On Dracula's Trail

Fifteen days from Vienna into Transylvania and back, across as many as eight countries, built around one of the great driving roads of Europe and one of its most successful pieces of marketing.

Budapest provides the first rest day, reached along the Danube by way of the Tokaj wine region and the Puszta plains. Debrecen follows, then Deva in Romania, then a rest day at Sibiu, which is reached through Sighisoara and the fortified Saxon churches of Transylvania, villages where the church was built as the last line of defence and the walls are still standing.

The Transfagarasan is the reason riders book. Built in the 1970s on Ceausescu’s orders, it climbs to over two thousand metres through a stack of hairpins and tunnels, and the lesser-known Transalpina nearby is arguably the better road of the two. Bran Castle also features, sold everywhere as Dracula’s Castle, though it is worth knowing that its connection to Vlad the Impaler is disputed by historians rather than established. Corvin Castle, Bratislava and the Matra and Bukk mountains are on the wider route.

Edelweiss include a choice of BMW motorcycle, fourteen nights in comfortable middle-range hotels, a guide and a tour book. Flights are separate, and a guided city tour of Vienna can be added at 350 euros per person with a 65 euro single supplement. Prices are per person for 2026. Fourteen nights across eight countries means a lot of border crossings and a lot of currencies, and the reward is a fortnight in parts of Europe that very few touring riders reach.