My arrival in Bucharest had come in the form of the slightly late ‘Ister’ sleeper train from Budapest-Keleti (read about that here), with my first impression of the Romanian capital coming in the form of the imposing architecture of Bucharesti-Nord railway station. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had a great night’s sleeper onboard the ‘Ister’ meaning I wasn’t quite raring to go and so my first stop upon arriving was the station Starbucks to grab some breakfast and get my bearings. Then, having dropped my bag at the staffed luggage storage for the bargain price of 17RON (£2.91) it was out into the city to begin exploring.
I ended up doing a bit more exploring than planned to start off with as after a short walk around the corner to the railway museum I found that it didn’t re-open from its Christmas shut down until the following day and so set off for the 15 minute walk to the Military History museum only to arrive and find the same. Some more walking took me passed the dilapidated Casa Radio building, before heading through Operei Park to reach the much less dilapidated Opera House and nearby Eroilor metro station. Here I was able to pick up a ticket for 10 metro trips for 40RON (£6.85) and I think I ended up using eight of these over the course of my stay in the city.
Having headed toward the centre of Bucharest, I arrived at Piața Unirill and unfortunately found the square mostly inaccessible and covered in construction, certainly looking nothing like parks and fountains you see in pictures online. It turns out that the square acts as part of a reinforced concrete bridge crossing the Dâmbovița River and in 2023 it was found that there was severe damage and corrosion to this bridge structure. Since mid-2025 the square has been under construction, with the current timeline for completion being Summer 2027, so if you want to see the square in the pictures, don’t visit before then.
Obviously, the start of my visit to Bucharest hadn’t quite gone to plan so far and the vibes I was getting from the city were communist, grey and unwelcoming. Thankfully, heading into the old town to find some lunch, the vibe started to be a bit more welcoming, and I settled on Restaurant Hanu’ lui Manuc for an early lunch. Hanu’ lui Manuc is a former ‘fortress’ coaching inn dating from the early 19th century and is an important location in Bucharest, just off Piața Unirill and now home to shops, cafes and restaurants, including Restaurant Hanu’ lui Manuc. With it being quite early and during the off season, the large restaurant was fairly quiet, with only the enclosed veranda being used, but this did give me a great view out over the courtyard whilst I enjoyed my food.
The waitress recommended some traditional Romanian dishes for me to try, with a bean soup served in a bread bowl for starters. This was delicious, although very filling and so I didn’t finish it all to ensure I left space for my main and dessert. Flame grilled lamb chops served with potatoes and a very rich gravy were the main course, and these were very tasty, albeit a bit crispy from the grilling. To round off the meal I had a desert of donut balls served with blueberry sauce and sour cream, along with what I believe was a shot of Țuică, a traditional Romanian plum brandy. Whilst not the cheapest meal I’ve had on my trips, personally the experience and the food was worth what I spent, and its always worth splurging a bit on a trip.
After lunch, I was starting to feel the effects of my lack of sleep and so headed back to the station to collect my bag and then back across town to check in to my hotel. Ultimately, I decided to call it quits for the day and start a fresh the following morning, and sometimes when travelling that can be the best thing to do. The following morning, after an excellent night of sleep, I was ready to give Bucharest another chance and so headed to the Pasaj Universitate in the centre of the city where I was joining a walking tour for the morning. Before that started though, I headed for another Starbucks for breakfast as although travelling is about experiencing new things, sometimes you do just have to go with what you know and not try to work out something new.
