If you are looking for the real Dracula castle, you can find it on a mountain top, 1480 stairs and 400 meter high from the Argeș Valley. This is the Poienari Fortress. The fortress was first built in the 13th century by Negru Voda, the the first ruler of the Wallahians, and extended to the actual size in the 15th century by Vlad Țepeș aka Vlad The Impaler aka Vlad Drăculea, the actual source of inspiration for Bram Stoker’s famous Dracula.

The fortress is strategically positioned to guard the entrance of Argeș Valley from Transylvania and was designed as a stronghold for the Walachian Kingdom and a shelter for the King and his treasures. It was also used as a prison for traitor boyars and foreign prisoners. The fortress was abandoned in the second half of the 16th century and since then it’s ruin began. Now it’s just a ruin, the remains of the walls and towers of one of the greatest fortress in Wallachia. The ruins of the old Poienari fortress are a very attractive site and many tourists are visiting the place. The 1480 stairs climbing through the forest takes 20 to 40 minutes, depending of each person’s physical strength. The entrance fee is payed at the end of the climbing and it’s 5 lei for adults and 2 lei for children, students and retired people. A few minutes north of the fortress, is a worth-seeing site, one of Romania’s  largest dam, the Vidraru Dam and also the very beautiful and adventurous Valley of Stan. So, don’t miss these! Alternatively, a few kilometers south is Curtea de Argeș, the old capital of Wallachia, and the famous Curtea de Argeș Monastery.