Attractions

City Tours & Guided Walks

For a personalized -- and wonderfully personal -- tour of the city (ideally followed by destinations farther afield), contact Medieval Tours (tel. 0721-261-323; www.medievaltours.ro); Eduard Popescu will show you the major sights and reward you with an insider's history and perspective. Cultural Travel & Tours (tel. 021/336-3163; www.cttours.ro) offers exactly what the name suggests. Tours of Bucharest start at 34€ ($43) per person (with at least two people sharing), and you can also arrange guided tours of any part of the country. Also offering personalized, culturally geared itineraries is the Cultural Tourism Institute, RoCultours; Str. Grigore Alexandrescu 108 (tel. 021/650-8145; www.rotravel.com/cti), worth contacting in advance of your arrival.

Outlying Attractions

The majority of top attractions are located in the center of Bucharest, most of which can be covered on foot, but Bucharest's gems are not contained by its downtown heart. Marking the northern border of our sightseeing recommendations is Bucharest's very own Arcul de Triumf (Arch of Triumph) -- if you haven't see it on your way from the airport, catch a cab to look at the 23m (70-ft.) archway (originally erected in 1922 to celebrate the outcome of World War I, and rebuilt in 1935), then head back into the city along leafy Soseaua Kiseleff -- parading through a mansion-filled upmarket residential neighborhood, lined with embassies, alighting in Piata Victoriei, more or less in the center of the city, where Soseaua Kiseleff becomes Calea Victoriei, a lengthy concourse that continues south toward the Centru Civic, which marks the southern boundary of our sightseeing radius. This is where Ceausescu's mad folly sought to reshape Bucharest entirely in drab concrete. Inspired by a trip to Communist Korea, he planned to outsize the Champs Elysee with a broad boulevard, and at its southern end, the infamous Parliamentary Palace (Casa Populurui) dominates the skyline, while its main balcony looks east, toward Piata Unirii, the city's very own characterless version of Times Square, with the huge Unirea Department Store.

Central & "Downtown" Bucharest

Kick off your tour (or end it) in the Lipscani district, the historic heart of Bucharest -- thankfully ignored by Ceausescu, the area is experiencing a steady (if longwinded) revival with trendy cafes, smart restaurants, and mammoth projects set to restore some of the city's most appealing architecture. Pedestrianized Lipscani Street and nearby Covaci Street are the main arteries of this district, but explore the side streets and you'll come across hidden treasures: antiques stores, fashionable boutiques, and hidden courtyards, not to mention a burgeoning party atmosphere and the lovely Stavropoleos church . Sadly, you'll note that scores of buildings here are deemed unsafe -- and likely to collapse in the event of an earthquake -- and have been marked with big round warning signs. You're best off not venturing inside these.

From Lipscani you should turn north into Calea Victoriei, the long concourse that cuts through the center, along which most of this area's top attractions are ranged; unless of course you're a history buff, in which case you might want to turn south to visit the National History Museum at Calea Victoriei 12, though the grand facade of the former post office headquarters -- a grand neoclassical monument built from 1894 to 1900 -- conceals a rather stultifying collection of historical artifacts that is only engaging in parts (www.mnir.ro; admission L7/$3/£1.85; Wed-Sun 10am-6pm). From here you continue north along Calea Victoriei to get to Bucharest's real heart, the place where -- for millions of Romanians -- reality and history changed forever at Revolution Square.

While it's always busy in some way or another, the space (which runs into George Enescu Sq.) somehow retains a somber, reluctant mood, as if the memory of what happened in 1989 still lingers, when Ceausescu gave his last speech to an angry crowd from the balcony of the Communist Party Central Committee building before ordering soldiers to open fire and fleeing in his helicopter. Here, a headless statue commemorates heroes lost to the revolution, and nearby is the early-18th-century Cretulescu Church. To the far north of the square is one of the city's landmark hotels, the Athénée Palace Hilton; also looking onto the square are the Ateneul Roman and National Museum of Art .

Some distance north along Victoriei, it's worth the effort (manageable on foot) to get to the little-visited Muzeul National George Enescu, Calea Victoriei 141 (tel. 021/659-6365; admission L4/$1.70/£1.05; Tues-Sun 10am-5pm). Amongst the most beautiful buildings in Bucharest, this superb Secessionist mansion was built in 1905 for Bucharest's then-wealthiest landowner, Gerge Cantacuzino. The entrance is flanked by sculpted lions and the interior -- all stucco, polished wood, cherubs, and trumpeters -- is now filled with personal artifacts of the country's greatest composer, as well as some of Enescu's valuable scores.

Taking a Breather in the Big City -- Bucharest has a number of lovely parks offering a few simple distractions from the mayhem of city life. Slap-bang in the center are the Cismigiu Gardens (between B-dul Regina Elisabeta, Calea Victoriei, Str. Stirbei Voda and B-dul Schitu Magureanu), developed in the mid-1800s when indigenous Romanian flora was collected along with exotic varieties from Vienna. Hire a boat and row yourself around the miniature lake, or grab a table under one of the Heineken-sponsored umbrellas at Ristorante Debarcader Cismigiu (tel. 021/25-8479), where the food is expensive, but the views are free.