Bucharest Old Town (Lipscani)
Belle-Époque arcades, the tiny Stavropoleos Church, specialty coffee and natural wine — all in fifteen blocks.
About
The old merchant quarter — Lipscani, Smârdan, the Hanul lui Manuc caravanserai — survived Ceaușescu and has come back in the 2010s as the centre of a new Bucharest. The 1724 Stavropoleos Church is a perfect Brâncovenesc miniature; Caru’ cu Bere is the most beautiful beer hall in Eastern Europe; the dozen specialty-coffee bars (M60, Origo, Beans & Dots) make it among Europe’s best coffee cities. Walk it slowly, eat twice.