ABOUT BUCHAREST

Bucharest is the capital and the largest city of Romania. It is a place of intriguing contrasts, combining the newly designed buildings and those of neo-classical influence – which you can see in the centre of the city – with the old communist architecture.

Keep in mind though, during the interwar period, Bucharest gained the nickname of “Little Paris” due to its architecture and the sophistication of the society at that time. Those elements are still present and are surely worth exploring.

A more in-depth approach of the city can be done by visiting the cultural landmarks: museums, churches, cathedrals and monuments.

The are many museums worth exploring, but these are the ones that you definitely should not miss:

 

Dimitrie Gusti Village Museum
The National Museum of Romanian History
The National Museum of Art
Antipa National Museum of Natural History

You could also take a walk in a park to free your mind and rest your thoughts: Cismigiu and Herastrau are two of the oldest and most beautiful parks in Bucharest.

Bucharest is the location of the second-largest building in the world, after the Pentagon: The Palace of the Parliament. It will impress with its greatness and will offer a great panorama of Bucharest, but keep an eye on the history of the building as well.

And of course, who can forget the parties that take place every day in the Historical Old Town of the city? People in our country are very friendly and welcoming, so much that we are renowned for our hospitality for our guests.

Bucharest is a vibrant and lively city with a special charm, that will captivate you during your visit.

Getting to Bucharest

By Plane

If you are thinking about arriving in Bucharest by plane, you should know that all international and most internal flights to and from Bucharest land at and take off from the Henri Coanda (Otopeni) International Airport (OTP). Otopeni is a 30-45 minute drive north of the city (it depends on traffic). Most major European airline companies have flights to Bucharest. If you are interested in low-cost companies, then you should know that our city is on the destination list of the following operators: Wizz Air, Ryanair, Vueling, airBaltic, Pegasus, Blue Air, Lufthansa, KLM and others. You can find a list of all the direct flights to Bucharest here.

 

Once you have arrived, you have three options:

  1. Use a taxi to go directly to your hotel: you may order a taxi by using the touch screen devices in the public area of the Arrivals Terminal. The passengers get on the taxi right outside the terminal, on the first floor, by showing the ticket issued by the automatic touch screen. The charges vary between 1,89 RON/km – 2,19 RON/km.
  2. Take an Uber™, Bolt™ or a taxi through StarTaxi™.
  3. Use the bus lines 780 or 783: for the bus, you’ll need to purchase a 1€ ticket on a travel card (as explained in Getting Around). To validate your ticket, touch your card against the orange authentication devices on the bus. You may also pay with your contactless credit card by touching your card or your phone (if you have the card set up on your phone) against the yellow, smaller authentication devices on the bus. Find the routes and stops over here.

For more information about Getting to Bucharest from the International Airport “Henri Coanda”, please visit the airport’s official website.

By Train

All international (and most local) trains to Bucharest arrive and depart from Gara de Nord. Gara de Nord is relatively small. All of the platforms lead to the same main concourse, where you will see signs for buses, taxis and the metro.

To get to the city center:

Taxi: you can take a taxi from the official taxi station outside (ignore anyone who approaches you inside the station). If no taxi is waiting, use one of the two touch screens to order one. However, we advise you to order a car throu Bolt™, Uber™ or StarTaxi™.

Metro: you can also use the metro; you are just one stop away from Piata Victoriei. From there you can easily change the line to go to Piata Universitatii or Piata Unirii.

Bus: you can take the bus as well: No. 123 goes to Piata Unirii, No. 85 to Piata Universitatii and No. 780 goes to the airport. Tickets can be bought from the little metal kiosk next to the bus stop (which is itself next to the taxi rank) – more information on the “Getting Around” page.

Note that both the last bus and the last metro services leave Gara de Nord at around 23:00.

Be careful when departing from Gara de Nord, as queues at the ticket office can be long. We strongly advise you to buy train tickets well in advance so you do not end up missing your train.

You can buy them online from: https://bilete.cfrcalatori.ro/vanzare/loginuser.aspx (you are required to create an account).

By Coach

Whether it’s racing through the Carpathian Mountains or ambling along the Danube River, Romania offers countless picturesque views from the road. Romania has two unique thoroughfares over the southern Carpathian Mountains that are part of any list of the world’s most amazing roads: the Transfagarasan and TransAlpina. A 2009 Top Gear show stated that: “We were wrong, this is better than the Stelvio, this is the best road in the world!”

