Picture in front of yourself a painting by Monet and all the colors he used - that's Zabola when pressing the 'random button'.
The general atmosphere of Zabola remind you of the 1920's in a certain way. Some say they have seen Hercule Poirot slipping out of the dining room.
The entire property spreads over vast areas of mainly Carpathian Mountains and forests.
The Castle Park itself (The Estate) stretches over 50 hectares of the most beautiful Transylvanian Countryside. It grew in the past 600 years into an English Landscape Garden with lots of other landscaping influences.
The whole estate is accessible directly from the Castle Park.
We are professionals in ‘countryside’.
Transylvania is one of the rare regions in Europe where real countryside still exists and this countryside at its best is kept, lived in and managed in Zabola.
Dive into our countryside’s life-style and enjoy golden times-like days, when friends and relatives were visiting the Mikes family’s estate for concerts, readings exhibitions and dinner parties.
The Zabola Estate is formed by The Castle Park comprising 7 historical buildings, lakes, over 100 species of trees and the estate’s Carpathian Mountain Conservation area. Vast and dense forests covering the Carpathian Mountains and its valleys are the basis of existence for the rich wildlife. While drawing a circle around Zabola with a 50km radius, we cover over a million hectares of Carpathian forests. The closest settlement on the other side of the Carpathians is 60km away.
The rich wildlife and nature we are living in and with, has high importance for us.
Next to deers, wild boars, stags, bears, wolves and lynx, the Conservation area is home for storks, great blue herons, squirrels, owls, buzzards, bats, frogs, and many other small animals. We try to make this natural sanctuary in a careful way accessible to you.
You can book several combinations which would round off your countryside experience, for example adding to the Bear Watching a Sauna Session in The Woods, or even a Candle Light Dinner in The Pavilion next to The Sauna. Horse Carriage Tours or Horseback Riding go well with Drinks in The Pavilion, or a Picnic Basket...
Our Guesthouses are dating back to the 18th, 19th and 20th century. The buildings fulfilled different purposes in course of time. Today four houses are available for bookings, three on the Estate and one in one of the Forest Estates (‘Dobrica’ Hunting Lodge).
The imposing building is the development of Count Ármin MIKES at the beginning of the 20th century. The several companies he ran needed offices and the increased number of guests accommodation to stay. The kitchen also functioned here from where food travelled through the Tunnel into the dining room of the Old Castle. At present the New Castle is the main building of the noble resort featuring 11 suites and an elegant restaurant.
At the beginning the building served as the headquarters for personal and maintenance. It housed the water pumps, generators and later the weaving machines for the family’s baize production. Therefore, it is called The Machine House.
The building right next to the entrance accommodated the stablemen and stored all the horse-furniture used in the next-door stables. At the turn on the century this function has been moved into the Eva Farmstead to the outskirts of the village.
The Estate comprises in addition to the three guesthouses The Old Stables - a house for leisure, drinks, dinners, receptions and other events.
The Old Stables is an over 300-year-old building which served several purposes in course of time. It was mainly used for the best horses of the 300-horses Mikes de Zabola breed, which functioned over 300 years and became quite well known.
Horses were brought from here to St. Petersburg, Vienna, Budapest, Munich and London. The previous chapter of history brought large changes to the house: it became a school building and lots of the luxury-stable elements were destroyed. Nothing reminded anymore about the arch formed ceilings held by marble covered columns or the marble made drinking facilities of the horses. The family used to invite friends for 5 O’clock Tee in the stables, viewing the horses, which showed the high importance of these horses in the family’s life.
The economic factor of the breed broke away in the interwar period. After 70 years of neglection and decay, new life was brought into this building again. Today this beautifully restored building serves different purposes, by giving space for: leisure, meetings, exhibitions, weddings, activities, creativity, important personal events and pure joy of the
architectural design.
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Castle Park visiting hours:
Guests are welcome for guided tours from Monday to Friday at noon, upon prior reservation.
Minimum group size 2 persons, maximum group size 10 persons.
Entrance fee: 50 RON/adult, children 6-14 y. 25RON/person, under 6 y. free of charge.
The property reservs the rights to alter the visiting program without prior notification.
To avoid any inconvinience please inquire at the reception beforehand.
Visiting hours apply only for those without valid reservation.