Day 1
Old Town magic + golden-hour boulevard
Morning
- ✦Start with a slow coffee near the Old Town — Origo or the Bistro Carusel inside Cărturești Carusel — and arrive early for photos before the crowds (a flat white is around 12–18 lei).
- ✦Walk the covered Macca-Vilacrosse passage (the 1891 yellow-glass arcade) and the Lipscani lanes, looking for details: ironwork, carved doorways, and the guild-named side streets.
- ✦Step into Stavropoleos Monastery — the 1724 Brâncovenesc church with its colonnaded courtyard — for a calm, candle-lit pause in the middle of the city.
Afternoon
- ✦Explore the Lipscani lanes at a relaxed pace, then choose a long lunch a street or two off the busiest terraces (traditional Romanian or a modern bistro; mains roughly 50–120 lei).
- ✦Browse Cărturești Carusel — six floors around a white spiral atrium in a restored bank — and the surrounding streets for design shops and small galleries.
- ✦If the weather is good, wander toward Calea Victoriei past the Old Princely Court (Curtea Veche), the 1459 founding site of the city.
Evening
- ✦Time your walk on Calea Victoriei for golden hour — the belle-époque façades, the National Museum of Art and the domed Romanian Athenaeum (1888) glow in the low light.
- ✦Choose a dinner that feels like an occasion: a wine bar, a rooftop, or a heritage room such as Caru' cu Bere or Hanul lui Manuc (book ahead). Tip around 10% in cash, in lei.
- ✦Finish with a nightcap in a cocktail or wine bar rather than a loud club — romantic energy wins.
