Day 1 — The Palace of Parliament & Calea Victoriei
Start with the city's defining sight: the Palace of Parliament. Built between 1984 and 1997 under Ceaușescu (he was executed before it was completed), it's 700,000 tonnes of concrete and marble spread across 1,100 rooms — the heaviest building on earth. Book the guided tour in advance online; bring a passport or ID, as security checks are thorough. The ceremonial halls, some larger than football pitches, are genuinely disorienting in scale.
Lunch near Piața Unirii, then walk north up Calea Victoriei, Bucharest's grandest boulevard, lined with Belle Époque buildings that gave the city its "Little Paris" nickname. Stop at the CEC Palace (an ornate 1900 bank headquarters) and the National Museum of Art of Romania, housed in the former Royal Palace facing Revolution Square.
Revolution Square itself is where the 1989 uprising against Ceaușescu culminated — the balcony where he gave his final speech is still visible on the former Communist Party headquarters. The Memorial of Rebirth, a controversial modern marble spike, marks the events.
Evening: dinner in the Old Royal Court area, then a first walk through Lipscani after dark.
Day 2 — Lipscani Old Town & the Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum, a domed 1888 neoclassical concert hall, is Romania's most important cultural building and home to the George Enescu Philharmonic. If a rehearsal or daytime tour is running, go inside — the circular frescoed foyer depicting scenes from Romanian history is extraordinary. Tickets for evening performances are inexpensive compared to Western Europe.
From there, walk into Lipscani, the old town core. Hanul lui Manuc, a restored 1808 caravanserai built around a wooden-galleried courtyard, is the city's oldest functioning inn and worth a coffee stop. Stavropoleos Church, tucked down a narrow street nearby, is a small Brâncovenesc-style Orthodox church from 1724 with an exceptional carved stone facade — one of the most beautiful interiors in the city and easy to walk past if you're not looking for it.
Lunch in Lipscani, then spend the afternoon wandering the pedestrian core — 19th-century facades now housing bars, bookshops, and restaurants layered on top of the old merchant quarter's medieval street plan.
Evening: Lipscani's bar scene properly starts after dark. It's dense, cheap, and lively — a few streets pack in more bars than most European old towns manage across a whole district.
Day 3 — Herăstrău Park, the Village Museum & Floreasca
Morning: Herăstrău Park, Bucharest's largest green space, built around a 1.1km lake. Walk or rent a bike along the water. On the park's western edge is the Village Museum (Muzeul Satului) — over 300 authentic wooden houses, churches, and watermills relocated from every historic region of Romania. Budget at least ninety minutes; it's one of the best open-air ethnographic museums in Europe.
Nearby, the Arcul de Triumf (Arch of Triumph), modelled on the Parisian original, marks the start of Kiseleff Boulevard — a wide, tree-lined avenue of embassies and belle-époque villas worth a short walk.
Lunch in the Floreasca or Aviatorilor area, then spend the afternoon in Dorobanți and Floreasca — Bucharest's most upscale residential and restaurant district, with a noticeably different, calmer character than the old town.
Final evening: a proper Romanian dinner — sarmale, mici, and a bottle of Fetească Neagră from the Dealu Mare wine region just north of the city — followed by a last walk down Calea Victoriei with the buildings lit up.