Little Paris in riddles, from Calea Victoriei to the old town
The Bucharest scavenger hunt is a self-guided city game you play on your phone: you walk from landmark to landmark, solve a riddle at each one by looking closely at what is in front of you, and unlock the stories and legends behind it. Between the history museum and the Athenaeum you walk 3.2 km, which comes to about 44 minutes on foot over 10 stops, and with riddles, stories and a wander through the old town the game takes around 3 hours.
Highlights include the carved porch of Stavropoleos Church, Lipscani Street in the old town, the glass-roofed Macca-Vilacrosse Passage, Revolution Square with its memories of December 1989, the Royal Palace and the domed Romanian Athenaeum. Much of the route follows Calea Victoriei, lined with Belle Époque buildings, so you see why Bucharest was once nicknamed Little Paris.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 44 min · 3.2 km
- Stops10
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Romanian
What the Bucharest game asks of you
Read stone porches and glass roofs
Each stop hides one riddle in what you can see: the carved columns of the Stavropoleos porch, the yellow glass over the Macca-Vilacrosse Passage, the dome of the Athenaeum. Patience and plain reasoning are all it takes, and Romanian is not on the list.
A she-wolf, a balcony and one leu each
Answers unlock the stories: why Trajan holds a she-wolf on the steps of the history museum, which balcony saw Ceaușescu's last speech in December 1989, how an appeal asking for one leu per person paid for the Athenaeum. Switch on the audio narration if you would rather listen on the way to the next one.
3.2 km through Lipscani and along Calea Victoriei
Around 44 minutes of walking take you from the museum into the lanes of the old town, out again via University Square and up Calea Victoriei, the avenue laid out in the 1690s as Podul Mogoșoaiei. On the way, Google Maps keeps you on track through the crooked lanes of the old town.
Coffee in the old town, a browse in Carusel
The game never races a clock, so linger over coffee in the old town or climb the white balconies of Cărturești Carusel, then resume later the same day or another. The app also passes on tips for local food and shops.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of players. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Play when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Travellers this Bucharest game was written for
City breakers on a first visit
In about 3 hours you pass a monastery church, a Belle Époque arcade, the square of the 1989 revolution, the Royal Palace and the Athenaeum, a useful first map of the centre for a short stay. Because each answer hides in a detail, you end up looking twice at the ornate façades of Calea Victoriei.
Children who like a true story
Kids enjoy the bronze Trajan with his she-wolf, the tale of a leader escaping by helicopter from a rooftop, and a bookshop whose curved staircases climb six floors. Short hops between stops keep small legs going, and one adult per team is all that is required.
Friends, colleagues and conference groups
Teams have up to 5 players, each on their own phone, and several teams can set off from the museum minutes apart and meet again by the Athenaeum. The game uses public streets, so there is no room to rent.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Teams of up to 5 work best; bigger groups split into several teams, one ticket per player.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
Route of the Bucharest hunt: history museum, old town, University Square, Calea Victoriei and the Athenaeum
10 stops · about 44 min walking · start: National Museum of Romanian History · finish: Romanian Athenaeum
The hunt starts at the National Museum of Romanian History on Calea Victoriei and leads into the old town to Stavropoleos Church, Lipscani Street and the Macca-Vilacrosse Passage. From University Square you return to Calea Victoriei past the Odeon Theatre to Revolution Square, the National Museum of Art and the Royal Palace, and finish at the Romanian Athenaeum. Every clue sits on a façade, a column or a statue you can study from the pavement, so the museums and the Athenaeum's concerts remain optional extras rather than a cost of the game, and anyone staying near University Square can make it stop one in the app and rearrange the rest.
Open the route map ↗
1National Museum of Romanian HistoryStart
The museum occupies the former Postal Palace on Calea Victoriei, a neoclassical building completed in 1900 to designs by Alexandru Săvulescu. Its collections include the national treasury and a full cast of Trajan's Column, and on its steps stands a much-debated bronze of Emperor Trajan holding the Capitoline she-wolf, unveiled in 2012.
2Stavropoleos Church
This small church was built in 1724 for a monastery founded by the Greek monk Ioanichie Stratonikeas, and its name comes from the Greek Stavropolis, city of the cross. It is a fine example of the Brâncovenesc style, with a porch of carved stone columns and a painted façade, and its courtyard keeps old carved gravestones.
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3Cărturești Carusel
Cărturești Carusel is a bookshop at Lipscani 55 in the old town. The building came into the hands of the Chrissoveloni banking family in 1903, and after years of decay it was restored and reopened as a bookshop in 2015. Inside, white balconies and natural light from a skylight rise through six floors linked by curved staircases.
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4Macca-Vilacrosse Passage
This covered passage was built in 1891 and links Calea Victoriei with the streets of the old town through two curving arms under a roof of yellow glass. It is named after its former owners, the Macca family and the architect Xavier Villacrosse, and its arcades recall the Parisian passages that inspired them.
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5University Square
University Square takes its name from the University of Bucharest, whose main building was raised in the 1850s and 1860s to designs by Alexandru Orăscu. Nearby stand statues of Michael the Brave and three figures of Romanian culture and education, and the square was a key site of the 1989 revolution and of the protests of 1990.
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6Odeon Theatre
The Odeon Theatre stands on Calea Victoriei, laid out in the 1690s as Podul Mogoșoaiei and renamed after Romania's War of Independence of 1877–1878. Its building with a classical façade dates from the early 20th century, and the company is one of the city's best-known drama theatres.
7Revolution Square
In this square Nicolae Ceaușescu gave his last speech from the balcony of the former Communist Party Central Committee building on 21 December 1989, and the next day he fled by helicopter from its roof. In the middle rises the Memorial of Rebirth, unveiled in 2005, and the square is framed by the Royal Palace and the Athenaeum.
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8National Museum of Art of Romania
The National Museum of Art of Romania has filled the former Royal Palace since the years after the Second World War. It shows Romanian art from medieval icons to modern painting, including works by Nicolae Grigorescu and early sculptures by Constantin Brâncuși, as well as a gallery of European art.
9Royal Palace
The present Royal Palace was built between 1927 and 1937 to designs by Nicolae Nenciulescu, after a fire in 1926 damaged the older palace on this site. It was the residence of Romania's kings until the monarchy ended in 1947, and parts of it were damaged in the fighting of December 1989.
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10Romanian AthenaeumFinish
The Romanian Athenaeum, a domed concert hall designed by the French architect Albert Galleron, opened in 1888. Much of the money came from a public appeal that asked people to give one leu each, and today it is the home of the George Enescu Philharmonic.
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Anonymous (verified owner) –
cool!