Bran
Bran Castle was never the home to Vlad Tepes, but it looks like it could have been. This fact and impish encouragement by self-promotional locals has raised a near insurmountable cloud of deception about the place; it supposedly being the home to Dracula. Tepes may have stopped here on his way to torment Turks, but mostly this is just a very gnarly looking castle and as such deserves a good eyeballing. Bran Castle juts into the sky from its hilltop base, with plenty of turrets and lookouts to keep a wary eye out for invaders. Both inside and out, it’s an oh-wow moment of the first order, worth all the waiting and elbowing tourists.
Although there are a few places to stay in Bran, once you’ve seen the castle, you’ve seen Bran, so a half-day trip from Brasov is usually the preferred visitor tactic. Although some masochists like to descend from on the area from their hike through the Bucegi Mountains.