2.81/5
656 reviews
Photo by Christina Kirschnerova via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Bucharest

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nice

good

beautiful

cheap

young

internet

town

parks

prices

friendly

english

buildings

plenty

coffee

awesome

amazing

food

safe

Bucharest gets positive feedback for its safety, affordability, and friendliness. Most reviewers felt safe walking around, including solo female travelers. The local population, especially the younger generation, is very welcoming and speaks good English, which makes communication easy. The city is noted for being budget-friendly, with low Airbnb prices and cheap dining options. Internet connectivity is described as solid and reliable, which is a plus for digital nomads and remote workers. Several cafes and work-friendly places are available, though options can be limited late in the evening.

However, common drawbacks include the city's overall cleanliness and general upkeep. Some parts are described as dirty, rundown, or even resembling ghetto areas. Service in restaurants, particularly in touristy zones like Old Town, is frequently criticized—understaffing and inexperienced workers lead to frustrating experiences. Traffic congestion and noise, especially from nightlife venues and occasional late-night car activity, are also frequently mentioned.

Bucharest doesn't have a high tourist density, which some view as a bonus and others as a sign of limited things to do. While there are nice parks and interesting architecture to enjoy on foot, the entertainment and activity options may not be as rich as in more popular European cities.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Romanians are friendly and welcoming people. The young generation speaks perfect English. The city itself is rather disappointing. Dirty, rundown, many empty buildings.... plenty of traffic and not much to do.

2 years ago

Bucharest is one of my favorites city as a coffee lover. Also, there are awesome people and the city has plenty of activities to do: indoor, outdoor... whatever you prefer... The place to be is the co-living Vine 21, with amazing people, good internet, and a place for work...

3 years ago

I agree with the +- list posted a few years ago here. Beautiful city in different ways, cheaper than Western EU, beautiful people. Restaurants are understaffed and have terrible service, at least in Old Town. First thing on the menu at Van Gogh is "all our staff are trainees, please be patient" even, so not sure what happened that places are struggling.

Activity wise it doesn't seem like it has much, but there are nice parks and walking through the city with the architecture is something to behold.

Socially it does seem a little closed off, but that doesn't make it impossible to make friends.

3 years ago

Soooo underrated city, it's not so calm at least the old town with all those bars competing to see which one plays the loudest music and in general the crazy traffic and that cars burnouts at 3am. But aside of that it's a wonderful city, with lot of things to do, lot's of places to go and very affordable prices. I was there for 3 weeks in July and surprisingly it's warmer than Barcelona and safer, and airbnb prices are really good. I enjoyed trying food and walking the city, I like to work from coffee shops and I didn't find anything better than Starbucks, that close a bit early (around 20:00).
My favorite restaurant by far, I went two times and already missing it: Hanu Berarilor Casa Oprea Soare
And a famous restaurant that I also went two times and both experiences went bad (too touristy): Caru Cu Bere

4 years ago

Bucharest is a lovely, calm and joyful city. I was staying at ICANSEE villa, a family stay place and I’ve just had everything I needed.
The streets are safe, people are nice, nice clubs, terraces.
It has a good vibe, I love it!

5 years ago

I spent 2 weeks in Romania, one week in Bucharest. I loved it, will definitely go back. The city is a mix of cool/hip, some great cafes, the Old City. Then there are the parts that are like razed ghettos. I'm single female and always felt safe. Even the taxi drivers were all lovely and helpful. Most young people speak english really well, the older people not at all. Lots of parks and fountains. One thing I loved, there is almost no tourism there, no tourists, no tourist pricing. Wifi is generally good.

5 years ago

I lived here 3 months during summer and it was amazing. The weather is beautiful, 2 hours away from the beach, the internet is fast, the coffee shops are chic, nightlife very alive and the prices are good. Go here during summer because there are more events, activities to do than the winter when it's cold and snowy.

6 years ago

I visited Bucharest for one week in early September, in between Varna in Bulgaria and Warszawa, and I like these more. Not to dismiss Bucharest which is nice, impressive, and safe. I was happy to be there, the internet is amazing ( I got >200 Mbps of free wifi in a public park) etc., but I probably won't be back any time soon.

6 years ago

So underrated.
It's a beautiful city, lots of parks and the lake in Herastrau is very nice. Constanta/Mamaia (beach area) are a 2 hour drive away and Busteni, which is in the mountains is also within reasonable distance.
People are usually quite friendly but theres the odd rude taxi driver, especially if you speak 0 Romanian. The food wasn't that great in my opinion, lots of meats and potatoes, but some like it. i'd recommend chimney cakes (kurtoskalacs) and Covrigi (Romanian soft pretzels).

6 years ago

Hidden gem in Eastern Europe - loads of awesome co-working spaces and co-living places popping up all over the place. Plenty of awesome nightlife, cheap, loads of beautiful parks and only 2 hours to the mountains or 3 hours to the sea.

6 years ago

Honestly underated, the city is extremely clean apart from graffities, old town is a lot of fun and the architecture is beautiful, looks very french like paris, could still be improved in the next few years though!

