From late November, the city's squares fill with wooden stalls, lights and ice rinks, and the season runs all the way to Boboteaza on January 6. Kids put their boots out on December 5 for Moș Nicolae, then go door to door singing colinde, the old carols, on Christmas Eve. Here's what we checked, from the Christmas market at Piața Constituției to the Nutcracker at the National Opera.
Bucharest's central Christmas market fills Piața Constituției with 133 market stalls, food trucks and a Christmas tree. Kids can visit Santa's house and take a turn on the Ferris wheel or the carousel.
There's music most days, from carol choirs and folk ensembles on the main stage to DJ and solo sets in a covered gazebo.
Sector 6's Christmas market is known for the city's biggest network of lights, with a light trail that runs through the whole of Parcul Drumul Taberei.
Kids skate on the outdoor rink, ride the carousel and the little train, visit Santa's workshop and catch short shows and activities made for them. Parents get photo spots and a food area.
Sector 3's Christmas market fills the roundabout at Piața Alba Iulia, where the Unirii, Decebal and Burebista boulevards meet. Kids can skate on an ice rink of about 700 square meters, ride a themed carousel and take a train to Santa's house.
Between rides there are theater shows and concerts, plus huts with decorations and gifts.
A crafts fair where more than 80 makers from all over Romania sell what they made over the year: potters, spoon carvers, weavers, icon painters and confectioners. Kids can browse stalls of toys and sweets.
It ties into Saint Nicholas, when children get sweets and a small switch, so it's a gentle way into a Romanian winter tradition.
Carolers from across Romania come to the Village Museum in costume, bringing masked games, folk theater and carols, then join a parade of Christmas and New Year customs. Along the museum's alleys, a folk craftsmen's fair runs alongside stalls of traditional Christmas food.
Kids get their own creative workshops: making folk masks, sorcove and Christmas tree ornaments, or learning carols and listening to stories.
Gaudeamus is Radio România's book fair, now in its 33rd edition, filling a hall at Romexpo with publishers' stands. Kids can browse and buy books straight from the stands.
It suits families with readers who like to pick their own books more than kids who want a hands-on activity.
The Romanian National Opera's full-length staging of Tchaikovsky's ballet, in its repertoire since 2018. Clara, the Nutcracker and the Mouse King tell the story through dance, with no dialogue to follow, so it works whatever language your kid speaks.
The opera's own orchestra plays live, and its children's choir joins the ballet company. It suits kids who can sit through a long show; toddlers will struggle.
An interactive Christmas play built on the Grinch story. The Grinch and his dog Max plot to steal the holiday from Cine-Ville, and the kids in the audience stop him: they sing, dance and take on challenges to wreck his plan, with plenty of humor and colorful characters along the way. It suits kids who like to join in rather than sit quietly.
A musical comedy set in Santa's workshop in summer, where gnomes, elves and fairies make the toys. While Santa relaxes by the pool, the toys go on strike, unhappy with how children treat them. Santa brings them a few kind children, and the story nudges kids toward books and reading.
A Teatrul Muzical Ambasadorii production, written by Dan Doboș with original songs by Adrian Daminescu.
An open-air village on the shore of Lake Herăstrău, made of 62 farmsteads moved here from regions across Romania: 40 houses, three churches and 15 craft workshops and technical installations, from the 17th to the early 20th century.
Kids walk 9 hectares of lanes, look into furnished peasant homes and compare gates and roofs between regions. The museum also hosts a folk craftsmen's fair and a winter customs festival.
An ethnographic museum in a Neo-Romanian building, holding more than 100,000 objects of village life: folk costumes, textiles and rugs, painted icons and pottery. The star is a whole peasant house from Gorj County rebuilt indoors, with a platform for peering into its attic.
A basement room keeps a wry display of Communist-era leftovers, and a wooden church brought from Bejan, in Hunedoara, stands in the inner courtyard.
Grădina Cișmigiu is the oldest public park in the city, opened in 1854 and laid out around an artificial lake. Kids can go boating on the lake in summer and skate on it in winter, then follow the shady paths to the children's play areas.
The Writers' Roundabout is a circle of stone busts of Romanian writers, among them Mihai Eminescu and Ion Luca Caragiale.
Berceni Arena is an indoor ice rink that runs public skating sessions for families and hosts ice hockey matches. Kids new to the ice can rent skates and dolphin-shaped skating aids at reception to push along while they find their balance.
It was the first rink built from scratch in the city in 70 years, opening after the old Mihai Flamaropol rink had been closed for 12 years.
An Olympic-standard indoor ice rink run by the Țiriac Foundation, which built it to get children and teens into ice sports. Families skate at public sessions, and hockey teams and figure skaters train here.
The building seats about 450 spectators and has a changing room for public skaters. On weekdays the foundation runs free beginner lessons for young children.
