Dracula Restaurant,Terasa — Hotel in Arefu

In May last year I centered my trip to Romania around the visit to the Poenari Castle in Arefu. I was psyched to visit and had a lovely time climbing up to the castle, but I was not nearly as satisfied with the lodgings I'd booked. I found the website of Pensiunea Dracula (not having consulted websites like Trip Advisor beforehand) and managed to book stay with them with the help of my Romanian friend. So that's the first con for me - they didn't speak any English, not even on a basic level. I realise Arefu may not get as many tourists as Curtea de Arges, for example, but a little English wouldn't hurt. Then, when I arrived, I met with a grouchy woman who asked for my money immediately. I was staying only for one night so I didn't mind her manners that much at the time. Now that I look back, I realise I should have probably walked out right away, and settled somewhere better. Anyway, I paid the sum and went to my room. The room was more than decent, I admit that. It was clean, the furniture was new and there were freshly washed linens and towels. Both room and bathroom were very comfortable. I think if it wasn't for the comfort of the room, I would have gone mad with boredom in this little Romanian village. Around dinner time, I went to the restaurant downstairs. It does smell a bit bad in the hallway because of the kitchen, but I didn't mind it that much as I was quite hungry. The food, though, was very expensive, especially for a pension in the countryside. I compared prices with another pension/restaurant close by, so trust me when I say the amount isn't worth the money. I didn't dine that night, but I wanted to eat breakfast in the restaurant the following morning. When I tried to ask for my breakfast in the morning, I was promptly denied it, on the grounds that they had some important guests and couldn't serve me. I found this behaviour rather unflattering and left the pension as quickly as possible. I had my breakfast in the wonderful La Cetate, which is right underneath the Poenari Castle (about 2km from P. Dracula), for a price that was affordable for a budget traveler. So, overall, I wouldn't recommend staying or eating at Pensiunea Dracula, not when you have La Cetate close by. I sincerely hope they will work a bit on their behaviour...

I stayed here for one night at the end of October in preparation to drive the Transfagarasen Highway.||||I arrived at about 8PM, check in was quick and easy and I was soon directed to my room. I had a lovely view out of the front of the hotel overlooking the hills in the distance. The balcony was a good size and I was able to sit and watch the world pass by. ||||The room itself was nice, furnished in homely wooden panels and a comfortable bed. The linen was red so it did look at little influenced by Dracula! The room was clean but it was clear that the furnishings were old and quite worn. The shower room was small and the bottom felt like it was about to crack open and sit me on my a$$ at any moment (I'm a small guy). ||||The room was non-smoking and smelt fine to me (sometimes you can smell the smoke even if the room is non-smoking).||||Breakfast wasn't really to my taste (I'm more of a cereals guy) but it consisted of coffee and a platter of bread, cold meat, cheese, salad and other bits I'm not too sure about. I'm a fussy eater so most people would probably enjoy, I would be confident to say that if I had of asked for cereals they likely would have provided them but I was in a hurry so ate what I could and then got on the road).||||Check out was quick, free parking and Wi-Fi are included and both were good and reliable. There was an indoor swimming pool but it was closed when I was there. It did seem quiet so I don't think there were many people at the time I was there.||||If you're driving the highway and need an overnight stay, or even a one day break this hotel would be good. The location is on the main road so it is easy to find and doesn't take you away from where you would be driving anyway. It takes about 3-4 minutes to get to Poenari Castle, and about 5 minutes more to get to the...

A nice motell close to the Poenari Citadel. The place has a nice spa with swimmingpool, sauna, salt room, jacuzzi and more. It also has a large playroom with pooltable and a lot of other games to play. A nice place to stop for one or more days. The service was very good. This is a good place to stop if you have children because there a lot of things for them to do. The breakfast was very good! And the food in the resturant was also very nice. The rooms where nice and clean, but a little outdated. Even so they had made a Swan origami with the towels on the bed. Unfortunatly there was a lot of dogs barking outside all night and when the barking stopped the roosters took over. I guess they like to have dogs around because of the amount of brown bears in the area. When I was there there where not a lot of guests there so I almost had the entire spa and resturant for myself. I hope they will get more guests later because I really liked the service there and they where very helpful and tried their very best to help you with anything you...