Why should I go? Other cities of the former Eastern Bloc have edged
west in character in the 18 years since communism’s demise. But Bucharest
remains intriguingly close in spirit to Soviet Moscow, with a louche whiff
of the Moulin Rouge. Its boulevards are garlanded with sooty belle époque
masonry and neoclassicism. Its art-deco architecture is grimy yet groovy.
Nightclubs can be dodgily hyphenated, cocktail bars have names like Go-Go
and expats call it the Delhi of the West. (In fact, it’s more a collision of
Istanbul and Paris, complete with a mini-me Arc de Triomphe, 90ft high,
anchoring a sunburst of radial avenues.)
While you wouldn’t tick it off by tour bus as in, say, Rome, it’s a delicious
Dietrich of a city to disappear into, neck cricked as another Addams Family
mansion or Stalinesque edifice slides into view. Bucharest means clear beer
in a stark spring park; flower boys selling snowdrop posies on the dirty
steps to the subway; BMWs, bargain opera and the side-alley throb of a bar
that’s edgy like Bowie-era Berlin. Go soon — Romania joined the EU in
January, and, as they say of that other faded-fab communist capital, Havana,
this city won’t remain as it is for long. What do I do? Mosey around the
cobbled old Lipscani quarter — it’s shabbily, seductively atmospheric.
There, glimpse nascent gentrification over beers at Amsterdam (Strada Covaci
6; daily, 10am-1am), a glossy-tabled gastropub. You may witness a baptism at
the nearby Stavropoleos church, turtle-domed and patterned with icons. And
you’ll see stars at the Palace of Parliament (Calea 13 Septembrie 1; daily,
10am-4pm; guided tours £4), high on its city-centre perch: the dictator
Nicolae Ceausescu, who was executed in 1989, summoned hundreds of architects
and thousands of workers to raise the Gotham-grand governmental pile. It’s
an awesome totem to small-man syndrome, with 1,000 or so rooms, furlongs of
Transylvanian marble and carpets weighing several tons.
On a lighter note, proceed to the George Enescu Museum (Calea Victoriei 141;
Tue-Sun, 10am-5pm; 30p), where pencilled scores and other memorabilia
unravel the composer in an art-nouveau mansion with a fabulously frilly
facade. Next on the conveyor belt is a 19th-century Moldovan cheese press:
at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant (Soseaua Kiseleff 3; Tue-Sun,
10am-6pm; £1.20), the curiosities include Transylvanian crucifixes, a whole
village church and rustic fashions reminiscent of Kate Bush circa Babooshka.
When the sun shines, Bucharest is a walk in the park. Make for Herastrau Lake,
north of Piata Charles de Gaulle. The greenery around it draws strollers,
in-line skaters and young lovers interspersing snogs with slugs of cold
lager in an open-air cafe.
Access all arias: a night at the Opera Nationala Bucuresti (Bulevardul
Mihail Kogalniceanu 70-72; 00 40-21 314 6980, www.operanb.ro
) costs £5 for top tickets and world-class performances. On a somewhat
slummier note, bars and clubs rock. Frame (Bulevardul Magheru 38b) feels
like a last vestige of boho Manhattan: a backstreet legend, brick-walled and
clubby, with DJ. Then try the landmark Studio Martin (Bulevardul Iancu de
Hunedoara 41), in a hulking old cinema. The overheated crowd pulses like
some B-movie blob until 5am.
Where do I stay? The InterContinental Bucharest (Bulevardul Nicolae
Balcescu 4; 021 310 2020, www.intercontinental.com
; doubles from £232) is a skyline icon in brutalist pale concrete,
inaugurated in 1971 and for years the city’s tallest building. Here,
journalists had ringside seats for the unfolding 1989 revolution, and the
corporate-chintzy suites possess big balconies for surveying the cupolas,
spires and neon downtown whirl. Near Lipscani, the Rembrandt Hotel (Strada
Smardan 11; 021 313 9315, www.rembrandt.ro
; doubles from £62) is as close as Bucharest gets to boutique: 16 rooms of
masculine modernity (wooden floors, pure-white sheets). Or try Le Boutique
Hotel Moxa (Strada Mihail Moxa 4; 021 650 5555, www.hotelmoxa.ro
; doubles from £125), styled in exposed brickwork and sherbet tones.
Where do I eat? Casa Doina (Soseaua Kiseleff 4; 021 222 3179; mains
from £6.45) is upmarket Romanian, in a villa with carved-wood ceilings and
fountained gardens. Try tripe soup with garlic sauce and cream. Balthazar
(Strada Dumbrava Rosie 2; 021 212 1460; mains from £6.50) blends trendy
button-back booths, ferns and high ceilings into calm exclusivity, with
French-Asian food such as seafood soup with ginger and coconut milk. Or
there’s Uptown Bar & Grill (Strada Rabat 2; 021 231 4077; mains
from £4.60), serving Italian staples to expats in diner surrounds.
How do I get there? British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com
) and Tarom (020 7224 3693, www.tarom.ro/en
) fly to Bucharest from Heathrow; from £200. Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com
) flies from Luton; from £59. Trailfinders (0845 050 5940, www.
trailfinders.com ) has flights from Manchester (with Lot, via Warsaw,
from £203) and Glasgow (with KLM, via Amsterdam, from £216). Or try Ebookers
(www.ebookers.com ).
Nick Redman travelled as a guest of British Airways and InterContinental
