Iasi
Introduction
Iași, historically known as Jassy, sits in the Moldavia region of Romania and has long been one of the country's leading centres of social, cultural, academic and artistic life. Its role in Romanian history is unusually deep: the city served as the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from the mid-sixteenth century until the mid-nineteenth, then of the United Principalities, and later of Romania itself during the First World War.
That layered past shapes what you'll find as you explore — a place where the country's political and intellectual life was concentrated for centuries, and where that legacy remains part of the city's character today.
Before you go
Iaşi sits in Moldavia in northeastern Romania, close to the border with the Republic of Moldova, with the Prut River dividing the two countries. The city spreads over the "legendary city of the seven hills" — Cetățuia, Galata, Copou, Bucium, Șorogari, Repedea and Breazu — and some of these hills have conspicuous churches perched on top, each giving you a different view of the city. It looks green from above despite the brick and concrete, thanks to its boulevards and gardens, and ancient churches, old European-style houses and communist apartment buildings compete for space in a city that keeps expanding into the surrounding villages. The centre is undergoing a renaissance, with renovated sidewalks and houses, and a thriving student community gives it a young, trendy atmosphere. The Tourism Information Centre Iaşi (turism.iasi@gmail.com) has knowledgeable staff and plenty of information on monuments, places to visit, places to eat, accommodations, and bus and train schedules.
The climate is continental, with minimal rainfall and large temperature differences between the seasons. Summer is hot and runs from the end of May to the middle of September; autumn is a short transitional season; the second half of November usually brings frost and snow; and winter is freezing. Iaşi is generally as safe as any other urban area in Europe, but pickpockets are a problem, mainly around the main train station, targeting people with lots of luggage, especially when trams and buses are full — keep your money in a travel pouch tied around your neck and on the inside of your shirt. Stray dogs run wild and in packs, so do not bother them or run from them. Beggars can be persistent, and the police are rather unpredictable, so stay courteous and apologetic if you are caught doing anything. If you plan to explore abandoned factories, be quiet and subtle, and watch where you step, as some areas have water tunnels with murky water more than 2 m deep.
Getting there
Iași is well connected by rail, with the main Iași Railway Station (Gara Iași) in Piața Gării serving as a landmark in its own right — a long building with a central hall modelled partly on the loggia of Venice's Doge's Palace. It sits close to the town centre and the Tourism Information Centre, roughly a ten-minute walk away. Trains from Bucharest and other Romanian counties are frequent and reliable, and direct services also run from Budapest, which links onward to Western Europe. If you're heading to Chișinău in Moldova, note that those trains leave from Iași Socola Railway Station instead.
By air, Iași International Airport lies northeast of the city centre and handles flights from a spread of European cities including Bucharest, Vienna, London-Luton, Rome, Madrid, Istanbul and Tel Aviv, along with seasonal routes. Bus number 50 connects the airport with the centre, and metered taxis are also available — check that the meter is running, as rates are posted on the car. Long-distance coaches arrive at the West Bus Station on Șoseaua Moara de Foc or at Vama Veche Bus Station in front of the railway station; services from Chișinău run several times a day and take around three to four hours. Driving is another option, with national roads from across the country now improved and generally free of jams, though a good map or GPS is worth having.
Getting around
Iași is a large, densely packed city, but its historic core is compact enough that most of the sights a visitor comes for sit within easy walking distance of one another. Walking is the best way for a curious visitor to get around: the old town is small, most of the interesting parts of the city are concentrated in the centre, and you can walk from one end of the city to the other in a few hours. Public transport is really only necessary if you want to see things outside the traditional centre, or if your accommodation happens to be there.
- On foot: The old town is small and the centre holds most of what you will want to see, so walking is preferable for getting around the middle of the city.
