When to go to Bucharest?
→ The detailed month-by-month page, with real weather records
Best time: May to June and September to October
At a glance
Why go to Bucharest?
Bucharest reads like a stack of badly reglued layers, and that is what makes it interesting. An 18th-century merchants' lane opens onto a Haussmann-style boulevard laid out around 1890, when the city dreamed of being a little Paris of the East, which in turn ends at a communist esplanade from 1984 wide enough to parade an army. The Palace of the Parliament, the world's second-largest administrative building by floor area, rises at the far end, on the ruins of a fifth of the historic centre razed to make room for it.
The city lives outdoors as soon as the temperature allows. From May to October the terraces of Lipscani, Floreasca and Herastrau Park overflow, a full meal costs €12-18 and a draught beer €2-3. The food scene woke up after 2015, with young chefs reworking sarma, ciorba and Carpathian sheep's cheese in tiny dining rooms. The 187 hectares of Herastrau Park and the big gardens in the centre serve as a communal living room all through the warm season.
It is also the cheapest capital in the European Union for sleeping and eating, three hours' flight from Western Europe. A decent hotel in the centre can be found for €70, a metro ride for 60 cents, a ride-hailing trip for €3. That ratio lets you stay four days for the price of two elsewhere, then push on to Transylvania, two and a half hours by train from Gara de Nord.
Map of Bucharest: what is where?
The map shows the 6 places covered in this guide, to picture the distances and plan your route.
- Palace of the Parliament
- Lipscani
- Calea Victoriei
- Village Museum
- Cotroceni
- Stavropoleos Church
How much does a trip to Bucharest cost?
Bucharest remains the cheapest capital in the European Union, with a marked gap on accommodation, transport and restaurants. Museums cost between €4 and €12, city journeys less than a euro, and only top-end hotels match European prices.
| Style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | €40-60/day | Dorm or small hotel, metro and walking, neighbourhood canteens, free museums and parks |
| Comfort | €80-120/day | Hotel in the centre, two museums a day, Lipscani restaurants, ride-hailing trips |
| Premium | €200+/day | Historic hotel on Calea Victoriei, fine-dining tables, a concert at the Athenaeum, a private excursion |
Romania keeps the leu despite its EU membership, at a rate of around 5 lei to €1. Change money in town rather than at the airport, where bureaux take hefty margins, and avoid cash machines with advertising screens that offer conversion at their own rate. Cards are accepted everywhere, even for a coffee, and the usual tip is around 10%.
Is Bucharest safe?
Bucharest is a safe city, including in the evening in the centre and in the parks. Pickpocketing happens on the metro at rush hour, on tram line 1 and in the Lipscani crowds at weekends, no more intensely than in Paris or Madrid. The main local trap remains the taxi: some drivers parked outside the airport, Gara de Nord or the big hotels display a per-kilometre rate multiplied by four, quite legally since the price is written on the door. Check that rate before getting in, or use an app. Traffic is aggressive, pedestrian crossings are barely respected and pavements are often taken up by parked cars. Stray dogs, long a real problem, have almost disappeared from the centre. No particular vaccinations are required, and the European Health Insurance Card is accepted in public hospitals.
What to see and do in Bucharest
- Palace of the Parliament
- Lipscani and the Old Town
- Dimitrie Gusti Village Museum
- Romanian Athenaeum
- Herastrau Park
- Stavropoleos Church
- National Museum of Art of Romania
- Museum of the Romanian Peasant
Palace of the Parliament
Eighty-four metres high, 365,000 m2 of floor space, 1,100 rooms and nine underground levels including a nuclear shelter. The building site opened in 1984 mobilised twenty thousand workers in round-the-clock shifts, razed the Uranus district, displaced forty thousand residents and wiped out some twenty churches, some of which were moved on rails behind apartment blocks. The marble, wood and crystal all come from Romania, by political decree. The one-hour guided tour shows only a fraction of it, and the view from the balcony over Unirii Boulevard is worth the trip.