With the walking tour starting outside Biserica Colței, an early 18th century church that is the oldest functioning building in Bucharest and was once part of a large monastery complex. As usual the walking tour started with some history of the city and country, with the modern country of Romania only being 107 years old, having been created in 1918 after World War 1 and the breakup of the historic European empires. Bucharest suffered from a large fire in 1847, which destroyed more than 1800 buildings, leading to a large part of the old city being less than 200 years old. The tour took us to the New Saint George Church, which was constructed in the 16th century to replace the Old Saint George Church. The new church has had a troubled history though, with parts having been damaged or destroyed through fires and earthquakes, and what you see today is the result of a restoration that was completed in 1987. Inside there are some stunning paintings and decorations, although our guide clearly hadn’t checked what was going on as we were sent inside to find a body laying in rest as part of traditional Romanian funeral proceedings…
Continuing on passed Romania’s 0km into the Old Town, we learnt that around 75% of the Romanian language is Latin from the time of the Roman occupation, with the rest mostly Slavic with some Turkish thrown in for good measure. After quick stop at the café at the Museum of Communism to warm up, we headed right into the centre of the Old Town, stopping at St Anthony’s Square, the most important square of the city during medieval times where we learnt about Vlad the Impaler and his minor anger issues, along with the legend of Count Dracula. Back at Hanu’ Lui Manuc we saw some of the wooden tiles that used to form the streets of the old town and helped the fire of 1847 spread, before heading to the Old BNR Palace, headquarters of the National Bank, and the ruins of the old coaching inn in the basement that you can see from the street outside.
The large grand ‘palaces’ of the CEC bank and National History Museum were next on the tour, before we stopped outside the Caru’ cu bere restaurant, famous for its distinctive Art Nouveau interior decoration which was covered up during the communist regime and restored following its demise in 1989. Nearby to Caru’ cu bere was the penultimate stop of the tour at the Church of the “Stavropoleos” Monastery, which again had a stunningly beautiful interior, although is very small and so was a bit crowded as our tour looked inside. It was then about a 10-minute walk to reach the tour’s final stop outside the Palace of Parliament, which is possibly Bucharest’s most famous building. With construction starting in 1984 under the orders of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, whose house had been slightly damaged in the 1977 earthquake, the Palace of Parliament was not finished until 1997, long after the fall of the communist regime, and is now the largest and heaviest building in Europe.
After the tour broke up, I retraced our steps to the Old Town, heading to Le Bab, a restaurant I had spotted on the tour, for lunch. This meal was very much comfort food, as I went for a burger with crushed potatoes, a coffee and the sticky toffee pudding, which all in with a tip came to £21.25. If some warming comfort food is what you’re after, I’d certainly recommend Le Bab, as everything was delicious and it seemed reasonably priced. It was then a 10-minute walk to the Izvor metro stop where I took a ride back to Bucharesti-Nord to try again at visiting the railway museum.
This visit was more successful and after passing the two steam locomotives acting as gate guards outside, I paid the 6 Lei (£1) entry fee and took a look around the small museum. Inside the two rooms that form the museum there’s a large model railway along with lots of artefacts from the history of Romanian Railways. Unfortunately, there weren’t any English translations to the descriptions and whilst I translated a few of the more interesting items, I didn’t feel up to standing at each and every one with Google translate. All in all its interesting to wander around, and for £1 I can’t complain, but its probably best to pop in if its open whilst you’re near the station as its not worth a special visit.
After another ‘what’s the next plan’ coffee at the station Starbucks, I took the metro to Piața Victoriei to visit The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant. With the entry fee just 20 Lei, this is another bargain museum but was a bit odd as there was plenty to look at but very little information about any of it. Each room had some laminated pages at the door, including English translations, but these told a story in quite a weird way, rather than really telling you about what was on display. The highlight of the museum were the remains of a wooden church that had been transported from a Romanian village, but I can’t say I learnt much whilst looking around.
With my time in Bucharest coming to an end, I headed back to the hotel to pick up my bag before making my way to Bucharesti-Nord for the final time of the trip. My last stop was Bistro Nord, the station’s restaurant, for a very filling meal of meats and chips before my final train of the trip. Ultimately, I didn’t warm to Bucharest during my time in the city and that is a shame, but then you’re not necessarily going to enjoy every place you visit. Whether it was the weather, the construction works and grey communist architecture, my bad luck doing anything when I arrived or a combination of them all, I didn’t feel the buzz exploring Bucharest that I usually do in a new city. However, we’re not ending my Meander To Moldova on a low, as there was still one more city to visit, so keep an eye on the blog over the next few weeks to see the final posts from the trip.
Flights & Times 