- Trams and buses: Traditionally the backbone of getting around Iași, they remain frequent and practical, running from early morning until late evening, with reduced frequency on weekends and public holidays. Tickets can be mode-specific, so a ticket bought for a tram may not be accepted on a bus, and vice versa. Buy your ticket before boarding, either from ticket offices at stops — which at minor stops tend to close in the evening — or from ticket machines installed throughout the city, which have an English-language interface. A special reconditioned classical tram runs up and down Copou hill; it looks different from the normal trams and somewhat resembles the ones in San Francisco. Riding public transport is also a good way to see ordinary life in the city, since everyone uses it: you may encounter Roma children singing traditional Romanian songs for money, and you may see passengers crossing themselves as they pass churches and monasteries.
- Maxi-taxis: Privately operated white micro-buses that cover pretty much everywhere public transport goes. They follow a usual route, with the endpoint destination written on a piece of paper displayed at the front, and they do not accept foreign currency. Don't count on the driver speaking enough English to tell you where to get off — write your destination on a piece of paper, point to it, and ask.
- Taxis: Popular in Iași and now universally yellow. Locals sometimes pick the taxi they find most appealing rather than simply taking the first in line, so if you prefer a particular brand of car you can opt for that one, though this practice is becoming less common. Most city taxis have meters, but pay attention to whether the driver actually uses it; it is not unheard of for drivers to try to charge visitors far more than the metered fare. The rate is usually written on the side of the car, but confirm it against the device inside as well. Generally speaking, taxi drivers in Iași are more correct and friendlier than in the capital.
Where to stay
For budget stays, central Iaşi has a handful of simple options. Hotel Continental on Strada Cuza Voda offers modestly furnished rooms at affordable prices in a central location. Hotel Turistic Casa Bucovineana is a cheap hostel by local standards, with shared toilets and rooms that improve the higher up you go - the top-floor rooms are the newest and least used, though street-facing rooms pick up the vibrations of passing trams. Hotel Sport, up an alleyway beside the Sala Polivalenta sport complex, has double rooms with showers and a TV in each room. Further out, Pensiunea Sans Rival provides clean, basic double rooms with a fan and TV and a shared toilet and shower in the corridor, while Pensiunea Garofita, in the Bucium zone, offers a garden and pleasant spaces.
Mid-range choices cluster around the centre. Hotel Unirea occupies an imposing high-rise from socialist times, now fairly modern with three-star service and panoramic views over the city. Hotel Astoria, next to Piata Unirii, is a simpler business-class alternative. For a splurge, the Grand Hotel Traian on Unirii Square is the posh hotel in town, set in a refurbished 19th-century building designed by Gustave Eiffel. Hotel Select on Piata 14 Decembrie 1989 is a centrally located boutique mansion hotel with four-star rooms and personable service, and Hotel International near the Palace of Culture and Palas Mall is a modern four-star option with an upscale restaurant, a casual eatery, a sleek bar, an indoor pool, a fitness centre and a spa area with Jacuzzi and saunas.
Food & drink
Iaşi's eating splits between the student quarter and the centre. In the student district of Tudor Vladimirescu you'll find Pizza Pazzo on Bd. Tudor Vladimirescu, an Italian place with a lively atmosphere that fills up most evenings, so a reservation may be needed; if you're lucky the lasagna is on, otherwise a parmigiana plate alongside pizza works well, served with draught beer and best enjoyed with friends. Elsewhere, Phenicia on Str. Sulfinei is a Lebanese restaurant at moderate prices, a good choice if you want to make an impression with something exotic, though the Lebanese menu isn't especially broad. Warda on Strada Sfântul Teodor, near the "Gr.T. Popa" University of Medicine and Pharmaceutics, is a traditional Lebanese kebab shop, well known in town and run by friendly staff. For Italian cooking, Cucina Casalinga on Costache Negri, behind Moldova Mall, does very good pastas and pizzas at mid-range to splurge prices and takes no credit cards. Aad's Place, in Complex Comercial Super Copou near M. Eminescu Park, serves Dutch-style food including good Dutch pancakes, salted or sweet, and is non-smokers friendly. Belvedere on Sos. Bucium, a small cosy restaurant with a lovely terrace on the exit to Vaslui, keeps prices budget to mid-range, though the kitchen is occasionally closed, and it also takes no credit cards.
