Solo Female Travel & Backpacking in Bucharest

Solo travel experience

I was on Bucharest solo last year and loved it. I just wandered around a lot, there is a lot to see and do organically. Lots of great food and drinks. There is a huge, gorgeous cemetery (Cimitirul Bellu) that I wandered for hours and Cismigiu Parc is also really beautiful. I took a day tour to Transylvania that was a little kitschy, but was an overall great day.

Local experience

Try Ceausescu's private villa to see how a dictator lived in luxury while a country starved, do a tour of the second biggest building in the world, Casa Poporului, check the summer gardens (Cafe Carturesti Verona, Gradina OAR), walk towards Parcul Ioanid and explore the embassies area. Go to Therme just near Otopeni for a great spa experience, visit Muzeul Satului to see all rural Romania in 2 hrs, try the best deserts ever (see Mara Mura, Chocolat bistro, French Revolution for eclairs... all are around the same area behind Atheneum), try the lovely gardens at Hanul Berarilor and Hanu' lui Manuc while enjoying lunch/dinner al fresco, for a more fancy pool experience go to Pescariu Sports and Spa, visit Sinaia royal mountain resort as it is just 1hr away by train (check Peles Castle) I used to do day trips when living there (check infofer.ro for connections and tickets).

Group travel experience

Loved Bucharest and Brasov. We booked a day tour with Get Your Guide, they drove us to Brasov from Bucharest. Brasov is so lovely. The Brasov sign (similar to Hollywood sign) up on the hill is so beautiful too. In Bucharest the Old Town was so much fun, especially at night. During the day it was more chill with all the cute cafes, my fave was the Van Gogh cafe. I recommend stopping at Carturesti Carusel (carousel bookstore) there’s a cute cafe on the very top floor overlooking the bookstore below.

Solo travel experience

I normally avoid tours but I did an Alternative/Beautiful Decay tour which was amazing, and I had such a great time with my tour guide! Also Bucharest had amazing coffee everywhere so of you like coffee, I highly recommend Origo and Steam which were my two highlights. I also liked walking up and down Calea Victoriei, especially at sunset! I really didn't care for the Old Town so as soon as I got out of there I felt a lot better.

Things to do: - University Square - Romanian Athenaeum - Macca-Villacrosse Passage - Stavropoleos monastery - Arch of Triumph Safety: I felt as safe as in any other big European city. Recommendations: Bucharest is a must see city. Is something you have probably never experienced before. The city is dirty and pretty at the same time.

Things to do: - Palace of Parliament - Romanian Athenaeum - "Dimitrie Gusti" National Village Museum - Arcul de Triumf - King Mihai I Park - Cișmigiu Gardens Safety: I felt reasonably safe but it's a city of 2 million people so you should be careful. Accommodation: Stayed at the T5 Social hostel. Great hostel, great people and really enjoyed the atmosphere! Recommendations: Try to avoid taxi cabs altogether. They may try to rip you off. I recommend Uber, it's cheap and safe.

Local experience

Here are my recommendations: - Check out the most beautiful bookstore, Carturesti Carusel in old town! - Go to the artist for a reasonably priced molecular gastronomy experience - Have a beer at caru cu bere, - Explore cec bank and the monastery just down the street from it - Explore the rest of old town - Rent a paddleboat in Herastrau park - Village museum is cool - Hop on hop off is an easy cheap way to get around the city - Artichoke cafe is a great place for breakfast

Local experience

I am a foodie from Bucharest so I will focus on food recommendations. Stroll on Calea Victoriei, there are many good places where you can eat. I recommend Coclinta Brasserie for typical Romanian pies or Love you Choux for nice desserts or Fika18 for amazing croissants, French Revolution for amazing eclairs, Vice IceCream for the best gelatto and the list can go on. All of them situated on Calea Victoriei or very close to it. For traditional food with a twist, I can recommend Mahala restaurant, but Caru cu Bere is also very popular with tourists for their very traditional Romanian dishes. As for bookshops, Carturesti Carusel is definitely the popular one, they also have another bookshop at Carturesti Verona and a nice outside terrace. In the city center I can also recommend the restaurant called 'Le Bab' and 'Paine si vin'. Another nice neighbourhood is Dorobanti (search in google maps street names like Paris, Roma, Varsovia, Londra etc.) Basically the neighbourhood has all streets with capital names. You can walk all the way to Aleea Alexandru. You can start this tour right from the Romanian Government building which is located in Piata Victoriei.

Local experience

I'll point out some nice places: 1. The Old Town of Bucharest - hundreds of bars, trendy cafes and restaurants; 2. Revolution Square in the Centre of Bucharest is a place with lots of history; 3.Dimitrie Gusti National Village Museum - is an open-air exhibition showing traditional Romanian village life as it was in the past; 4. Herastrau Park & Cismigiu Park 5. Romanian Athenaeum is a beautiful building, the main concert hall of Bucharest, so if you like classical music, try to attend one of the concerts. 6. Carturesti Carusel Library - A real experience. Stunning bookshop with a great coffee shop;

Solo travel experience

I love history and food, so I loved the Italian food and french pastries and I loved wandering around the cobblestone streets of Old Town and looking at the historical buildings. The Romanian Athenaeum is one of the gems. The tour of the Palace of Parliament was fascinating. The Communist Walking Tour was interesting as Romania has a very interesting history. Cheap Italian and French food was great in addition to the Romanian sarmale, papanasi etc. And yes, Village museum was excellent. Did day trips to Sinaia and Brasov, Bran Castle which is right at the edge of Transylvania with endless amounts of things to do and see.