The village where Jonathan Harker stays before travelling to Castle Dracula is Bistritz.
Bistritz appears at the beginning of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, when Harker records his journey through Transylvania in his journal. Count Dracula has instructed him to travel there, and Harker stays at a local hotel before continuing toward the castle by coach. The journey quickly shifts from ordinary business travel into ominous Gothic adventure.
In the novel, Bistritz is described as a “post town” and a recognisable place in the region. The name is the German form of Bistrița, a real city in northern Romania. Stoker’s fictional geography mixes identifiable Transylvanian locations with an imaginary route and an invented Castle Dracula in the Carpathian Mountains.
Harker’s stay is important because the local people react fearfully when they learn his destination. They give him protective objects, including a crucifix, and warn him about the dangers ahead. Readers sometimes confuse Bistritz with nearby Romanian cities such as Brașov or Sighișoara, but those are not the named stop where Harker stays before reaching the castle.