June 1 is Children's Day across Romania, and it's a public holiday, so the whole family is free to go out. The city turns the days around it into a party for kids: Calea Victoriei closes to cars for workshops, parades and shows, and sectors throw their own festivals in the big parks. Here's what we're tracking, from the lake at IOR Park to the rides at Orășelul Copiilor.
Romania's Children's Day turns Bucharest into a city of kids' events, most of them free. Calea Victoriei goes car-free for workshops, theater, magic and music, and Parcul Alexandru Ioan Cuza hosts 1uniFEST, billed as the city's biggest play festival.
Neighborhood parks add painting, chess and origami, museums run special tours, and the Palace of the Parliament opens its halls. Suits families with kids of any age.
Bookfest is the big annual book fair run by Romania's publishers: a hall full of publishers' stands, author talks, book launches and signing sessions.
Most of the program is for adult readers, but kids get their own area, Bookfest Junior, with interactive events, plus children's book launches where they can meet the author. It suits young readers who like picture books and story series.
Orășelul Copiilor is a 15-hectare park beside Tineretului Park that mixes paid rides with free play. The rides include a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, the Fast Tower, Crazy Dance and carousels, plus floating swan boats on the lake in the warm months.
Around them sit playgrounds with slides, sports courts, decorative fountains, cafés and shaded paths.
Tineretului Park is a large green space just south of Piața Unirii, laid out between 1965 and 1974 around the 13-hectare Lacul Tineretului. There is a dock with rowing boats, big play areas for kids, and lawns and benches for a slow afternoon.
The National Children's Palace sits at the park's east end, and the Sala Polivalentă arena stands inside the grounds.
IOR Park, also called Titan Park, spreads over about 85 hectares around Lake Titan, a natural lake split in two by the Liviu Rebreanu bridge. Five islands sit in the water, one of them named Ducks' Island.
The grounds also hold a wooden church built in the Maramureș style in the 1990s. The IOR name comes from a nearby optics factory.
Herăstrău Park covers about 200 hectares around a 74-hectare lake, where pontoons rent rowing boats and hydrobikes and kayakers paddle out. Away from the water there are children's playgrounds, an adventure park with trails, skate areas, bike rental and tennis courts.
The Japanese Garden and Rose Island are quieter corners, and the open-air Village Museum, with traditional houses from across Romania, sits inside the park.
Parcul Lumea Copiilor covers about 23 hectares next to the Palatul Național al Copiilor, and was built in the early 2000s with families in mind. Kids get themed playgrounds with slides and swings, a zip line with a climbing wall, a skate park and fountains.
Older kids and parents use the football and basketball courts, running track, chess and ping-pong tables and outdoor fitness machines, with shaded lawns for picnics.
Parcul Liniei runs along a former railway line through Militari and is the area's first park. The finished stretch has a 1,932 sq m playground split into three age zones, two drydeck splash fountains, a skatepark, a pumptrack, two basketball courts and a bike path. Hammocks, bean bags, pergolas and a small urban forest give parents somewhere to sit while kids play.
Bazilescu Park covers 13.5 hectares of tree-lined paths in Bucureștii Noi, and a few of its oldest trees are remnants of the Vlăsia forests. Kids get playgrounds, plus an artesian fountain in front of the Summer Theater, an open-air stage from 1953 that is being restored.
The Sector 1 Children's Club sits inside the park and runs school-age clubs in music, theater, rhythmic gymnastics, English and rugby.
A large 1980s building next to Parcul Tineretului that houses more than 60 after-school clubs: dance, music, painting, kids' and puppet theater, foreign languages, computing, robotics, model-making and sports. It also has an astronomical observatory, a photo and film club, and two show halls (750 and 200 seats) where the clubs perform.
Clubs follow the school year and group kids by level, not age.
Bucharest Zoo, Grădina Zoologică Băneasa to locals, covers about 6 hectares in Băneasa. It keeps more than 150 species of mammals, birds and reptiles, and the tigers, lions, bears and monkeys draw the biggest crowds.
The zoo opened in 1955 and takes part in international conservation programs for endangered species such as the gray wolf.
