Positioned roughly on the promontory where the Count's castle would have stood, Hotel Castle Dracula is lazily Gothic from the outside, but more interesting within (particularly in reception, where a stuffed hawk, wolf, raven and ferret watch you signing in). Corridors are lined with cranberry-coloured carpets and dragon motifs, while rooms are rustically stylish. with bureaus for writing fraught diaries, and old-fashioned furniture. The apartments are more vampy with wine-dark walls, candlebra and dinner tables for impromptu séances. Meanwhile, the hotel's Fear Room is a creaky-stepped, ghosthouse-style crypt, with murals retelling the story of Dracula. We won't tell you the denouement but in the '90s someone had a heart attack (clue: since when did Dracula wear sneakers?). The restaurant is earthy with dishes such as pork suckling and mutton on the bone, and an outside terrace perfect for summer breakfasts. On a stormy night when the Pass is whipped by rain, wind rattles the casements and the odd wolf howls across the valley, the hotel can be genuinely creepy.
Outside in the car park there's a faded map detailing four colour-coded walks in the area as well as a sculpture of author Bram Stoker in a glass coffin. Immediately after is a gathering of stalls hawking snow globes, vampire mugs, masks, hats and garden gnomes! There’s also tennis and a small ski lift next door.
A couple of daily buses between Bistriţa and Vatra Dornei pass by here.
