Bucharest, Where Eastern & Western European Cultures Meet

It’s hard to know how to describe Bucharest. At least that’s how I felt when I was there.

A curious mix of influences between Eastern and Western Europe leaves the capital of Romania not quite sure where it’s standing. Beautiful architecture stood next to ruins; hipster bars next to traditional bakeries. Piata Unirii, my starting point in the city, had a distinct Eastern European vibe, yet parts of the Old Town almost felt Mediterranean. It was odd mix, and it took me a while to put my finger on why.

I didn’t have enough time to do a deep dive into Romanian culture, and perhaps I would have understood more if I’d done so. In fact, I barely had any time in Romania at all.

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First off, I messed up the dates of my trip. The plan was to spend four days in Romania, including a couple in Transylvania with a night in Brasov. I was looking forward to this part more than Bucharest – but it wasn’t meant to be, because you wouldn’t believe the trouble I had trying to book this trip in the first place. Finally pinning down a week with cheap flights AND that I could take off work, only to find that, in fact, I couldn’t take it off work. I almost gave up planning altogether, but eventually I nailed down the week before my original dates and booked it before anything else could go wrong.

Days later, we got an invite to our neighbours’ wedding. I’m sure you can guess when that was! I frantically changed my outbound flight from Friday to Sunday morning, leaving me with barely two days for the Romanian part of the trip. To be honest, Romania was an essential add-on anyway. My real reason for the trip was Moldova, and so while I could have had more time in Romania, Moldova was non-negiotiable.

Anyway, it meant I couldn’t even squeeze in a Transylvania day trip without risking missing my train to Moldova, which was a real shame, especially as I would have been there in October; prime time for castles with Dracula themes.

So instead, I settled for a couple of days in Bucharest. And you know what? Despite something bubbling beneath (or, in fact, above) the surface that was bothering me, I actually quite liked it – a lot more than I expected, for that matter.

Here’s everything I got up to in the Romanian capital!

Palace Of Parliament

My first port of call was the Palace Of Parliament, round the corner from where I was staying, and a must-see in Bucharest. It’s also down an avenue leading from Piata Unirii, which is a good starting point in the city.

The Romanian parliament building has a claim to fame – it’s the heaviest building in the world, weighing a whopping four million tons.

It is, in fact, what makes it quite controversial, as so much money was spent on building it while the rest of the country lay in poverty, that everyone started to resent watching an endless budget pile up for the sake of one man’s ego.

That man was Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romania’s communist leader for over twenty years. Here’s what’s even more mental: the building wasn’t completed until 1997, seven years after he’d been overthrown and executed! To continue being owned by a shitty man with exorbitant power, apparently Rupert Murdoch tried to buy the building after his death. Honestly, the history of this building is ridiculous.

As well as costing a fortune to build, it’s also now valued as the most expensive administrative building in the world, and apparently the heating and electricity costs more than $6 million per year.

While I didn’t go on a tour inside the building, I DID want to see it from the outside – and there’s no denying that it’s impressive. It’s very different to, for example, the ornate grandeur of Budapest’s parliament building, but the sheer mass of this one makes it an attraction in itself.

It’s worth walking down the avenue for photos further away too.

(It was at this moment that the heavens opened, despite no forecast predicting rain, and some of the heaviest rain I have ever seen pouring down! I retreated into a shop very quickly, and hid under a canopy for ages with loads of other people. Literally everyone was out in t shirts!)

Read more – including my favourite parliament building in the world – Three Days In Fairytale Budapest, One Of My Favourite Cities

Old Town Bucharest

Finally the rain stopped, and I headed to the Old Town, which is the main area I spent time in Bucharest. Before researching, I hadn’t even realised there IS an Old Town in Bucharest. Needless to say, I wasn’t expecting much.

What I found were restaurants lining the streets, canopies covering tables on both sides to create a walkway between them, almost like a Mediterranean town. Beautiful buildings sprung out of nowhere, sometimes amongst ruins. There were trendy bars with neon signs and garlands adorning anything they could hang from, and traditional bakeries that looked unchanged for centuries. This bizarre juxtaposition meant I couldn’t figure out exactly what Bucharest was trying to be, and it’s taken me a while to articulate my thoughts.

You can read more at the end of the post, but in the meantime here are some of my highlights from the Old Town.

Stavropoleos Monastery

I’ve decided that my favourite street in Bucharest’s Old Town is Stavropoleos Strada, pictured above. It’s no coincidence that the monastery is a focal point of this street, as it’s worth going into – and it’s free!

Macca-vilacrosse Passage

Okay, so this place was amazing for photos.

But not much else, if I’m honest. Most of the cafés were hookah cafés which I wasn’t interested in, and although I’m sure I could have sat down for a cup of tea, I just felt a bit awkward about the whole thing. So I basically wandered up and down the passage a couple of times taking photos, which of course isn’t awkward at all.

Instead, I went to…

Scovergăria Micăi: a Romanian bakery

Now I’d heard a lot about Romanian bakeries.

