Where to live in Bucharest?

Personally I find the Victoriei area very nice. The buildings are steady and there is the metro station Piata Victoriei at walking distance.

Hmm, thanks for that - would mean a metro change for me though, at Unirii, to get to Pantelimon. How are you finding Bucharest?

Hi,

Here's a map for the metro: METRO

Ignore the dotted lines - yet to be built. The stations with the double-circle (like Unirii) are ones where you can change lines.

Another area you might consider in Tineretului. You'd have to do a charge at Unirii, but it's also quite handy for the old town (public transport and a cab back would be very cheap) and there's a park there. Should be a little cheaper than the more central Unirii area.

You could even try Iancului, which isn't a bad area, plenty of shops and supermarkets, Obor farmers' market is close, and it has a metro station giving you good access to other parts of town. Less central but cheaper rentals. There are buses and trams which would take you close to ISB (I assume that's your place of work). Walk+bus/metro to old town takes about 30-40 mins.

Similarly, Titan is an ok residential area with a very nice park (IOR park) and it's a short metro ride to Pantelimon.

Lol - From that I take it there's nothing around Patelimon apart from ISB! I didn't visit the school when I was over....Thanks for the ideas. I saw a one bedroom flat I  liked on Unirii Boulevard (parliament side) but the owner wants me to pay from the 1st of July, even though I wouldn't be moving in until the 9th of August. €500 (with a contract...some landlords don't seem to offer a contract... -something to do with tax...) Would it be mad to pay so early? Maybe I should try one of the areas you suggest.

I think you can take the metro from Victoriei towards Bucur Obor-Iancului..doesn't that direction lead to Pantelimon? I also like Bucur Obor area..although it might be more variegated, it is also very relaxing...three parks, two lakes, best vegetables piaza...and you can easily reach the city centre.

From Piata Victoriei, you'd have to change at Dristor to get all the way to Pantelimon metro station.

Obor market is also great for fresh fish, and as Cheia says, the fruit and veg are much better there than at the supermarkets (in terms of price, quality, seasonality and variety).

I guessed ISB because a few people in the past have asked about access to Pantelimon and I think it's the only employer there who would employ native speakers.

As for paying for July, it would be a bit unnecessary. The only reason to do that would be to secure the place if you think it might go quickly, otherwise there's no real reason why the landlord couldn't draw the contract up for the start of August. I suppose it's up to you - if you really like the place and are worried someone else might snatch it up, then I suppose you could pay, otherwise it's just 500 Euro of free money for the landlord!

You're right about the tax - I think it's 16% (that's the usual rate of income tax; don't know if it's different for rent) so a contract would mean the landlord losing almost two months' rent to the authorities, hence their preference for not having a contract. However, you should check because you might need a contract for proof of address for your certificat of inregistrare.

If you have time for another trip over, you should check out some of the other areas mentioned, see what's there in terms of parks, shops, etc, and maybe even test the trip to ISB to see how long it would take you. Rents in most of the other areas (one-bedroomed flat) would probably be between 250-350 Euro/month, depending on if it's done up or not.

I liked the flat I mentioned the best of the 11 properties I saw in one morning when I was over! I'm thinking I could spend a long time looking at flats and might end up having to take something which I liked less - or might have to pay more over the course of a year for one I liked as much - there are always pros and cons. It's nothing particularly special but ticks most boxes. Thanks for all the tips - yeah, wish I'd tested the trip to ISB.

I reckon, if you take the one on Blvd Unirii, you'd be looking about about a five-minute walk to the metro, a couple of minutes to get through and down to the platform, a worst-case wait of 10 minutes for a train (probably much less, especially at peak times), then for the eight stops I'd allow about 20 mins travel time, followed by a 2km walk from Pantelimon metro to ISB, so about 20 mins (if you're a moderately fast walker). All told, probably a little under an hour, door to door.

An hour! Crikey, I'm used to a 20min drive, door to door (though I don't fancy driving in Bucharest...)

I can hop on the school bus at Pantelimon if I didn't fancy the walk. Sitting amongst my students might be a bit weird though I suppose if I want to live centrally, there's a price to pay in travel time to work.

Thanks for the info.