The City of Bucharest
Romania’s capital city, Bucharest, lies on the southern Romanian plains and is very much the commercial and political heart of the country. A large city with a population of around 2 million, Bucharest is bustling and busy.
While the city’s communist past is readily recognisable in much of the architecture, rapidly growing western influences are immediately apparent. In central locations there is a proliferation of designer shops and luxury hotels and restaurants. Every make of automobile mixes in the streets with the still ubiquitous Dacia. Retail parks are springing up around the outskirts of the city, dominated by large western retailers such as Carrefour. The pace of change in Bucharest is very tangible.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, dubbed the “Paris of the East”, Bucharest was the cosmopolitan and cultural centre in Eastern Europe. Some of the sophisticated architecture from this period remains, but was largely torn down during Ceausescu’s rein and replaced with swathes of concrete communist blocks which continue to house the great majority of Bucharestians.
Bucharest Connections
Bucharest has two airports, situated to the north of the city at Otopeni. Both British Airways and TAROM, the Romanian national carrier, provide daily direct flights from London Heathrow to Bucharest. Bucharest has numerous other flight connections within Europe.
A metro and tram network provide the means to travel within the city and Buchaest is at the centre of the national rail and road network. By road, the journey to Brasov, the main access point for the mountains, is under two hours. The journey to Constanta, the main beach resort, is around two and a half hours.