From late November, the city's squares fill with wooden stalls, lights and ice rinks, and the season runs all the way to Boboteaza on January 6. Kids put their boots out on December 5 for Moș Nicolae, then go door to door singing colinde, the old carols, on Christmas Eve. Here's what we checked, from the Christmas market at Piața Constituției to the Nutcracker at the National Opera.
Bucharest's central Christmas market fills Piața Constituției with 133 market stalls, food trucks and a Christmas tree. Kids can visit Santa's house and take a turn on the Ferris wheel or the carousel.
There's music most days, from carol choirs and folk ensembles on the main stage to DJ and solo sets in a covered gazebo.
Sector 6's Christmas market is known for the city's biggest network of lights, with a light trail that runs through the whole of Parcul Drumul Taberei.
Kids skate on the outdoor rink, ride the carousel and the little train, visit Santa's workshop and catch short shows and activities made for them. Parents get photo spots and a food area.
Sector 3's Christmas market fills the roundabout at Piața Alba Iulia, where the Unirii, Decebal and Burebista boulevards meet. Kids can skate on an ice rink of about 700 square meters, ride a themed carousel and take a train to Santa's house.
Between rides there are theater shows and concerts, plus huts with decorations and gifts.
A crafts fair where more than 80 makers from all over Romania sell what they made over the year: potters, spoon carvers, weavers, icon painters and confectioners. Kids can browse stalls of toys and sweets.
It ties into Saint Nicholas, when children get sweets and a small switch, so it's a gentle way into a Romanian winter tradition.
Carolers from across Romania come to the Village Museum in costume, bringing masked games, folk theater and carols, then join a parade of Christmas and New Year customs. Along the museum's alleys, a folk craftsmen's fair runs alongside stalls of traditional Christmas food.
Kids get their own creative workshops: making folk masks, sorcove and Christmas tree ornaments, or learning carols and listening to stories.
Gaudeamus is Radio România's book fair, now in its 33rd edition, filling a hall at Romexpo with publishers' stands. Kids can browse and buy books straight from the stands.
It suits families with readers who like to pick their own books more than kids who want a hands-on activity.
The Romanian National Opera's full-length staging of Tchaikovsky's ballet, in its repertoire since 2018. Clara, the Nutcracker and the Mouse King tell the story through dance, with no dialogue to follow, so it works whatever language your kid speaks.
The opera's own orchestra plays live, and its children's choir joins the ballet company. It suits kids who can sit through a long show; toddlers will struggle.
An interactive Christmas play built on the Grinch story. The Grinch and his dog Max plot to steal the holiday from Cine-Ville, and the kids in the audience stop him: they sing, dance and take on challenges to wreck his plan, with plenty of humor and colorful characters along the way. It suits kids who like to join in rather than sit quietly.
A musical comedy set in Santa's workshop in summer, where gnomes, elves and fairies make the toys. While Santa relaxes by the pool, the toys go on strike, unhappy with how children treat them. Santa brings them a few kind children, and the story nudges kids toward books and reading.
A Teatrul Muzical Ambasadorii production, written by Dan Doboș with original songs by Adrian Daminescu.
An open-air village on the shore of Lake Herăstrău, made of 62 farmsteads moved here from regions across Romania: 40 houses, three churches and 15 craft workshops and technical installations, from the 17th to the early 20th century.
Kids walk 9 hectares of lanes, look into furnished peasant homes and compare gates and roofs between regions. The museum also hosts a folk craftsmen's fair and a winter customs festival.
An ethnographic museum in a Neo-Romanian building, holding more than 100,000 objects of village life: folk costumes, textiles and rugs, painted icons and pottery. The star is a whole peasant house from Gorj County rebuilt indoors, with a platform for peering into its attic.
A basement room keeps a wry display of Communist-era leftovers, and a wooden church brought from Bejan, in Hunedoara, stands in the inner courtyard.
Grădina Cișmigiu is the oldest public park in the city, opened in 1854 and laid out around an artificial lake. Kids can go boating on the lake in summer and skate on it in winter, then follow the shady paths to the children's play areas.
The Writers' Roundabout is a circle of stone busts of Romanian writers, among them Mihai Eminescu and Ion Luca Caragiale.
Berceni Arena is an indoor ice rink that runs public skating sessions for families and hosts ice hockey matches. Kids new to the ice can rent skates and dolphin-shaped skating aids at reception to push along while they find their balance.
It was the first rink built from scratch in the city in 70 years, opening after the old Mihai Flamaropol rink had been closed for 12 years.
An Olympic-standard indoor ice rink run by the Țiriac Foundation, which built it to get children and teens into ice sports. Families skate at public sessions, and hockey teams and figure skaters train here.
The building seats about 450 spectators and has a changing room for public skaters. On weekdays the foundation runs free beginner lessons for young children.
