Bucharest City Guide + Vlog!

I recently visited Bucharest and Athens with my cousin for a week of fun and sun (see all the looks from the trip: 1,2,3,4), and thought I’d put together a couple of guides for the cities. So, to start with, Bucharest! This was our first stop for a couple of nights, and somewhere neither of us had ever been to before. Honestly it was chosen on a bit of a whim, we weren’t really aware of what there was to do in Bucharest but liked the idea of it!

It was one of those places where we both immediately felt at home and comfortable, and it was nice to be somewhere that hadn’t yet been ‘discovered’ by the rest of the world. Sure there was the odd stag group, but compared to the throngs of tourists we would later encounter in Athens, this was nothing!

In case anyone is planning on heading to Bucharest in the future I thought I’d put together a small guide of some of the things we ate, drank and saw!

EAT

…at Caru’ cu Bere in the Old City. This place is pretty much the No.1 tourist destination (well, after the Parliament), and with good reason. The building is lavishly decorated with dancers in traditional dress performing for diners, and the cuisine is classic Romanian staples (read: lots of meat). It’s clearly geared towards tourists but still worth checking out – I’d recommend booking in advance to ensure that you get a table in the main room as we were put downstairs which wasn’t anywhere near as nice.

Caru’ cu Bere
Strada Stavropoleos 5
București 030081

SEE

….The Palace of the Parliament, the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon. This is pretty obviously a must-do as it’s the main site by far. You can only visit through guided tours and you’ve got to bring your passport as id (they wouldn’t accept driving license’s when we went). The tour actually proved quite a highlight for comedic value (our guide was unintentionally hilarious!), and the building is beautiful inside, though by no means breathtaking.

Palace of the Parliament
Strada Izvor 2-4

EAT

….at Hanu’ Berarilor, where we enjoyed our first meal in Bucharest. This building is gorgeous with several different areas for dining, including an outdoor glasshouse type extension where we were sat. It feels quite fancy but the prices are still cheaper than the average London meal (not that that’s hard). Like Caru’ cu Bere the cuisine is traditional Romanian but this place is less touristy and the atmosphere was buzzing – definitely a place to go if you feel like treating yourself.

Hanu’ Berarilor
Strada Poenaru Bordea 2
București 040092

DRINK

…coffee at Origo, an always busy very hipster coffee shop and cocktail bar ten minutes from the main square. I don’t drink coffee so can’t give much of a review but apparently it was good, and the cocktails sounded delicious (although we were too early to order them, booooo).

Origo
Strada Lipscani 9
București 050971

EAT

…just down the road from Origo at Energiea, which does an extensive menu with good appetiser options (which turned out to be pretty big, so learn from our mistakes and don’t order several!). You’ve got to get the fries, which come piled high with either sour cream or sweet chilli sauce and are pretty much a meal in themselves!

Energiea
Str. Brezoianu No.4

DRINK

…cocktails at Bicicleta on the main party drag in the old town. If you spend your nights in Shoreditch mulling over artisan cocktails and stroking your overly long beard, this is the place for you. With no cocktail menu (you tell the bartender what flavours you like and they whip up something accordingly) and bicycle themed decor spanning from bicycle seat bar stools to handlebars as decor, Bicicleta is about as hipster as it gets. The entrance is is a bit shady, up several flights of stairs and past a gentleman’s entertainment venue, but it’s worth the hike. The cocktails are yummy and about half the price of Shoreditch, plus you get a good view of the nightlife unfolding on the street below.

Bicicleta
Strada Lipscani 38
București 030036

EAT

….at Shift Pub, a restaurant north of the Old Town with a beautiful fairy lit outdoor space for boozy summer nights. This one is a bit hit and miss – we had to wait ages for our food and one of the dishes arrived cold – however this could have been a one off, and doesn’t detract from the fact that the food was yummy when it finally come. Try and get a table outside if the weather is good, but if not the indoor space has plenty of different areas with eclectic modern decor.

Shift Pub
Strada General Eremia Grigorescu 17

DRINK

…at Camera din Față, a quirky little tea house and cocktail bar. The menu is designed to look like a newspaper, mason jars serve as lampshades, and the walls are lined with different types of tea. Super hipster, but also very cosy and full of character.

Camera din Față
Strada D. I. Mendeleev 22

BRUNCH

…at Simbio in the east, for a kickass brunch menu that includes classics like poached eggs and english breakfast, pancakes and french toast. I had the eggs benedict and my cousin had a croque madame, both of which were the perfect morning pick me up. There’s an outdoor garden area as well as indoor seating, most of which is bathed in Instagram-worthy natural light – because if you didn’t gram did you ever really even eat it?

Simbio
26 Strada Negustori

SHOP

… at bookshop Carturesti Carusel in the Old Town. I say bookshop, but spread out over six floors with homeware, gifts, and even a bistro, it’s so much more than that. The building is bathed in light making it the perfect place for a bookworm to while away the afternoon, or to pick up souvenirs that aren’t super cheesy.

Carturesti Carusel
Strada Lipscani 55
Centrul istoric

If you’ve ever been to Bucharest before, where are your favourite spots? There were so many awesome places to check out, and I definitely want to go back to see the castles at some point!

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