Labyrinth of Buda Castle

Budapest · Hungary · Tunnel

King Matthias held Vlad Ţepeş prisoner down here — the model for Dracula. Visitors hear whispers and lose all sense of time.

Beneath Castle Hill winds a cave system that has served as refuge, wine cellar, prison and torture chamber. The most persistent legend concerns Vlad Ţepeş, the Wallachian prince who gave Dracula his name: King Matthias is said to have held him captive in the darkness down here, and a gravestone in the labyrinth is pointed out as the place where his body was laid. Guides show the cells where prisoners were kept and executions carried out, and visitors report the same things again and again — whispers in passages where no one walks, footsteps that follow you, sudden cold in the middle of a hot summer day, and a strange slippage of time, as if the labyrinth bends the hours. Ottoman-era tales add harem women lowered into the wells. Guides never count the visitors on the way out; they count them on the way in.

FAQ

Where is Labyrinth of Buda Castle located?

Labyrinth of Buda Castle is in Budapest, Hungary.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.