6 years ago

Here is my summary of Bucharest:
+ very nice and growing hipster/alt/techno scene
+/- the city looks like crap, lot of graffiti, demolished buildings, communistic buildings etc., but i kinda like this vibe
+ prices are great
+ young people in hipster clubs/cafes are very open and speak good english
+ super cheap UBER
- romanian food = bullshit
- airport = bullshit
- old town / touristic center kinda bullshit, overpriced, crap
- taxi and public transport is crap I heard, but you never use it cuz UBER
- people are not nice to each other, not helping, kinda rude, etc. (except young people)

6 years ago

Very cheap and Romanian people are rather friendly and open to foreigners. City itself is a disaster, rundown infrastructure, lots of pollution and little to do outside of oldtown.

7 years ago

Bucharest is cheap and a heaven for expats . It outranks kiev or chisinau and even budapest.

7 years ago

Bucharest is cheap, but that's about the only attraction for the roaming wanderer. The city is extremely dirty, smoggy, and chaotic. The internet is amazingly fast, but it's one of the last cities in Europe to visit. I have lived here for over a year, spent a long time trying to find some quality about it, but the culture is very unfriendly and it's not easy to develop friendships. I really recommend going north or west for some better quality for a foreigner: Chisinau, St Petersburg, Budapest, all are better choices.

7 years ago

✅ Very safe

✅ Friendly people

✅ Very affordable

✅ Fast internet

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Perfect humidity now

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Very easy to make friends

✅ Easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Great freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Safe for women

✅ Family friendly

❌ Dirty and rundown in places

❌ Bad service at some restaurants

❌ Heavy traffic and noise

❌ Not much to do

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Nomads.com members didn't like going here

❌ Feels crowded

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ High alcohol consumption

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

3°C / 37°F cold

7°C / 45°F cold

5°C / 41°F cold

13°C / 55°F cool

22°C / 72°F mild

24°C / 75°F warm

31°C / 88°F hot

29°C / 84°F warm

23°C / 73°F mild

13°C / 55°F cool

11°C / 52°F cool

3°C / 37°F cold

Real (median)

5°C / 40°F
very cold

8°C / 46°F
cold

6°C / 43°F
very cold

13°C / 55°F
cool

22°C / 71°F
mild

24°C / 75°F
warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

29°C / 83°F
very warm

23°C / 73°F
mild

13°C / 55°F
cool

11°C / 51°F
cool

4°C / 39°F
very cold

Humidity

damp
80%

damp
74%

nice
70%

nice
65%

nice
68%

nice
79%

nice
62%

nice
53%

nice
67%

damp
74%

damp
80%

Most common

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
42mm

dry
18mm

dry
50mm

dry
38mm

rainy
78mm

rainy
98mm

dry
8mm

dry
35mm

dry
3mm

rainy
62mm

dry
24mm

rainy
55mm

Cloud

pockets
45%

pockets
37%

pockets
39%

pockets
43%

pockets
39%

pockets
41%

pockets
20%

pockets
25%

pockets
30%

pockets
38%

pockets
35%

cloudy
53%

Air quality

clean
34 US AQI

clean
28 US AQI

clean
31 US AQI

clean
32 US AQI

clean
24 US AQI

clean
26 US AQI

clean
23 US AQI

clean
30 US AQI

clean
34 US AQI

clean
40 US AQI

clean
32 US AQI

Sun

safe
1 UVI

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
6 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

safe
2 UVI

safe
1 UVI

Remote workers

1,073 people

727 people

1,350 people

983 people

1,354 people

1,667 people

1,500 people

1,892 people

1,800 people

1,538 people

1,491 people

871 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Bucharest's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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Help pick the best photos for Bucharest and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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$1,752 / mo

17 Mbps

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.81/5 (Rank #145) 656 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍13 liked it 👎3 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Good
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $2,042 / mo
📡 Internet	🏎 Fast: 51Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 A bit cold: 17°C63°F (feels 18°C64°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 63%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Great: 40 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 31 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Low: $787 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 8k ppl/km² (1 per 11x11m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
😄 Happiness*	Okay
🍸 Nightlife	Good
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Bad
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Okay
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Bad
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	Romania
🗓️ Average trip length	8 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	51 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌦 17°C 63°F + 😊 Comfy (63%) = feels 18°C 64°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 40 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 32 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Uber
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 10 RON in USD	USD 2.19
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	RON 1,000 = USD 219
💸 Tipping	Yes, 7.50%
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	TechHub
💻 Best alt. coworking space	Impact Hub
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍12% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	1,050,000 visitors
📸 Tourists now	20,123 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	1,800,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$9,439 / year
😤 Population density	🤨 busy: 11x11m (121m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 43% 👱‍♀️ 57%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 52% 👱‍♀️ 48%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 86% 👱‍♀️ 14%
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Emag
🏠 Apartment listings	Imobiliare
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	EasyJet
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Tarom

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$2,042 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,292 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,687 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$768 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,185 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,823 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$510 / month
🏠 Median home price	$26,371
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$56 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$60 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$187 / month
🍛 Dinner	$5
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$3
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$3
👩‍🏫 International school	$9,497 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$7 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$2 / trip