One thing I found really unique in Bucharest was that there are lots of hole-in-the-wall bakeries where you just go up to a counter and order whatever’s on display. Not so great in the rain; excellent idea otherwise. And every single one was busy; they are an institution. I ended up grabbing a few things from one of them, Luca.

Scovergăria Micăi is a small traditional bakery with limited seating inside. I got the most delicious looking chocolate croissant, sat down, and the chocolate spilled out all over my jeans. Brilliant.

A child also came over and licked my tea bag*. Honestly, one of the weirder experiences I’ve had in a public place. How do you even react to that?!?

*not while it was in my mug, I hasten to add. Not sure that makes it any less weird, though.

Despite that, it was an excellent place and seemed to attract a lot of locals. I meant to come back to try a few more of their things, including their signature scovergi, but ended up with some things from Luca instead. There were just too many things I wanted to try, and to be quite honest I could have spent a week in Bucharest for food and nothing else.

(The one must-try item in Romania is a “covrigi”, very similar to a pretzel. I have to admit I was recommended to try it plain, but there are so many flavours I couldn’t resist going for those instead. Once again, if I’d had more time…)

Carturesti Carusel bookshop

As soon as I read that there’s a beautiful book shop in Bucharest, I knew I had to go.

So yes, it’s Instagrammy. But it is very pretty, with some picturesque staircases and railings framing the bookshelves. I was tempted by a few books too, as they had some really nice editions.

Typically it was quite busy as there was an author event going on (hence the people sitting down), and I wasn’t bothered enough to go back and get better photos! It WASN’T busy on the scale of Livreria Lello in Porto.

Like bookshops? Check out my post about Porto!
The Best Of One Day In Porto – Viewpoints, Bookshops & Port

Food at Caru’cu Bere

I actually went to Caru’cu Bere on day two.

An institution since 1879, this very traditional Romanian restaurant was a nice antidote to all the trendy places that have taken over the Old Town. In fact, the building is absolutely gorgeous inside, with wooden features and beautiful carvings, decor and stained glass windows.

It’s very meat-orientated, so maybe not the best choice for vegetarians, but there are so many dishes on offer that it was hard to decide what to have – I think I narrowed it down to about five things. I sent several photos of the menu to Ash, saying “you will want to try all of this” and he agreed.

In fact, it was the one thing I wished he was there for, as we could have shared some “mici”, Romanian skinless sausages, and he could have had some pork knuckle or some beer-glazed ribs. There are various dishes from different regions of Romania, too.

If you want one good hearty, traditional Romanian meal, I recommend coming here.

Drinks & food at Linea/Closer To The Moon

As I started researching places to eat and drink in Bucharest, I realised it’s a gold mine. There were sooo many places on my list! In fact, and this rarely happens, the bars and restaurants I found were the one thing that finally made me VERY excited for Bucharest. I had two rooftop terraces that I couldn’t decide between, and luckily found Linea first.

I went there for sunset, spent *way* too much on Sangria (which was definitely their own version, as it was very strong and, as it turned out, very expensive, but never mind), and had a brilliant time.

Not only was the sunset pretty incredible, but I also witnessed what I can only describe as the apocalypse.

Thousands – millions?? – of crows suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Even the staff stopped to go and watch them and take photos! It was one of the most nuts things I’ve ever seen. I hadn’t even had much of the super strong Sangria at that point, so I couldn’t blame it on that.

I also had some food, and the menu is hilarious. In fact, it was one of the selling points of the place for me! The staff were also really friendly, and once the sun had set, they brought over a massive fluffy blanket for me.

This was probably my favourite evening of the whole trip – though it’s hard to decide between that and a very local, rustic pizzeria I found in Italy. Both evenings were what I’d call complete contentment.

(The other rooftop bar I read about was Nomad Skybar. I did walk past this the next day, but it looks a bit more typically trendy – I definitely think I would have preferred Linea!)

Breakfast (or brunch) at Grand Café Van Gogh

On my second day, I went to the Grand Café on the off-chance they might have space. They actually did have plenty of space outside, which felt like it defeated the purpose, but I was allowed to go in for as long as I wanted to take photos.

The Van Gogh café has paintings all over the walls across several rooms, but the real attraction is the staircase.

Yes, it all feels quite Instagrammy, but it is very cool. I was really impressed, and although it’s not the cheapest place in town, I thought the food was really good and not terrible value like a lot of these sorts of places.

If you want a spot inside, you’ll definitely have to book (I went on a weekday in October, so not a particularly busy time!) but if you’re not too fussed, it’s worth turning up and sitting outside if you just want a peek at all the art inside.

Read more: Sofia: A City Of Colour And Contrast

The Romanian Athenaeum

I have to be honest, I didn’t know if it was worth walking to Revolution Square and on to the Athenaeum, and I left it until day two.

The Athenaeum is an impressive concert hall a 20 minute walk north of the Old Town, and one of the best historic buildings in Bucharest. It’s surrounded by a lovely little park too, which made a nice contrast from the nearby square.

