Known to most locals as Centru Vechi (the Old Centre), Bucharest’s Old Town is more or less all that’s left of pre-World War II Bucharest.
While much of Bucharest changed beyond recognition after 1989, nothing compared to the transformation of Old Town/Lipscani during the boom years of the late naughties, which saw what was very much a no-go area with almost nothing to offer visitors into one of the Romanian capital’s liveliest entertainment districts. Much of that development, however, was ad hoc, as is so often alas the Bucharest way: posh restaurants and trendy clubs opened in buildings which looked as though they may fall down at any moment.