For something more traditional, Casa Bolta Rece on Str. Rece is a very old restaurant offering classical Romanian food of good quality in a historical location, named after its cool cellar where the poet Mihai Eminescu and other artists and intellectuals once gathered; you can sit in the cellar, on the ground floor or on the outdoor half-covered terrace, traditional live musicians may be working the room, and the staff may show you the catacombs beneath the building if you ask, though they may know very little English. Restaurant Monte Carlo on Fd. Codrescu, near the Al. I. Cuza University, is quiet and not very well known, with a lovely ambiance and international and traditional food at reasonable prices. Restaurant Bar Baron on Str. Sfantu Lazar, beyond the Culture Palace, serves good beer and good food reasonably, but the company can be dodgy, and there are plenty of decent places in the centre without straying that far. Palas Mall on Palas Street gathers various restaurants and coffee shops plus a more affordable foodcourt, with weekday business lunches aimed at the surrounding offices and coffee shops opening earlier than the rest of the mall. For late-night fast food, the small shops at the main train station sell cheap snacks to fill an empty stomach before you carry on partying in the centre.
Iaşi is famous for its nightlife. Head towards the University and you'll find plenty of students around and plenty of bars, coffee shops and pubs to chill in, have a drink or watch a game, while the most popular discos and clubs stay full until morning during university periods. In front of Copou Park, where much of the student housing is, the bars are mainstream and play the popular music you hear on the radio, sometimes with karaoke nights during the week. Bars are almost everywhere, but many are for extremely loyal locals and haven't invested much in decoration or the experience, so aim for the central or student areas; if you just want a quick drink, the many pizza restaurants charge the same prices. Most bars have a Facebook page where you can check what's planned, get contact details and make reservations.
Among the centre's student bars, Curtea Berarilor, Baza, Underground, Taverna, The Gate, Hand and la CUB sit next door to each other by the green "cube" statue on Bulevardul Stefan cel Mare si Sfant, which makes them ideal for a bar crawl; they stand out for playing modern rock, indie, dubstep, alternative rock and heavy metal, with concerts from local bands or karaoke during the week and dancing at weekends, and they're a favourite with Erasmus students. Mojo on Str. Cuza Voda, close to the National Theatre, plays indie and alternative rock and sometimes hosts LGBT parties, marked by a "tree of life" sign with only a door and downward stairs, easy to miss. Acaju on Str. Sf.Sava, a short walk from the National Theatre, is very friendly and plays everything from jazz to dubstep, with a strong community and occasional activities with local NGOs; the surrounding neighbourhood of houses and small buildings can look deserted but is safe. Brain on Str. Gandu, a modernist bar near Union Plaza, appeals to electro-music fans with everything from electro to IDM and concerts with crazy visuals, plus a non-smoking room upstairs for documentaries and live sets, and Kaze is door to door with it, the only bar with non-stop reggae. Sage, in the old "Mihai Eminescu Library" building, offers tea assortments from all over the world along with newspapers, books, a piano and social games to borrow for free, English-speaking staff and a very nice atmosphere. London pub on Str. Piata Unirii, in the Astoria Hotel, is a theme pub favoured for watching a football match, mostly aimed at business people and morning coffees. Clubul Presei, in the basement of the Gulliver Block on the Stefan cel Mare boulevard, is a meeting point for metalheads and alternative types and serves some of the best mulled wine in Iaşi, though you might stick to the small serving; their brandy-and-whipped-cream hot chocolate is the safer bet.
