Peleș Castle

Peleș is the most-photographed building in Romania and the one most often misdescribed. It is not a fortress and it is not old: the foundation stone was laid in 1873 and it was inaugurated in 1883, as a summer residence for Carol I, the country’s first king.

Its architecture is Neo-Renaissance with a heavy German-Alpine accent, and it was extended in phases up to 1914 by the architect Karel Liman. The royal family used it every summer until 1947.

Why the plumbing matters

Peleș was built at the point where a great house could be a technical exercise, and it was treated as one. It had electricity from 1884, supplied by its own hydroelectric plant on the Peleș stream, and central heating from 1897. It is routinely called the first castle in Europe to have either; the specifics are what we can check, and they are impressive without the superlative.

Look for it in the building rather than the placards: the central hall has a retractable glass ceiling, and there is a lift.

Where it is

Peleș is at Sinaia, in Prahova County — administratively Muntenia rather than Transylvania, though it sits on the main road up from Bucharest and is usually visited on the same trip as Brașov and Bran. The grounds are worth time in their own right, and Pelișor, the smaller house beside it, is quieter and to many tastes more likeable.