Itineraries for Your Trip to Bucharest
3 Days in Bucharest for First Timers
I don’t envy travelers trying to anticipate what to expect from Bucharest when planning a first visit. Is it a city with gritty communist history, a gem full of grand belle epoque architecture, or just a place to party? These are just a few sides to the complex Romanian capital.
What I can say is that Bucharest is a great place to make sense of Romania. The city was my last stop after weeks of traveling in Romania, and Bucharest did wonders at putting the rest of the country into context. This itinerary is designed to help new visitors get that context, by making the most of the different sides to the city.
Don’t underestimate the summer heat; sunscreen, shade, and water are your friends.
If you only have time for one thing, make it Bucharest’s Palace of Parliament.
Start your visit off on the right foot with an overview of Bucharest’s Old Town. See attractions such as the Stavropoleos Monastery Church and Manuc's Inn as you explore, either on your own or, for a better sense of the city’s history and culture, on a guided walking tour.
In the afternoon, dive into how Romania's communist era affected the city and reshaped Bucharest. The immense Palace of Parliament is the city’s most iconic landmark from this era and is not to be missed, with guided tours available.
Bucharest is a large city, and its old town is just one small part worth seeing. From University Square take the metro up to the leafy neighborhood of Revolution Square, where you’ll find the elegant Romanian Athenaeum, a concert hall with an interior that’s beyond grand.
Before lunch, take a stroll through the exhibits at the Romanian National Museum of Art, hosted within the Royal Palace of Bucharest. A short walk away lies one of the city’s finest parks, the Cișmigiu Gardens, where you can while away some of the afternoon by its lake or at its rose garden.
One of the most appealing qualities of Bucharest is that it’s a city full of surprises. Take the metro far to the north to King Michael I Park to see what I mean. There you’ll encounter the vast Village Museum, an open-air ethnographic museum full of traditional Romanian buildings to explore.
There are also unexpected delights right in the city center. For one, visit Cărturești Carusel, a gorgeous modern bookshop that has added to Bucharest’s architectural prestige. Alternatively, go hunting for street art or dip into the city’s darker side with a ghost tour.