Discover Bucharest: The Ultimate Guide to the City’s Best Attractions
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We went to Bucharest earlier this year in spring and it was a city that completely surpassed our expectations! I still think Eastern Europe is massively underrated and not a lot of tourists (Brits especially) visit Romania. We did venture out further afield than Bucharest on our Romanian trip – another blog post coming on that soon! But we also spent a couple of days in the capital, Bucharest and thoroughly enjoyed out time there.
There were loads of attractions to visit so keep reading for what we thought Bucharest’s top attractions are and how you too, can plan a weekend in this beautiful, underrated city.
Walking tours 🌆
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one of my top tips for city breaks is to get yourself on a walking tour as soon as you arrive! Not only does it give you a great sense of your bearings and main attractions, but the guides tend to be residents, and are able to give you an honest and local review of places, restaurants and the best attractions along with some top tips, which we discovered for ourselves in Bucharest!
Once again we booked through our favourite walking tour company – Walkative who we always try to use when organising walking tours in Europe and mention them again in my blog post around the best way of planning a city break.
Unirii Park ⛲️
Our tour started at Unirii Park, a big open park in the heart of the city dominated by water fountains. Most of the walking tours start at the famous clock which you’ll find at one of the park’s entranced.
Our guide later told us that each Friday, Saturday and Sunday night at 9pm (this might differ in winter) there is a free water fountain show. I hadn’t seen anything about this when researching things to do online before we went so it came as a pleasant surprise and well worth it! We happened to be in Bucharest for the weekend and on Saturday night we had some dinner and then went for a leisurely stroll around the park, just in time for the show. It was brilliant, with the fountains moving in time with the light and music.
Pro Tip 💡: Get yourself to Unirii Park on the weekend for an unforgettable water, light and music show.
Old Town 🏰
Whenever a European city has an ‘Old Town’, we always look to stay around here, as they tend to be within walking distance of historical sights, whilst still being in the heart of the city.
The walking tour took around 2.5 hours and within this time, we walked all around Bucharest’s Old Town. It really is such a unique city, with its cobblestoned streets in the Old Town, it is a world away from a lot of the capital’s more communist buildings, which in themselves are fascinating, but very different from the Old Town.
I also noticed a lot of Haussmannian buildings, which are typically Parisien and so was not surprised to find out that Bucharest’s nickname is ‘Little Paris’, and they even film a lot of scenes which are supposed to be in Paris here such as the hit TV show, Killing Eve! On some streets, it was easy to forget that we were in Eastern Europe and felt more like we were strolling down les Champs-Élysée.
Bookshops 📚
You could spend a good few hours wandering the streets and visiting little cafés in Romania’s capital and there’s a real melting pot of different cultures and cuisines here, meaning that you’re never too far from great food. What we also noticed was how many bookshops were in Bucharest! As a bookworm, I loved this about the city and am so glad we went to find the well-known Carturesti Carusel, an old-bank-turned-book-shop which is absolutely huge and an absolute delight to visit, the photos don’t do it justice!
Food 🍽️
It was in the Old Town that we sampled our first traditional Romanian food and headed for Caru’ Cu Bere, a very popular with tourists but recommended by our local guide. Many people headed inside just to take photos as the interior seemed like an old church with its stained glass windows, however it was originally a brewery and today is a very famous spot to eat and drink. We went for a traditional meal; Sarmale for me which are cabbage rolls with ground pork and semolina, whereas my husband opted for the skinless sausages, another traditional dish. We both enjoyed our meals but actually couldn’t finish them, the food here was a lot richer in flavour than we expected but still very nice! We also opted for Caru’ Cu Bere’s famous homemade bread, because why not, and just had to try Papanasi, Romania’s famous desert doughnuts which were absolutely delicious! We ordered one each and could definitely have shared as they were huge! One was with a berry sauce, and the other was cherry.
Museums 🖼️
We love a museum and always end up going to one in whichever new place we find ourselves. The two museums we went to in Bucharest were; Museum of Romania and Museum of Bucharest. For both, we didn’t book and just showed up, although there do seem to be some tours you can book. Entry fee was very cheap but to be honest, we found them both underwhelming. Both seemed in dire need of an injection of cash to renovate these lovely buildings and despite what they had on display was interesting, both museums could do with being updated and modernised for a slicker guest experience. It was still cool to walk around and find out a bit more history about this fascinating country, though.
Pro Tip💡: Museums are closed on Mondays in Bucharest which meant there were so many other attractions we wanted to do but couldn’t before catching our flight back.
Parliament 🏛️
Pro Tip💡: Again another tip we had from our guide was that to enter the Bucharest Parliament building, you had to book more than 24 hours in advance. We booked our tickets through the wonderful GetYourGuide website on Saturday, and managed to get a morning tour for the Monday morning.
First and foremost, this is a used government building and therefore security is tight. You must show passports at the booking office where you meet your guide and again when you get to the Parliament building. Bags are checked and it all seems very serious until you get inside and just wow! I thought we would be entering a bog-standard government building but it is one of the most lavish buildings I’ve ever been inside. It is a mammoth building which dominates the city and is more of communist architecture, so is a stark contrast of the Old Town which is nearby. The tour was fairly pricey (around £40 each) but well worth it. We had a great guide and covered a lot of the rooms, where not only do they have chambers of commerce, meeting rooms etc. but also a theatre and a ballroom (!). We are so glad we learnt this tip from our guide as I don’t think we would have gone without also knowing that we needed more than 24 hours notice. We definitely think this should be up there on one of the top things to do while in Bucharest.
Conclusion 🇷🇴
Bucharest is a very underrated city and has a lot of perks. From friendly people to affordable attractions and food, it was a great few days. It is a great walkable city and I’d gladly go back to drink great coffee and wander around bookstores!
