Poienari Castle, Southern Romania, Romania

5Achilina S 5:00 PM Sep 6, 2020

Amazing view
The citadel is reached by a climb of 1480 stairs (time to climb the stairs: 30 min). The view from the citadel it’s amazing. I suggest to make the effort! Excellent for a small hike. It took me about 15 min to climb - rather running than walking).

5Victoria_Rodon 5:00 PM Apr 7, 2013

Directions to Poenari Castle
My husband and I were determined to see Vlad Tepes' real castle but had a hard time finding a good set of directions on how to get there. From Curtea De Arges take hwy 7C north. You will pass through a village called Arefu, shortly thereafter you will come to another village named Capatineni. Here you will start to see "Dracula" signs and in the warmer months likely souvenir stands (we traveled in April). The road (7C) begins to curve to the right and you will see a hydroelectric station. There is a small white cabin on the right side of the road where you will also see the Arges river. Park along the road. The stairs (1480 of them) are directly across from the white cabin and next to the hydroelectric station. You will pass another electric station somewhere around Arefu...keep going, that's not the power station you want. You can also reach the castle from the north by taking the Transfagarasan hwy south that wraps around Lake Vidraru but that hwy is largely closed until the warmer months. (Warmer than April anyway) Enough has been said about the castle itself...all is true. Well worth the athletic stair climb to get there.Fees are paid at the top of the climb. (5 lei per person, 20 lei to use your camera and 60 lei for video) You can take your time in climbing. There are 4 benches along the way and many landings to stop and admire the magnificent fairytale forest surrounding you. We are in our early 50's do not work out or even walk much but are in good health and do not smoke and we made it. Not recommended for bad knees or hips. Going down was a breeze..we wondered what all our huffing and puffing was about! The restaurant at the base was excellent. Poenari was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to Romania.