Introducing Bucharest
Wedged between Transylvania’s Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea, Bucharest’s cityscape is a showstopper. Burnished Belle Epoque mansions, Byzantine churches, and Beaux Arts town homes radiate a turn-of-the-century grandeur that earned the city the nickname, ‘Paris of the Balkans.’
Where Prague can feel, at times, like a museum, Bucharest is a living, breathing city where ancient glories and modern follies coexist on every street corner. When communism fell in 1989, investment flooded in and transformed, for better and for worse, the city’s urban landscape. Gone is the grit and grime, but restoration often brings homogenization. Many of the city’s century-old buildings have fallen victim to some over zealous buffing on the part of the city’s urban planners. Certainly, gentrification has brought sleek cafés, hip boutiques, and a more refined cuisine than the gout-inducing recipes of the communist era.
Calea Victoriei, the city’s most graceful boulevard, reveals the city’s new found embrace of material pleasures. Breathtaking Belle Epoque buildings are punctuated by ornate patisseries, jewelry stores, antique emporiums, fashionable bars, and refined restaurants.
Bucharest’s art, history, and folk culture is brought to life at the city’s world-class museums, including the National Museum of Art, which houses a memorable collection, including works by Rembrandt, El Greco, and Rubens. Ceausescu’s gargantuan Parliamentary Palace—the third largest building in the world—drips with marble and gold leaf and glistens with crystal chandeliers. The Village Museum is one of the city’s highlights, with more than 300 examples of traditional 18th-century thatched houses, rickety barns, windmills, and spired churches which have been artfully reconstructed.
Airports within a 10-mile radius of Bucharest:
- Baneasa Airport (BBU)
- Otopeni Airport (OTP)
Popular aircraft charters* in the Bucharest area include:
- Citation Excel (super light)
- Learjet 45 XR (super light)
- Citation CJ3 (light)
- Learjet 31ER 400A (light)
- Learjet 60 XR (midsize)
- Citation III (midsize)
- Gulfstream G200 (super midsize)
- Citation Sovereign (super midsize)
*This is just a sample. Zephyr provides access to aircraft at every end of the spectrum, from luxurious VIP airliners, to ultra long range business jet, helicopters, and economical turboprops.