Lipscani and the Old Town
The merchant core of Bucharest, between Vlad Tepes's Curtea Veche and cobbled lanes lined with vaulted cellars. This is where the city's name appears in a deed of 1459, and where today's terraces, beer cellars and the Carturesti Carusel bookshop, housed in a building from 1903, are concentrated. Caru' cu Bere has been serving beer and mici under neo-Gothic vaults since 1899. Around 23:00 the district turns into a noisy nightlife zone, so choose your hotel's location carefully.
Calea Victoriei
The historic thoroughfare, laid out in 1692 and paved with wooden logs before becoming the city's showcase. Over two kilometres it strings together the Romanian Athenaeum, the former Royal Palace now home to the National Museum of Art, Revolution Square where Ceausescu gave his last speech on 21 December 1989, the Macca-Villacrosse Passage under its yellow glass roof, and the Athénée Palace hotel, headquarters of Cold War spies. The façades alternate between Art Deco, Neo-Romanian and 1970s concrete, often within the same block.
Village Museum and Herastrau Park
To the north, a 74-hectare lake in the middle of a 187-hectare park laid out in the 1930s, paired with the open-air museum founded by Dimitrie Gusti in 1936. Nearly 300 farmhouses, mills and wooden churches were dismantled in their villages and rebuilt across thirty hectares, furnished as they were when they left. All around, locals hire rowing boats, jog along the paths and fill the waterside terraces. It is the best place in the city for half a day without monuments.
Cotroceni district
To the west, a grid of quiet streets lined with late 19th-century villas, a mix of Neo-Romanian, Art Nouveau and eclectic styles, with wrought-iron gates and rose gardens. Cotroceni Palace, the presidential residence, opens some of its rooms to visitors by reservation, and the neighbouring botanical garden lines up its greenhouses of 1891 across seventeen hectares. The district escaped the demolitions of the 1980s and gives a fairly accurate idea of what the centre looked like before them.
Orthodox churches of the centre
A dozen small churches survive between the apartment blocks, often invisible from the street. Stavropoleos, completed in 1724, shows the Brâncovenesc style at its most refined, with a courtyard of tombstones saved from the demolitions. Kretzulescu Church, from 1722, holds the corner of Revolution Square, and Antim Monastery, from 1715, was moved nearly 20 metres on rails in 1985 to disappear behind an apartment block. The sung morning services remain the best time to step inside.
How many days, and which itinerary?
Two full days are enough for the centre, the Palace of the Parliament and a museum. Three to four days let you add Cotroceni, the Village Museum and an outing to Snagov or Mogosoaia, or catch the morning train to Brasov and Transylvania.
🗺️ Day-by-day itinerary · 📓 Free printable Bucharest guide (PDF) · 🌍 All of Romania
Bucharest in 2 days
Day 1: the Palace of the Parliament, booked in advance, in the morning, lunch near Unirii, then Lipscani, Stavropoleos Church and the Curtea Veche on foot, a terrace at the end of the day. Day 2: Calea Victoriei from south to north, the National Museum of Art, Revolution Square and the Macca-Villacrosse Passage, then Herastrau Park and the Village Museum late in the afternoon. Everything is done on foot and by metro, with no journey longer than twenty minutes.
Bucharest in 4 days
The two-day base, plus a morning in the Cotroceni district and its botanical garden, a visit to the Museum of the Romanian Peasant, and a day out of the city: Snagov Monastery, where tradition places the tomb of Vlad Tepes, or the Brâncovenesc palace of Mogosoaia on the shore of its lake, 30 minutes away by car. Keep an evening for a concert at the Romanian Athenaeum, where seats in the upper tiers cost around ten euros.
Bucharest and Transylvania in 8 days
Three nights in the capital, then the morning train to Brasov, two and a half hours through the Prahova Valley, for three nights at the foot of the Carpathians: Bran Castle, Rasnov citadel and the fortified Saxon villages of Viscri and Prejmer. Return via Sinaia and Peles Castle, an hour from Brasov. Train tickets can be bought online a few days ahead, around €10 one way.
