Just to the north of the National Art Museum is the Athénée Palace, so evocatively captured in its postrevolutionary, prostitute-teeming state by Robert Kaplan in his book Balkan Ghosts. Designed to outdo Paris in 1918, the hotel later served as a hotbed for Romania's KGB, the Securitate. Now the Hilton group has thoroughly cleaned it up – and priced its rooms to the stratosphere.
Athénée Palace
Bucharest
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.97 MILES
The Palace of Parliament is the world’s second-largest administrative building (after the Pentagon) and former dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu’s most infamous…
0.07 MILES
The exquisite Athenaeum is the majestic heart of Romania’s classical-music tradition. Scenes from Romanian history are featured on the interior fresco…
1.94 MILES
This restored villa is the former main residence of Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu, who lived here for around two decades up until the end in 1989…
Grigore Antipa Natural History Museum
1 MILES
One of the few attractions in Bucharest aimed squarely at kids, this natural-history museum, showing off Romania's plant and animal life, has been…
0.38 MILES
West of Calea Victoriei is the locally beloved Cişmigiu Garden, with shady walks, a lake, cafes and a ridiculous number of benches on which to sit and…
20.3 MILES
Tiny Snagov Island, at the northern end of Snagov Lake, is home to Snagov Monastery and Vlad Ţepeş' alleged final resting place. The small stone church…
Museum of the Romanian Peasant
1.1 MILES
The collection of peasant bric-a-brac, costumes, icons and partially restored houses makes this one of the most popular museums in the city. There’s not…
2.98 MILES
What was supposed to be a 6km-long dam during the communist era, left abandoned after the 1989 Revolution, turned over 22 years into a vast urban delta…
Nearby Bucharest attractions
0.07 MILES
The exquisite Athenaeum is the majestic heart of Romania’s classical-music tradition. Scenes from Romanian history are featured on the interior fresco…
0.12 MILES
Housed in the 19th-century Royal Palace, this massive, multipart museum – all signed in English – houses two permanent galleries: one for National Art and…
0.13 MILES
This is the lovingly restored residence and studio of 19th-century Romanian painter Theodor Aman. Aman's skill was in small, finely rendered oil paintings…
0.18 MILES
This striking memorial, respected and reviled in equal measure, marks the dramatic events of 1989, when many people died in this area for their opposition…
0.21 MILES
The modest Creţulescu Church stands in repose near the far larger and more dramatic Royal Palace. Look for the original paintings near the door to the…
6. Central Committee of the Communist Party Building
0.22 MILES
The scene of Ceauşescu's infamous last speech was the balcony of the former Central Committee of the Communist Party building, on 21 December 1989…
0.32 MILES
A grab bag of several dozen private collections, particularly strong on folk and religious art and Romanian painting from the 19th and early 20th…
0.38 MILES
West of Calea Victoriei is the locally beloved Cişmigiu Garden, with shady walks, a lake, cafes and a ridiculous number of benches on which to sit and…