Originally Posted by
ArizonaGuy
Arriving by night train in Brasov from Budapest, my girlfriend and I took the chance with one of the touts in the train station selling rooms. It ended up being a very nice home stay with private bath, though the bed was a bit hard. It was very near the quaint old town. We took a day trip to Bran and the castle and just generally enjoyed the city.
Bucharest left me wanting. I found the city devoid of soul and uninspiring (and I love big cities in general). In my opinion the city has a long way to go as far as visitor interest goes despite Ceausescu being dead for almost 2 decades and having EU membership for a couple of years now.
The upscale hotel was nice though for the life of me I can't remember the name, though I know precisely where it is on Google Maps. But I'm somewhat biased because I was mugged by a gang of gypsy children. (Use Google Maps and search for Pizza Hut, Bucharest - see item A & J that pop up, it's very near several 4* hotels including where we stayed).
In terms of home stays please see the above response to LegalEagle.
We also found Bucharest as you so aptly put it, "city devoid of soul and uninspiring" with the exception the memorable moments cited in the report. BTW: Our preference is to visit the countryside and smaller towns rather than big cities. Rome. Paris and Bangkok are the notable exceptions.
You appear to have stayed in the area of our landmark. According to the Google Map satellite view, the Pizza Hut was not our landmark, but the corner looks suspiciously familiar. Perhaps your hotel was the Radisson where we received directions. On the satellite view it is across the street
I am sorry for your experience with the kids. Personally, I would not enter a Romanian police car. Was it a Dacia?