Getting there and getting around
Henri Coanda airport lies 17 km to the north. The train links it to Gara de Nord in around twenty minutes for less than €1, express bus 100 serves the centre, and a ride-hailing trip costs €8-12 depending on the time of day.
The metro has five lines and runs from 5:00 to 23:00. A ride costs 3 lei, around 60 cents, with a rechargeable card or contactless payment straight at the gates. Universitate, Piata Romana and Izvor stations cover most of the sights.
Buses, trams and trolleybuses complete the network at the same fare, with the STB card or the app. Tram 1 circles the city in an hour and a half and gives a good idea of the outlying districts.
Ride-hailing apps work very well and cost €3-6 a trip in town, which makes a hire car pointless. Avoid the taxis touting outside the airport and stations, whose posted fares vary by a factor of four.
Where to stay in Bucharest?
Hostels in the centre offer dorm beds at €15-25 and double rooms at €45, often in old villas around Lipscani. Check the distance to the bars, as the district is noisy until 3:00 from Friday to Sunday.
Mid-range hotels in the centre and around Piata Romana cost around €60-90 a night with breakfast, a standard of service higher than the price would suggest in Western Europe.
Short-term rental apartments abound in the renovated buildings of the centre and cost €45-80 a night for two bedrooms. This is the best-value option for three people or more.
The grand historic hotels, led by the Athénée Palace, cost between €140 and €200 a night, rates that remain moderate for that standard. Business hotels in the north cut their prices sharply at weekends.
Our places to stay, stop by stop, at three budgets →
What to eat in Bucharest?
Mici, small skinless beef and mutton sausages grilled over charcoal, are eaten with mustard and bread, for €1-2 each. This is the national street food, served everywhere from the terraces of Lipscani to park kiosks.
Ciorba, a soup soured with fermented bran, opens meals in all its versions: de perisoare with meatballs, de burta with tripe, de legume with vegetables. Allow €4-6 a bowl, often served in a hollowed-out loaf.
Sarmale, cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and rice and simmered for hours, come with polenta and sour cream, at around €8-12. For dessert, papanasi, fresh-cheese doughnuts topped with cream and blueberry jam, are happily shared between two.
A full meal with wine costs €15-25 at a good restaurant in the centre, half that in a neighbourhood canteen. Tuica and palinca, plum brandies, are drunk before the meal and often exceed 50% ABV.
Entry requirements
Schengen area: an ID card or passport for EU citizens, 90 days visa-free for UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
Rules change: check your own government's travel advice before you go.
Frequently asked questions about Bucharest
How many days should you plan?
Two full days cover the centre, the Palace of the Parliament, Lipscani and a major museum. Three to four days add the Village Museum, the Cotroceni district and an outing to Snagov or Mogosoaia. Beyond that, the logical move is to take the train to Brasov and Transylvania rather than stay in the city.
What is the currency, and do you need cash?
The Romanian leu, around 5 lei to €1. Bank cards are accepted everywhere, including in cafés and on public transport, but keep a few notes for markets, small churches and neighbourhood canteens. Cash machines are plentiful, and it is best to decline the conversion offered on screen.
Is Bucharest a safe city?
Yes, including in the evening. The only common nuisances are pickpocketing on the metro and in Lipscani at weekends, and touting taxis outside the airport and stations that display a per-kilometre rate multiplied by four. Check the price written on the door or use a booking app.
What day trips can you take from Bucharest?
The Brâncovenesc palace of Mogosoaia and Snagov Monastery, where tradition places the tomb of Vlad Tepes, each take half a day. Brasov and Bran Castle are two and a half hours away by train, Sinaia and Peles Castle an hour and a half. The Black Sea coast, at Constanta, is two hours by train from Gara de Nord.
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