Transylvania, Romania

The land that inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula does not disappoint in the spooky stakes.

With its moated Gothic castles surrounded by the misty Carpathian mountains, wellpreserved medieval towns and dark, dense forests of howling wolves, it’s as timeless as the vampires the name Transylvania evokes. Bran Castle, upon which Count Dracula’s lair was based, is a must-visit.

You can tour the 14th-century fortress’ lamp-lit corridors and lofty turrets at any time, but on Halloween it hosts a party complete with red wine and black vodka cocktails and (live?) entertainment.

Dracula himself was loosely based on 15th century nobleman Vlad Dracula - better known as Vlad the Impaler - who has been said to have impaled tens of thousands of his enemies on stakes in the castle grounds, although evidence suggests he may never have set foot in the place.

But don’t let the truth stand in the way of exploring a castle which, perched high on a ridge and shadowing the town below, is undeniably vampire-esque.

Peles and Hunedoara castles are just as atmospheric and their factual histories are arguably even stranger than Stoker’s fiction. Take time to explore the hamlets and villages where, with their horse-drawn carts and shepherds tending to their flocks, time seems to have stood still for centuries.

You mightn’t get much sleep if you’re easily spooked though. In the villages near Bran, it was long believed that evil spirits known as steregoi took human form during the day and left their bodies to torment mere mortals at night.

Our cover this week features a child dressed for Dı´a de los Muertos in Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo: iStock.