I come to my fellow Flyertalkers with a request only you will understand. I am sitting in Atlanta, packed for Peru. Chances are that I will not make tomorrow's flight to Peru, and my sure shots after that are Hawaii, Manchester, or Bucharest.

Hawaii and Manchester, unfortunately, are like heading back to my parents' house. Comforting, but not all that interesting. Bucharest, however, I know *nothing* about. This, of course, makes me interested in going there. I have no clue on the language (ich spreche bisen Deutsche und/y un poco Espanol), and even less of an idea on the country. So I come to you with a request for your opinions and recommendations with regard to Bucharest. The time spent there can range anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. Not interested in draining the bank account for convenience, but even less interest in trading basic safety for a few dollars saved.

Help a fellow out? I so desperately do not want to waste this time off.

Spent 4 days working in Bucharest earlier this year. Didn't get much of a chance to wander around, but didn't like what I saw.

The city is crumbling, the traffic is terrifying, cab drivers worse than NYC and Rome combined. And the only decent meals I had were in italian restaurants.

I'm sure others have had wonderful times in Bucharest and other parts of Romania, but for my money, go somewhere else

-- Mike

Interesting you say that the city is crumbling. I don't suppose you have any pictures of your trip, do you?

3 of my co-workers are originally from Bucharest and all escaped the political hardships of Ceauşescu. They came to Canada and have gone back a few times since. All 3 of them have told me not to go there and that Bucharest is probably best saved for another day if even. They told me to go east to Sibiu which is a lot more nicer but for some odd reason, I find it hard to believe them. I'm not doubting them on purpose but after reading some sites like WikiTravel, I'm not really convinced.

Can somebody shed some light on this? I don't mean to sound ignorant. I just really want to know but not sure where to start.

A tour around Ceausescu Palace is a must and quite an eye-opener. I�ve never seen so much marble and glass before, no wonder Ceausescu got bumped off. Here�s a link to what you can expect to see http://www.traveladventures.org/cont...u-palace.shtml

I don�t know whether or not we were lucky, but we experienced some good meals (and Romanian cabernet sauvignon) in Bucharest but they were highly recommended by our hotel.

If you have some extra time, I would also suggest Brasov with its gothic, baroque and renaissance buildings http://www.romaniatourism.com/brasov.html And if you�re brave or crazy like me you can go on a bear watching expedition which is fascinating and scary as you have to walk 10 minutes back to the car knowing that these large bundles of fur are lurking around.

I've lived in Bucharest for several years. It can be a lot of FUN, but it's not very attractive. There are some nice parts of Bucharest but it's definitely not a place I would recommend for sightseeing and such.

4 days in Bucharest is definitely not enough time to get a good idea and there is a lot more to a city than the traffic. (Cab drivers are indeed bad, but I don't know any place where cab drivers are nice, pleasant or whatnot.) Not being able to find decent meals is something that I simply can't believe. It's like any other large city - there are tons of restaurants, some good and some not so good. Look it up online, ask some locals... and you're bound to hit the good spots. Any experienced traveler should know this.

I can recommend a lot of things... it depends on what you're interested in. (What you like to do, what food you like, etc.) Feel free to PM me.