Moving to Bucharest, looking for groups/activities for toddlers

Hello,

We are a belgian family living in Bucharest for 1 year now, in the Pipera area (expat area on the northern oudside part of the city, close to where most English international schools are located). My 3 year old son attends preschool at the British school of Bucharest, and I take (since this school year also organise) my 1 year old daughter to the toddler group that is held at the same location on mondays and thursdays (organised by volunteers), which costs 50 RON per school year per kid. Besides that, there is also a toddler group organised between moms every friday at one of their homes (it is a yahoo group called bucharestmoms which you have to connect to via a yahoo email address), which I also attend.

There are a lot of kindergartens (Romanian/English) in the city too. Websites where you can find some useful info are www. citycompass.ro and http://www. inyourpocket.com/romania/bucharest; you can find schools, restaurants, shopping area's and other useful info.

We quite like living here after coming from Gabon (Africa) and moving to Pitesti (smaller city in Romania). Lots of semi-modern amenities, better standard of medical services available and several activities for both kids and adults. But keep in mind that it is not western europe, i guess. They also have nice big green parcs here with lots of nice playgrounds.

If you are by any chance still looking for housing, we had best luck with www. villapipera.ro for the Pipera area (real-estate office managed by non-Romanians) as the Romanian ones gave us the run around most of the time.

If you like, after getting installed here, feel free to contact me to get to know some other moms and find your way around.

Hope all goes well with the move and you find this info useful.
Kind regards,
Joëlle

Oh, also forgot to say that Romania is pretty safe and we have travelled without issues by ourselves.
Kr,
Joelle

hi there.
my husband moved to Bucharest 19 years ago from London, UK. In the beginning he used to look back all the time when walking in the street. After a few months he ceased doing that. Bucharest is safe. A mom can take the kids to the park or walk in the street any time. only watch for rhe street dogs. There are plenty of places you can take the kids for activities. let me know if you need more info about Bucharest. Cintia Weston.

Hello,
welcome to Bucharest!
I'm Romanian, and I've lived in Bucharest from 1997, but between 2000-2005 I've lived in the US, so I have a pretty good idea of what foreigners expect when they go to a new place.
Bucharest is safe - but you still need to take normal, common sense cautions, that you'd do anywhere in the world. Don't leave your wallet in the open purse, or go alone on a dark empty street, simple rules like that. Best way to get around with your kids is with a small car, once you get used to the city and traffic. Other options are taxi's (plenty of them, but not all clean or nice) - so when you get to know a taxi driver that is clean, serious, and calm while driving, you may ask him if he would prefer to be a regular. Many of them like this rather than wait for random clients. Once you get to have a guy like this, you're set, as you'll tell him: "please be at my place at 10:30, we'll go to the doctor, or we'll go to railway station". There are also retired police officers (or similar) that offer their services as private driver (with or without their own car). They usually come in the morning to take your kid to kindergarden, then may do your groceries shopping, then take you to gym, then pick the kid from tennis, and so forth. It all depends on how much money you want to invest in your confort and safety - but in any case, this kind of service is much cheaper than in western europe, and for sure is worthed.

I'm a father of two girls (8 and 3) and I've been doing this (driving them to activities) for the past 4-5 years so I can assure you that there are plenty of nice things kids can do in Bucharest. Pipera is a nice place because all is new and there are many expats, but is not quite Bucharest, more like an alien enclave. There is also Unirii area (Unirii Square and Boulevard) that is quite civilized and safe, clean and mostly inhabited by expats, lawyers, doctors, and such. This area is not necessarily with houses but rather apartment blocks, but you are in the middle of the city, at walking distance from many of the city highlights.

I hope this helps, and if you have questions, don't hesitate.

Good luck!

Hello! I live in west Bucharest and I can also say that it is quite safe. At least I've had no problems but of course it's good to be careful and as said above, follow some common sense rules. As a mother of 9month old I don't go out much during the night of course. And I get around with public transport

I would like to know more about this Yahoo group (bucharestmoms). Are there only expats? What part of the city the activities mostly take place? Is it possible to join?

HELOOO from Bucuresti!!...i am expat living in Bucuresti and my wife is romanian!!! we are happy to help for sure...Bucuresti is wonderful place for a family....sam and valentina

Hello...city center is okay for the single and business people but outside of city center you will find more to your needs like markets stores and the like..we live in sector 2 pantellimon sam and valentina

Hi All,
Apologies for the late reply but we still haven't made it to Bucharest. Still waiting for the final job offer and all paperwork to be signed off. Hopefully we will be there in January.
Thanks so much for all the great advice, feeling much happier about the move now.
Thanks again

Hi, my name is Rebecca and I am moving to bucharest at the end of May. I have a 16 month old boy who is disparate to socialize with other kids. Can you tell me if there are any playgroups he can attend?

Thanks

We still organise the above mentioned toddler group at the british school of bucharest 2 times a week. You can find a little more info here: http://www.britishschool.ro/community-l … group.html
Feel free to come and join next week Thursday (24th) when school holidays are over.

Kind regards, Joëlle

Hi, I would love to join you, but won't be there until end of May. Will definitely look up the link and hopefully see you there

Hi, I don't know if there is anyone who ever gave you feedback, but the yahoo group Bucharest moms has all kind of nationalities as their members. It's basically kind of an email forum where you can ask questions, sell stuff, organise mom's and tot's meeting etc. they also have a nice database with all kinds of info such as kid friendly restaurants, paediatricians,... So basically for any mom who's looking to connect to other moms for meet-ups or info. Most moms and tots meetings take place in the Pipera/Dorobanti/Floreasca and Herastrau area.

Kind regards,
Joelle

There is a Mum and baby Group at the International Kindergarden in Stejarii Residential compound (Jandarmeriei). Wednesdays 10 - 11.30 with access to the outdoor garden/ sandpit. internationalkindergarden.ro
They also take children who are rising 2s into school, mornings only.