June 1 is Children's Day across Romania, and it's a public holiday, so the whole family is free to go out. The city turns the days around it into a party for kids: Calea Victoriei closes to cars for workshops, parades and shows, and sectors throw their own festivals in the big parks. Here's what we're tracking, from the lake at IOR Park to the rides at Orășelul Copiilor.
Romania's Children's Day turns Bucharest into a city of kids' events, most of them free. Calea Victoriei goes car-free for workshops, theater, magic and music, and Parcul Alexandru Ioan Cuza hosts 1uniFEST, billed as the city's biggest play festival.
Neighborhood parks add painting, chess and origami, museums run special tours, and the Palace of the Parliament opens its halls. Suits families with kids of any age.
Bookfest is the big annual book fair run by Romania's publishers: a hall full of publishers' stands, author talks, book launches and signing sessions.
Most of the program is for adult readers, but kids get their own area, Bookfest Junior, with interactive events, plus children's book launches where they can meet the author. It suits young readers who like picture books and story series.
Orășelul Copiilor is a 15-hectare park beside Tineretului Park that mixes paid rides with free play. The rides include a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, the Fast Tower, Crazy Dance and carousels, plus floating swan boats on the lake in the warm months.
Around them sit playgrounds with slides, sports courts, decorative fountains, cafés and shaded paths.
Tineretului Park is a large green space just south of Piața Unirii, laid out between 1965 and 1974 around the 13-hectare Lacul Tineretului. There is a dock with rowing boats, big play areas for kids, and lawns and benches for a slow afternoon.
The National Children's Palace sits at the park's east end, and the Sala Polivalentă arena stands inside the grounds.
IOR Park, also called Titan Park, spreads over about 85 hectares around Lake Titan, a natural lake split in two by the Liviu Rebreanu bridge. Five islands sit in the water, one of them named Ducks' Island.
The grounds also hold a wooden church built in the Maramureș style in the 1990s. The IOR name comes from a nearby optics factory.
Herăstrău Park covers about 200 hectares around a 74-hectare lake, where pontoons rent rowing boats and hydrobikes and kayakers paddle out. Away from the water there are children's playgrounds, an adventure park with trails, skate areas, bike rental and tennis courts.
The Japanese Garden and Rose Island are quieter corners, and the open-air Village Museum, with traditional houses from across Romania, sits inside the park.
Parcul Lumea Copiilor covers about 23 hectares next to the Palatul Național al Copiilor, and was built in the early 2000s with families in mind. Kids get themed playgrounds with slides and swings, a zip line with a climbing wall, a skate park and fountains.
Older kids and parents use the football and basketball courts, running track, chess and ping-pong tables and outdoor fitness machines, with shaded lawns for picnics.
Parcul Liniei runs along a former railway line through Militari and is the area's first park. The finished stretch has a 1,932 sq m playground split into three age zones, two drydeck splash fountains, a skatepark, a pumptrack, two basketball courts and a bike path. Hammocks, bean bags, pergolas and a small urban forest give parents somewhere to sit while kids play.
Bazilescu Park covers 13.5 hectares of tree-lined paths in Bucureștii Noi, and a few of its oldest trees are remnants of the Vlăsia forests. Kids get playgrounds, plus an artesian fountain in front of the Summer Theater, an open-air stage from 1953 that is being restored.
The Sector 1 Children's Club sits inside the park and runs school-age clubs in music, theater, rhythmic gymnastics, English and rugby.
A large 1980s building next to Parcul Tineretului that houses more than 60 after-school clubs: dance, music, painting, kids' and puppet theater, foreign languages, computing, robotics, model-making and sports. It also has an astronomical observatory, a photo and film club, and two show halls (750 and 200 seats) where the clubs perform.
Clubs follow the school year and group kids by level, not age.
Bucharest Zoo, Grădina Zoologică Băneasa to locals, covers about 6 hectares in Băneasa. It keeps more than 150 species of mammals, birds and reptiles, and the tigers, lions, bears and monkeys draw the biggest crowds.
The zoo opened in 1955 and takes part in international conservation programs for endangered species such as the gray wolf.