What to see and do
The Palace of Culture is the city's obvious landmark, and locals tend to take it for granted while visitors find it striking. Inside it holds the Art Museum, the History Museum of Moldavia, the Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia and the "Ștefan Procopiu" Science and Technique Museum, along with smaller collections such as a musical instrument museum and a "village" museum of ethnic outfits. Next door stands Casa Dosoftei, a little stone house named for the scholar and metropolitan of Moldavia, containing a small museum of early manuscripts, prints and printing presses. Bulevardul Ștefan cel Mare links the Metropolitan Church, the Trei Ierarhi Church, the Palace of Culture and the National Theatre; part of it is closed to traffic, it is decorated with lights in winter, and on Sundays the National Theatre park fills with icons and naïve paintings for sale. The National Theatre itself has an exceptional interior. Near the palace you will also find the small Sfântul Nicolae Domnesc church, the oldest standing religious building in the city, and the Armenian Church of St. Maria on Armenian Street. For a quieter side of Iași, head up Copou hill, home to a university, a botanical garden and old, fancy houses, with rose bushes along the boulevards and parks and old trees between the buildings; the side streets are the most serene part of the city. Copou Park is a tame, bench- and rosebush-lined spot popular with the young and the contemplative elderly, and it holds an extremely old linden tree propped up by metal bars, said to be where the poet Mihai Eminescu wrote, with patches of blue forget-me-nots in front of it. The botanical garden sits high on the hill and is a popular summer getaway, and in autumn its walnut trees drop walnuts you can eat. At the Al. I. Cuza university you can visit the Hall of the Lost Steps, a long, narrow, empty hallway covered with large allegorical paintings. Among the churches, Trei Ierarhi is completely covered in carvings and holds chandeliers decorated with ostrich eggs, while the Metropolitan Church, known locally as Metropolia, keeps the remains of Saint Paraschiva and is surrounded by vast rose bushes in summer. Golia Monastery, ringed by thick walls with a tower you can climb, sits in the middle of a busy intersection yet feels contrastingly serene inside. Farther out, in the Nicolina area, is Frumoasa Monastery, recognisable by its metal roof, and behind communist buildings in the Păcurari neighbourhood lies the Jewish cemetery, a trace of the city's former Jewish community. When entering a church, make the sign of the cross at the doorstep, remove your hat and avoid short skirts.When to go
Iasi has a continental climate with minimal rainfall and large temperature swings between seasons, so what you pack matters as much as when you book. Summer brings hot weather from late May to mid-September, the warmest stretch of the year and the main window for visiting. Autumn is a short transitional season: early autumn is the milder part of the window, while frost and snow usually arrive in the second half of November. Winter is a freezing season, with temperatures dropping below zero, snow and hard frost. If you travel then, pack for serious cold.Three days in Iasi
Day one: Start in the city centre of Iași, the former capital of Moldavia and of the United Principalities, and take your bearings in a place that wears its Romanian and European past openly. The Tourism Information Centre is the sensible first stop for orientation. From there, walk the old core and let the layers settle: this is a city of churches, palaces and university life, with a history reaching back through the Principality and the First World War. In the evening, eat Romanian cooking and take an easy stroll through the centre, where stray beggars can be part of the street scene.
Day two: Head out to the hills and green edges of the city. Copou is the classic breathing space, and Cetățuia and Galata give you the monastery-and-view side of Iași. If you want quieter ground, Bucium, Repedea and Breazu lie further out. Summer, from May to September, is warm and pleasant for walking; November turns cold and grey, so plan indoor stops then. Return to the centre for dinner.
Day three: Use the day for the wider region and the practical side of travel. Iași Railway Station, also called Gara Iași and set by Piața Gării, is your link onward, with trains connecting the city to the rest of Romania and to Europe. If you have time before departure, look toward the Prut River and the border with the Republic of Moldova, the edge of the old Moldavian world. The city's nickname, Jassy, and the Venetian echo of a Doge's Palace in its architecture are reminders of how many strands meet here.