by Lonely Planet author Leif Pettersen

Bucharest

Accommodations in Bucharest Wallachia

I'll be honest with you. I think it's a hellhole. Some people manage to find its charm, I (routinely) find its hateful qualities, including its lack of genuine tourist attractions, its high prices, its dearth of useful signage and its army of criminals and shysters that make this one of the most predatory tourist locales I have ever seen.

That said, grudgingly, I'll allow that Bucharest is home to some of Romania's best museums. If you can overlook the dark cloud over the Palace of Parliament (the world's second-biggest building, after the US Pentagon, and Ceausescu's Staggering Blunder # 1,239) is a sight to behold at 12 stories and 3,100 rooms covering 330,000 sq meters. Construction began in 1984 and it cost an estimated 3.3 billion euros (still 10% incomplete). The project flattened a large part of the city and laid the seeds for the massive stray dog and orphan problem that torments the city to this day.

Bucharest is a lively student base, notably around the open-air bar scene in the historic center and the number of reasonably maintained parks is admirable, considering that the rest of the city is a hopeless mess.

In the not-so-recent past, this travesty was everyone's first (and often last) exposure to Romania, but there are now regular international flights landing in Timisoara, Arad and Targu Mures. Furthermore, the cities of Oradea, Timisoara and Arad are much better access points by train, when arriving from any western destinations. In short, Bucharest can be safely sidestepped. Or don't listen to me and see what the fuss is all about.

Home