Piața Romană & Magheru

Piața Romană and the Magheru-Bălcescu axis form the spine of business Bucharest. It is a vertical district, with tall buildings alternating shop windows, offices and cinemas, part of the city's most important ensemble of interwar modernist architecture. Anyone wanting to understand the Bucharest of the 1930s should look up while walking down Magheru, where the upper floors tell a different story from the busy commercial ground level.

The boulevard was conceived as a showcase of modernity: this is where the first tower blocks went up, with clean lines and rounded balconies, many designed by leading architects of the era such as Horia Creangă and Marcel Iancu. Piața Romană is home to the Academy of Economic Studies (ASE), which brings in thousands of students and gives the area a youthful rhythm on class days. Around it, shops, theatres and cafés keep pace with the flow of people.

What to see

• The interwar modernist architecture along Magheru, among the most valuable in Eastern Europe
• Piața Romană and the ASE building
• The shop windows and cinemas along the boulevard
• The bronze Capitoline she-wolf in the square

The vibe

This is the active, daytime Bucharest: commuters, students, hurried shoppers. It is not a classic tourist zone but a slice of authentic urban life, the everyday capital at full tilt. Evenings are quieter than in the historic centre, yet you will easily find a terrace or café for a break, and the boulevard stays well lit and busy until late.

Getting there

The Piața Romană and Universitate metro stations serve the ends of the boulevard; see the metro. It is one of the best-connected points in the public transport network, with many surface lines along the axis. For food you have dozens of restaurants at hand, and the sights worth seeing are in attractions.