bucuresti city guide_2008-2009
DESCRIPTION
bucuresti city guide_2008-2009TRANSCRIPT
CCIITTYY GGUUIIDDEE
BBuucchhaarreesstt
22000088--22000099
Photos:
– The National Museum of Art
– Mådålin-Cristian Foc¿a
– Gabriel ªerban
– Romeo Huidu (front cover)
© 2008 House of Guides
Tel.: (0040)21-317 91 31, Fax: (0040)21-224 31 86
E-mail: [email protected]
Web-site: www.houseofguides.ro
© All rights reserved. Copyright by House of Guides. This book may not be reproduced
in whole or in part without written permission of House of Guides.
Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Na¡ionale României:
Bucharest city guide: 2008-2009. – Ed. a 5-a, rev.
Bucure¿ti: House of Guides, 2008
Index
ISBN 978-606-513-026-5
913(498 Buc.)
3
Summary
How to use the guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Romania – general information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Short History of Bucharest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Best Sightseeing Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Best Hotels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Best Restaurants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Romanian cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Serbian Cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
French cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Italian cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Mediterranean cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Lebanese cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Turkish cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Chinese cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Asian cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Japanese cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Arabian cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Exotic cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
International cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Best Beauty Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Best Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Mall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Women Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Men and Women Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Men Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Footwear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Cosmetics, Perfumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Luxury Jewellery & Watches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Best Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Casinos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Café-bars, Pubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Best Theaters & Cinemas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Bucharest Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Units index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
4
HOW TO USE THE GUIDE
The editor’s note
This guide is published on annually basis and appears in full tourist season.
The ratings that it contains are available for one year.
Classification
Each section will present top locations as follows:
– hotels – listed on categories (5*, 4*, and some 3* hotels), in alphabe-
tical order by each category;
– restaurants – listed by their cuisine profile, as seen on Summary;
– entertainment – also listed by profile, as seen on Summary.
Compulsory criteria for at least 3 stars accommodation units:
– Disabled facilities; laundry; credit card; phone in the rooms; parking lot;
fast mail services; room service; rent-a-car; minibar in the rooms; TV set
in the rooms.
Besides the above facilities, the 4 stars accommodation units must have:
– Conference room; internet acces in the rooms; air conditioning.
In addition, the 5 stars accommodation units must have:
– Safe box in the rooms; secured parking lot.
Symbols
Hotel facilities
Credit card
Breakfast included
Hairdresser’s
Wardrobe
Internet
Room with safe
Secure parking lot
Valet parking
Conference room
Gym room
Sauna
Massage
Solarium
��������� �
Beauty saloon
Indoor pool
Outdoor pool
Indoor sports-ground
Outdoor sports-ground
Gift shop
Rent-a-car
Baby sitting
Pets allowed
Green location
Disabled facilities
Quiet area
Historical building
�������������
5
���� !"#$
Restaurant facilities
Summer Restaurant
Daily supply
Live music
Programme
Special events
The suit is obligatory
Smoking room
Belvedere
Bar
Hotels section – abbreviations
R – restaurant
T – terrace
Bar – bar
BZ – day bar
NC – night club
Bs – brasserie
B – bistro
Cr – wine cellar
Co – sweet-shop
Cs – casino
Cf – coffee bar
Distance to Henri Coandå International Airport �
Note:
Because the guide’s map-drawing areas are exclusively extracted out of
Bucharest’s administrative map, the high-standard unities that are situated
outside Bucharest are not spotted on the maps.
6
ROMANIA
GENERAL INFORMATION
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION
Romania is situated in the South-Eastern part of Central Europe.
Neighbouring countries are: Hungary in the West, Ukraine in the North and East,
the Republic of Moldavia in the East, Bulgaria in the South and Serbia in the
South-West.
AREA: 91,725 sq. miles (238,391 sq. km)
CAPITAL: Bucharest
LOCAL TIME: GMT + 2 hours (summer time: GMT + 3 hours – between the last
Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October)
POPULATION: 21,500,000 (2007)
ETHNIC GROUPS: Romanian 89,5%, Hungarian 6,6%, Gipsy 2,5%, Other 1,5%
RELIGIONS: Orthodox Christians 86,8%, Romano-Catholic 4,7%, Reformed 3,2%,
Pentecostal 1,5%
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Romanian
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Republic with two legislative bodies:
Senat and Chamber of Deputies
ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS: 41 counties and the capital city of Romania – Bucharest
NATIONAL CURRENCY
1 Leu (RON) = 100 bani; 1 EUR = 3,7 RON; 1 USD = 2,4 RON
You can find exchange offices in airports, 4 and 5 star hotels, commercial
banks and on the cities’ main streets. Avoid unofficial exchange transaction, in the
street.