Revolution Square wasn’t really as exciting as I’d hoped, and maybe it’s one of those places that would be better visited on a walking tour with background information, because as far as I could see, it’s now mostly just a car park.

Originally home to the headquarters of the Romanian Communist Party, the square was renamed to Revolution Square after the Romanian Revolution which ousted Nicolae Ceaușescu, who you may remember before as the villain building the Palace Of Parliament as his lair. The revolution led to his execution, and the freedom of the people.

Just off the square is this beautiful building, which is the university library, and there’s also a big monument commemorating the people who died in the protests that took place in the square – but there’s not much else to write home about.

I did find one other pretty cool building around the square, though! What the hell is this?

What I should probably have done on day 2 was visit the Village Museum, to get a dose of the rural Romanian culture I’d be missing from the trip. I could also have gone to Therme Spa, which I only found out about recently, though if you’ve read my Helsinki post, you’ll know that going to those sorts of places solo gives me anxiety – the opposite of what a spa should be!

Instead, I contented myself with wandering the Old Town some more after brunch at the Van Gogh café, and then walked up to the Athenaeum before grabbing an early dinner and heading to the train station.

The one thing I DID miss? Piata Unirii has some fabulous fountains, but what I didn’t realise is that there’s an evening fountain show – which I *just* missed when I headed back to my hostel after the sangria! So that could well be worth checking out. We’ll never know.

Either way, they are really impressive in the day time, and a nice respite from the surrounding busy roads.

Once again, not being under pressure to pack lots of things in was liberating. I was disappointed to find that the brilliantly named Agatha Crispy wasn’t open, but I decided I wouldn’t have time to eat there anyway.

Of course, other than Agatha Crispy, I managed to stumble a few other mad things as well – including a haunted Minnie Mouse, a bizarre dog, and cannabis coffee. (Also I noticed a LOT of places were sponsored by Pepsi.)

In the end, I found that a couple of days there was perfect. Not too rushed; not long enough to be bored. Even if I did want more time for food (which wouldn’t have been exclusive to Bucharest as I would have continued eating my way through bakeries in Brasov), I was ready to leave.

Read about another city perfect for a weekend break:
Bratislava: The Unexpectedly Pretty Capital Of Slovakia

There was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on in Bucharest. Here was a classic eastern European city; a type of city I’ve become familiar with. Hearing it called “Paris of the East”, I pictured a more polished version of Sofia. And while sure, there were a handful of grander buildings, they were few and far between. And besides, that wasn’t the issue.

It was the ruined buildings next to a full-on Instagram aesthetic in every single restaurant. The neon signs saying “you wanna pizza me?” and “I licked it so it’s mine” creating backdrops in every place that I passed. The quirky takes on classic art scattered all over my hostel, like the Mona Lisa with a lollipop. It was the type of quirky I DON’T like; the type that tries too hard.

And I think that was it. Bucharest felt like it’s in its awkward teenage phase, trying desperately to fit in but trying too hard to be cool and not quite hitting the mark.

Don’t get me wrong – there were parts of it I loved. The Grand Café Van Gogh is really spectacular, and the rooftop bar I went to was brilliant. Some it really worked. But even then – why is there a Van Gogh café in Bucharest?

(Above: another example of trying to be cool, with a rainbow umbrella street at Pasajul Victoria. On the right is a contrasting photo I loved, which I think sums up Bucharest’s two personalities quite well; history and tradition reflected in a sleek modernity!)

There are endless great bars and restaurants to lose yourself in, and I think once Bucharest figures itself out a little more, it will be a very cool place to be.

For now, go and feel free to hang out. It might be like a little brother or sister, occasionally doing something embarrassing or saying something out of line, but secretly you know that deep down they are pretty cool.

Some practical info for Bucharest

There is a bus from the airport into the city, which stops at Piata Unirii, so this was my plan. However I couldn’t find where the bus goes from! I walked round a few times before giving up and just getting a train. The train goes to Bucuresti Nord, which is quite a way out of the centre, but the metro system is super easy to figure out. If I can manage it on 3 hours sleep and after not being able to figure out a bus, I’m sure you can!



The airport train is 6 leu (5.50 when I travelled) and there are ticket offices just before the platform.

A single subway ticket is 3 leu, or 50p. You can also get a 24 hour pass for 8 leu. I was only taking two journeys, so I just got a 2 trip ticket.

I stayed in Nest Boutique Hostel, which is a decent place just a five minute walk from Piata Unirii. The rooms are great; the bathrooms less so. But I found that most hostels in Bucharest have terrible reviews, so I can pretty much guarantee this is one of the best ones! It was also super cheap, around £10.

I have lots more on Eastern Europe here if you’d like to give them a read:
⭐ Sofia: A City Of Colour And Contrast
⭐ Sunshine, Lakes & Statues In North Macedonia
⭐ Exploring Beautiful Belgrade, Serbia
⭐ A Day Trip To Rila Monastery, Bulgaria
⭐ Adventures In Albania: Two Hours In Tirana Is Not Enough
⭐ Christmas In Kaunas: Feeling Festive In Lithuania