A day in Bucharest

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
1
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
6
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
2
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
4
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
5
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
45 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
399th/453
Bottom 20%
continent
Europe
country
Romania
Length of time
1 day or less
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$90 ($25-$125 in 2021 prices)
Time of year visited
September
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Big city Museums Old town
All Tags
Gardens Palaces Restaurant recommendations Romans
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐
Summary

The first time I visited Bucharest I think I left with the views of it being one of the worst capital cities I’ve been to and “never going back!”.  Perhaps that is a little harsh as, on second time visiting, and wandering through the Historic Centre I saw there are actually some impressive historic buildings and taking a tour to understand the history of Romania post WW2 is quite interesting.  I think it also comes down to if you go mid-week or at the weekends – the Historic Centre seemed to come to life at the weekends as they pedestrianised nearly the entire area and had more of a party atmosphere

 

That being said, I think you only really need a day in Bucharest and I’ve listed some top tips below for how to make sure your experience is like my second visit rather than my first!

Highlights
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#1 Seeing the world’s largest Parliament building. Immense when you realise this view is on all 4 sides

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#2 Wandering through the Historic Centre and seeing some of the beautiful old buildings. Ideally with a local guide to give you the context

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#3 Enjoying the atmosphere in the Historic Centre at the weekends as most of the streets become pedestrianised and the city transforms

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#4 Sampling the flexible tasting menu at The Artist restaurant

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#5 Trying some of the old coffee shops in the arcades in and around the Historic Centre. The Pasajul Vilacrosse in particular was super pretty

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#6 If a Roman history fan, heading to the National History Museum to see a full size replica of Emperor Trajan’s column in Rome

Travel Tips

  • Palace of Parliament – largest Parliament building in the world, and it really is immense.  The photos in reality don’t do it justice because you don’t realise until you’re there that the famous face of the building you see is the same on all four sides i.e. it’s a square and mahusive!  It’s a mini faff to get in as you need to book a little in advance (just get your hotel to phone ahead), you need to bring your passport and you need to enter as part of the organised tours that leave roughly every hour.  Although, we actually got a bit bored of the tour and left on our own, which I’d recommend as you get bored of seeing the same looking room over and over again
  • History Tour – the highlight for us was getting a local guide to explain to us the history of Romania and the significance of the various capitol buildings. The whole communist period was mental and certainly worth learning about.  Daniel (+40 772 262 483) was an excellent guide, but your hotel will very easily be able to arrange one for you as well
  • The Historic Centre (Old Town) – there are actually some remarkable old buildings here and it’s worth a wander through and stopping in some of the hidden coffee spots.  I enjoyed the National History Museum as it has a full sized replica of the Roman Emperor Trajan’s column in Rome, but don’t bother if not an Ancient Rome fan as the museum is otherwise as dull as you’d imagine a former communist museum to be
  • Ismigiu Garden – a few sites recommended this, but I wouldn’t bother as it just seems to be a poor heavily shat on version of an average city park and, well, just about everything nature-wise in Transylvania is more impressive if you’re planning a trip there
  • Accommodation – we tried 2 options: 1. The Epoque Hotel which was lovely and huge rooms, but felt a bit out of the way. 2. The Marmorosch (by Autograph) which, although part of a chain and expensive, was actually superb with its perfect location in the Historic Centre and its luxurious shared bar / lobby area which was a former bank.  If planning on walking around a lot, I’d go with the central location
  • Restaurants – the Artist was superb and first time I’d seen such a flexible set of options for a tasting menu.  I’d also really recommend the cafes in the Pasajul Vilacrosse central arcade
  • The rest of Romania – for me, the highlights of Romania are outside of Bucharest.  In particular, the Fortified Saxon Villages around Sighisoara and driving the Transfagaran Road across the Transylvanian Alps are superb experiences.  For more details, see the travel entry for the 6 day itinerary for Romania and the Transylvanian region
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The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Score Detail

The scores you see above are really the point of this whole site, rather than just the individual travel review you're seeing above.  They fit into a much bigger summary of 20 years of travel, across 100+ countries, from dirt-poor backpacking to the luxury end, rushed weekends to months on the road.  Every one of the 500+ experiences have a "wow factor" score and a few other scores that add up to a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score.  For more info, have a look at the About page for the travel philosophy that drives them.

But, more importantly, have a play with the map above and on the Home page to see which of these experiences rank as really Maximum Wow-factor all the way down to the proper "Gash".

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