Location: Wallachia region – Romania
Where:
comuna Arefu, DN 7C, (108 miles northwest of Bucharest)
Nearest large town: Curtea de Arges (15 miles south of Poenari)
Nearest train station: Curtea de Arges
Nearest bus stop: Arefu
Elevation: 2,800 ft.
Access: climb 1,480 steps through scenic forest trail
Visiting hours: 10 a.m. -- 5 p.m., every day
Poenari Fortress reopened April 14, 2025 follwing ample preservation works.
Admission: 30 lei (adults) / 20 lei (students and senior citizens)
The remains of Poienari Fortress - Prince Vlad Tepes Draculea citadel - stand high on a
Carpathian Mountains cliff, overlooking Arges River.
Commisioned at the beginning of the 13th century by prince Negru Vodă ruler of Walachia (southern Romania),
the castle changed names and residents a few times over the centuries.
Voivode Vlad Țepeș - Draculea (Vlad the Impaler) recognized the potential of the fortress and
ordered that the structure be enlarged and consolidated, turning Poenari into one of his main fortresses.
Unhappy with Vlad Tepes' severe punishment (impaling) of robbers, idlers and traitors many boyars and merchants in Walachia planned to overthrow their the ruler. Vlad learned of the boyars' intentions and ordered them to be arrested and forced to work to expand and strengthen Poenari fortress. Those who survived the completion of the construction were released.
Poenari Fortress has an elongated shape and features 5 watch towers, 4 of which are round and one prismatic.
Its walls are about 10-feet; due to the steep slope below their height looks much greater.
When the Turks attacked and captured the castle in 1462,
Vlad escaped via a secret passageway leading north through the mountains.
On the hilltop opposite to peak Cetăţuia, on which Poenari fortress lays, there is a trail leading to the top, paved with stone. The Ottomans built this acessway to transport their cannons to bombard the fortress, the only way to penetrate its fortifications. The road has since been nicknamed the "Turk's Road".
Although the castle was used for a few more centuries, after Vlad's death in 1476, it was eventually abandoned again in the first half of the 16th century and left to the ravages of time and weather.
In 1888, a major landslide brought down a portion of the castle which crashed into the river far below. The castle underwent repairs and the remnants of its walls and towers stand to this day.
Visitors must climb 1,480 steps to reach Poenari Fortress,
an impressive fortification perched high above the surrounding area.
The local authorities are considering building a tram car (cremaillere)
to facilitate acces to the fortress.
Poenari Fortress more info
More about Prince Vlad Tepes (Draculeaand his refuge in the Carpathian Mountains
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