Skip-the-Line Guided Tour of Peleș Castle

There's a reason (well, many reasons) why Peleș Castle is one of Romania's most popular sites. For one, it lies in the foothills of the spectacular Bucegi Mountains, whose scenery King Carol I fell in love with and decided on the location to build his summer palace. It is also known for its stunning 19th-century architecture - a blend of Neo-Renaissance and Gothic Revival architecture. Fascinatingly, Peleș Castle became the first castle in the world to be fully powered by locally produced electricity. When the Communist regime took over, the castle served as a resting place for Romanian cultural personalities. It only reopened to the public (as a museum) in 1989, after the revolution.

Follow your local tour guide through the fairytale castle and admire its lavish interiors. See the extensive 4,000-piece weaponry collection from Europe and Asia on display in the Weapons Room. The movie theater has walls and ceilings that were elegantly decorated with frescoes by Austrian artists Gustav Klimt and Franz von Matsch. It is said that the first movie projection in Romania took place in this room. Tour the Music Room, home to lovely pieces of teak furniture that were gifted by the Indian Maharajah of Kapurthala; Queen Elizabeth used this room as a salon. Explore the Florentine, Turkish, Moorish, or French rooms, all of which are ornately furnished and decorated to the smallest detail. The highlight among these rooms is the Imperial Suite, built as a tribute to the Austrian Emperor, Franz Joseph I. With a well-preserved five-hundred-year-old Cordoban tooled leather wall cover, it is a sight for sore eyes!