CLIMATE: temperate continental
The average temperature in the hottest summer month, July, varies between
22 and 230C in plain areas and 16
0C in the mountains.
The average temperature in the coldest winter month, January, varies between
2 and -30C in plain areas and -10 and -11
0C in the mountains.
NATIONAL HOLIDAYS
New Year (1st, 2nd of January)
Ortodox Easter (the first and the second day)
The 1st of May – Labour Day
The 1st of December – Romanian National Day
Christmas (25th, 26th of December)
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
In Romania, two types of mobile telephone systems from the second generation
are available: GSM Vodafone, Orange, Cosmote and CDMA Telemobil/Zapp.
You can purchase cards and telephone sets from specialised shops or autho-
rised dealers.
7
BANKS
In Romania, there are banks with state or private capital, but also international
banks, with foreign capital.
TRANSPORTS
By air. TAROM, the Romanian Airlines has at its disposal 17 airports out of which
11 operate in international regime. Internal flights connect Bucharest to the main
Romanian cities: Arad, Bacåu, Baia-Mare, Constan¡a, Cluj, Craiova, Ia¿i, Oradea,
Sibiu, Suceava, Satu Mare, Timi¿oara, Târgu-Mure¿, Tulcea.
Bucharest Otopeni is Romania’s main international airport, situated approximately
17 km from down town.
Plane tickets can be booked at ticketing agencies.
By rail. CFR, the Romanian Railways, has a national wide network of 22,637 km.
CFR offers the following facilities:
For exterior traffic: trains or direct wagons for the main European routes; sleeping
cars from Bucharest (Northern Railway Station) to the main European cities; berth
wagons.
For the internal routes: intercity trains from Bucharest to the country’s main
cities, with modern comfortable wagons; high speed trains between the main towns;
popular trains for short distances (urban or rural); The Blue Arrow – a high Speed
motorailer with a locomotive, and two wagons. The train offers 12 seats at the busi-
ness class and 92 seats at the economic class. The two wagons offer air conditioned
facilities and are not separated such as the other trains; berth wagons in six seats
compartments.
By ship. Transport is available mainly on the Danube and its tributaries – 1,599 km
and on the two ship-going channels, Bega and Danube-Black Sea – 91 km.
Danube Delta is only accessible by water, but ships do not operate in winter.
Classic routes: Bråila – Gala¡i – Tulcea – Sulina; Tulcea – Sulina; Tulcea – Chilia
Veche – Periprava; Tulcea – Sf. Gheorghe; Cri¿an – Mila 23.
Special routes (fast transportation services): Bråila – Gala¡i – Tulcea – Sulina;
Tulcea – Sulina; Tulcea – Sf. Gheorghe.
By road. The Romanian Roads Network has: 73,160 km public roads ; 14,686 km
national roads (DN), 265 km highways (Bucharest – Pite¿ti and Bucharest – Cernavodå).
Legal speeds limits: within localities 50 km/h, 100 km/h outside – on european
routes, 90 km/h outside – on other routes and 130 km/h on highways.
HistoryCity Guide Bucharest 2008-2009
Short History of Bucharest
Bucharest keeps in its soil traces of
human presence even since the age of
carved stone, that is 150,000 years
ago. Proofs of material culture of civiliza-
tions named Vinca, Boian and Gumelni¡a
were discovered at Glina, Pantelimon,
Giule¿ti and Jilava. The Bronze Age has
more proofs, located especially around
the rivers Dâmbovi¡a, Colentina, Sabar
or Ciorogârla.
In the 6th-7th century, there were
not less than 17 villages on the territory
of the today city.
The first documentary testimony of
the city is dated September 20th, 1459
in an official document issued by the
prince Vlad ºepe¿ “from Bucharest”.
Starting from 1659 the town re-
mains the capital of Wallachia.
The revolutions in 1821 and 1848,
as well as the Principality Union in 1859
conduct their most important moments
in Bucharest, too, just like the proclama-
tion of the state independence of Ro-
mania, on May 10th, 1877. Bucharest
becomes the capital of the Romanian
State.
Today Bucharest lays on an area of
over 228 square km, has a population of
The V
idra
Goddess (
c.
2000–1800 B
C)
Vla
d ºepe¿ docum
ent
sin
ce septe
mber
20th
, 1459 in
”B
uchare
st
Citadel“
City o
f B
uchare
st,
engra
vin
g s
ince 1
817
8