BORGO PASS

Borgo Pass is a high mountain pass in the Romanian Bârgău Mountains (Eastern Carpathian Mountains) connecting Bistriţa (Transylvania) with Vatra Dornei (Bukovina, Moldovia).

The pass was made famous by Bram Stoker's novel Dracula where, termed as the "Borgo Pass", it was the gateway to the realm of Count Dracula. Stoker most likely found the name on a contemporary map. He never actually visited the area.

Today the pass is home to Hotel Castel Dracula. The hotel was built in 1974 and is located at an altitude of 1116 m. The hotel has become quite an attraction due to its architectural style of a medieval villa, as well as the sheer beauty of the location.

In the 2004 film Hellboy, the pass was mentioned, but it was said to be in Moldavia instead of Romania. Not necessarily a goof as Moldavia/Moldova is also a region of Romania, which came into existence when Romania , as a unified country (Wallachia, Transilvania and Moldavia), was formed. This split the State of Moldavia. The region of Moldova in Romania includes the district of Suceava where Vatra Dornei is located.

Even though Stoker was depending on second-hand sources, the similarities are quite striking. While the area is not nearly as rugged as in the novel, some of the description is accurate: green sloping land, farmhouses, wooded mountains, fruit orchards. One drives through a series of small villages dotted along the "Birgau" (Borgo) valley before finally starting the ascent into the Pass itself. Here when you pass a river, tall and straight trees, higher mountains in the distance, so part of the effect is there. These mountains, though, could hardly be classified as forbidding.