but that was it. There were rooms that he said I didn't even have to bother going into just because there was a small queue. I felt rushed. We ended up in the courtyard where he hastily said good bye and pointed me to the exit. As I walked down alone later, at 11:40 thinking about how I will spend my time since my 1-hr tour ended within 30min, and how much money the tour company must be making from so little work - I saw the same guy take another 2-people group up the castle. Instead of the Bran Castle Skip-the-Line Guided Tour, Skip-the-Bran Castle tour felt more fitting for my experience today. Also note the meeting point is not at Bran Castle, check your ticket.

Great place but what they really need is people who speak English. I found very few people spoke English there which I was surprised.

Best advice: buy tickets in advance. The line on a Monday for those without tickets was horrible! Also buy for when it first opens. VERY crowded the later you go. Very thankful Trip Advisor suggested this advance purchase!!

Highly recommend! We booked castle tickets via Booking.com and when we met Maria to collect the tickets from Transylvanian Wonders, we booked the tour and did not regret it for a second. Greg was funny, very very knowledgeable and really made our visit!

Lots of information. Wonderful tour with a funny and interactive guide. Would go definitely go again.

Awesome group of people, they really know what they’re talking about and make sure you understand, especially the Bran tour. Very helpful and provide answers to any questions that you may have, had a great time.

A nice castle to visit with interesting history about the Romanian royal family. Very tenuous link to Dracula, despite the exhaustive souvenir options at the foot of the castle (imagine a whole market full of vendors selling Dracula related items). Not sure if the skip the queue ticket was worth the money as there wasn't really a queue when I arrived. The castle was packed with other tourists and school groups shuffling around a confused one way system, so basically the whole castle was one slow moving queue to get from one room to the next. Brasov is well worth a visit, but the castle is not something I would do again...or really recommend if you have limited time in the country.

I went on a cloudy weekday in May. It was a mildly dreary day. I probably didn’t need the skip the line ticket on this particular day, but the 9am opening slot allowed me to be first in the castle. (Note: use Google maps to find the “Transylvanian Wonders” ticket office in advance.) I would use skip the line tickets for any weekend, or anytime during summer, or a holiday, as this place can become jam packed with people on most days. Skip the line would be especially useful if you wanted to be first in the castle to photograph that wonderful courtyard before it filled with other tourists.

You have to call once you arrive and if your phone doesn’t work internationally you are screwed. The lady at the ticket office dialed for us and the person arrived within 15 minutes…but it would have been faster to just buy tickets there instead of calling and waiting.

Bought the private tour and it exceeded expectations. Greg, our guide, was very personable, informative, provided a lot of color, and managed to easily work us around the large crowd.

Paid for “fast pass” didn’t really do anything and there were still areas where extra ticket purchases were required for access. Quite busy meaning queues so we felt rushed in certain places. Overall a nice area and lovely surroundings so it is worth visiting.