Valea Zânelor (Valley of Fairies) Clay Castle in Transylvania

About 40km from Sibiu, there’s a fairy tale-like place worth a brief visit. This is Valea Zânelor, Valley of Fairies Clay Castle, a soon-to-be hotel located in Porumbacu de Sus, a village in Romania.

Castelul de lut Valea Zânelor, namely the Clay Castle in the Valley of Fairies, is located in Transylvania, Romania, about 40km from Sibiu, in a dreamy scenery. Surrounded by mountains, the Clay Castle is an environment-friendly construction made from cob, straw, sand and other organic and sustainable materials. The Clay Castle unfolds on two stories and it counts ten rooms and 50 windows. Its two towers are made from stone. The Valley of Fairies is open daily between 10:30 am and 5:30 pm, all year round. Visitors can have lunch, buy souvenirs and take photos with the beautiful clay castle.

What Is the Clay Castle of Valea Zânelor?

Meant to be a hotel, the Fairies’ Valley Clay Castle in Porumbacu de Sus is the creation of a Romanian couple who invested a great effort into setting up a dreamy construction that looks like a fairy tale house. Born and raised in Bucharest, the young couple, together with their 6 years old son, left the city behind to move to this location in Transylvania, just nearby Făgăraș mountains.

For the time being, guests can only visit the site and take photos of the beautiful clay dwellings surrounded by mountains. You can sit and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee, or have a quick snack to get ready to move on to other destinations in Romania.

Valea Zânelor is one of the places to visit in Romania, even though you can’t make it a one-day trip from Bucharest. These gingerbread houses are gorgeous and they make the scenery here simply magic.

How To Find the Clay Castle of the Valley of Fairies?

To get to the Clay Castel from Bucharest, you have two options, A1 motorway and DN1.

I recommend A1 motorway, because DN1 gets extremely busy on weekends. From Pitești, continue on Valea Oltului toward Râmnicu Vâlcea and Sibiu, Some 40km before getting to Sibiu, just after Tălmaciu, turn right to Avrig and keep going until you arrive to Porumbacu de Sus. Here you’ll find a road sign to Castelul de lut Valea Zânelor.

If you want to take DN1 or you come from Brașov, take the road to Făgăraș and keep E68 until you reach Porumbacu de Sus.

The asphalt road to the clay castle is good, so you can make it there with any kind of car.

How To Visit the Clay Castle in Transylvania?

You can add it to your Romania itinerary. You can see it during a three-four days road trip from Bucharest through Transylvania. You can also see it in a one-day trip from Brașov, Făgăraș or Sibiu.

Clay Castle visiting hours: Monday to Sunday, 10:30 am – 5:30 pm. You may want to check out their website before you come, though.

The entrance fee is 5 lei, almost the equivalent of 1 Euro, cash only.

The clay castle hotel was supposed to open for booking in 2020. For obvious reasons, this didn’t happen. This makes the Clay Castle in the Valley of Fairies less interesting for the moment, but still a good destination in the long run. If you want to visit Romania and you have Transylvania on your shortlist, the Clay Castle could serve as a good base camp, unless you want to choose Sibiu or other city in the area and rent a car to explore the surroundings.

The Clay Castle in the Valley of Fairies is beautiful in any season. Late spring and summer are perfect for some nice photos of the cob castle with colorful flowers. A snowy winter will add to the fairy tale magic. The mountains on the backdrop include the two highest peaks in Romania, Negoiu and Moldoveanu. They are covered in snow for most of the time.