The road infrastructure of Romania is lacking in some respects. However, given that Bucharest is located some 70 kilometers north of the Giurgiu-Ruse border checkpoint (in the south), the trip to our capital might not prove to be as troublesome as expected.

Tourists who come to Bucharest by coach may also enter the country through the west border checkpoints (Nadlac, Borsa, Cenad, Vidin) or through the east border checkpoints (Albita, Stanca). Expect a longer journey to Bucharest though, as you have to cover about 500 km.

Eurolines provides trips to Bucharest, linking the capital of Romania to virtually the entire Europe. The headquarters are located in Buzeşti Street (Strada Buzeşti) and you can find them there 24/7. Website: www.eurolines.ro

Atlassib is another solution at hand for people who want to get to Bucharest by coach. Website: www.atlassib.ro

By Car

Traveling by car to Bucharest is another option. You must keep in mind that Romania has mostly national and county roads and only four motorways (A1, A2, A3, and A6 respectively), of which only A1 and A2 are linked to Bucharest.

You are required by law to buy a pass (“rovinieta”) in order to use the Romanian roads. The prices are (depending on the availability period):  for 7 days 3 EUR/ 14,91 RON; for 30 days 7 EUR/ 34,78 RON; for 90 days 13 EUR/ 64,60 RON; for 12 months 28 EUR/ 139,14 RON. You can buy them at every petrol station or online.

If you have to pass the Fetesti Bridge in your way to Bucharest you have to pay an extra fee of 14,91 RON/3 EUR for 1 pass. You pay this fee at petrol stations, through sms, or online.

For complete information on the road traffic rules of Romania, as well as for the complete map of the motorways, national and county roads, visit the National Company of Motorways and National Roads and the Road Map of Romania.

Getting around

Bucharest is a mightily busy town, and one of great contrasts, too. In fact, it’s the sixth biggest in the European Union by population! With all these people going about their business, transport is bound to be finicky – but here’s how to stay on top of things and be on time at every conference.

The aproximate exchange rate for EUR is 1 EUR = 4.97 RON

Subway

The fastest way to reach almost anywhere is by subway. You can find the line map along with the corresponding conference venues over here.

For the entire duration of the Conference, your best bet is a Metrorex Weekly Pass (30 RON/6 €), but you could also choose a 10-trip card (25 RON/5 €) if you don’t expect to exceed this amount. You can also buy a 1 trip card (3 RON/0,6 €) or a 2 trips card (6 RON/1,2 €). Group cards are also available for 3, 4 or 5 people. You can find more information about METROREX tickets on their official website

If you plan to stay up late, take into consideration that the last trains leave their end line stations at 23:00 (GMT+2). More details about the exact schedule can be found here.

Overground transport

Ground transport is always an option, though not a particularly reliable one. There are no indicators as to when the next vehicle will reach your current location, as the schedule is largely influenced by heavy traffic. Here‘s a general map of the network – it includes bus, trolleybus and tram lines. Even though there are no information panels at the stops, the transport lines are included in the Google Maps database. As well as the estimated time of arrival, any routes the app offers will generally be correct. You can also install the official STB app (Info Transport Bucuresti), which is even more accurate. Unlike other cities, the price for any trip is fixed, or you could buy a daily pass. Either way, you’ll have to acquire a travel card first, which holds these travel titles. In order to validate them, simply touch the card against the orange authentication devices on the vehicle, the way you would use NFC on a smartphone. A single trip can be purchased for 3 RON (0.6 €) and the travel card costs 3.7 RON (0,74 €). You can buy them at the STB Ticket Offices which are in the proximity of every major transport station in the city. You can also pay by credit card in most buses, trolleybuses and trams, in the same way, by touching the card against the yellow authentication devices.

Get all the details here.

Taxi and Ride-sharing

You can also travel by taxi, which will be more convenient, with the caveat that you may find yourself stuck up in heavy traffic, especially if it’s early morning, noon or the afternoon (around 5-6 PM). You can’t go wrong with companies such as Speed Taxi, Pelicanul, Taxi Leone, Tess, Total, Cristaxi. Look out for the price – it has to be clearly displayed on the side doors, and it hovers around 1.89 lei/km – 2.19 lei/km (0.38 €/km- 0,44 €/km). If the number is way different, you’re better off looking for another car. You can also order a taxi through the StarTaxi app.

Do you think that ride-sharing is the future of transportation? Uber is available (for iOS, Android), as well as Bolt. If you’d rather hail your taxi through your smartphone, there’s Black Cab (for iOS, Android).