Inside Bran Castle | Rooms, courtyards, and Dracula legends

Bran Castle has a total of 57 rooms that have witnessed centuries of history. King Ferdinand’s rooms are among the most well-restored rooms in the castle. Ornate furniture and wonderful views of the village below can be appreciated in King Ferdinand's suite. Hand-carved and elaborate fixtures cover the walls and ceilings of the expansive rooms. A room of the castle also occupies the torture museum with various unsettling artifacts.

There is also a stone secret passage among the 57 chambers inside that was so narrow that only one person could pass through it at a time. The secret corridor connects the first and third floors, albeit it is no longer secret. The entry to the secret corridor was hidden behind an antique fireplace. It was discovered in the 1920s while Queen Marie was renovating the castle.

The top of an old water well is present in the courtyard of Bran Castle, but there is no well. However, the well is more than just a decorative feature. When the fortress was built in the 14th century, a 60-foot-deep well was drilled through solid rock. There was also a secret room carved into the rock just above the water level, which was used to hide the castle's treasures in the event of an invasion.

The gothic architecture of Bran Castle is breathtaking. The enormous structure is built of a mix of wood and stone. The round tower, or Donjon, is one of the castle's features, as it is remarkably well kept. Unfortunately, lightning struck the old tower and it was completely destroyed. The current round tower design dates from 1593.

Before her death in 1938, Queen Marie requested that her heart be interred at a chapel in the village of Balchik, near the Black Sea, where her family owned a palace that was the queen's favorite summer retreat. Balchik's heart was placed at Bran Castle when she was returned to Bulgaria in 1940. On the southwest side of the castle, across the small brook at the edge of the woodland, you can view the resting place of the Queen’s heart.

Originally, a seven-meter-deep reservoir was dug in Bran Castle’s courtyard and later expanded into a 59-meter-deep well in the 17th century. After a new well was added in 1937, the old one was converted into an elevator shaft, allowing Queen Marie access to the Royal Gardens via a twisting underground gallery. Today, this historic rock space houses the Time Tunnel, a multisensory installation created by a multidisciplinary team, showcasing how heritage and modern technology come together to captivate visitors.