Probably my favorite Romanian chill city. Beautiful, good mid-size.
Cluj is a beautiful small-mid city, and I definitely prefer it over Bucharest (which is also cool and vibey). Cluj just seems more convenient and properly sized, it’s also a university town with lots of young folks and affordable housing. Bucharest offers much more nightlife options and more areas to hang out, also more upscale style type of places.
But overall, there’s very little tourist value here. And if you’re looking for fun exciting unique things to do and see, Cluj may seem boring or not having any unique quality.
2 days would be enough to see all tourist things and live the chill life of eating and hanging outdoors.
Where to stay:
- Piata Unirii (main square) – this is more or less where everything happens. Being within 15 minutes walking would be great. But also, Cluj is flat and the bike lanes are reliable. So you could be further out 10mins by e-scooter and that’s ok as well.
- Parcul Central – if you go west of the main square, you’re basically in the central park area. Which is nice to be by the park, but I never stayed here so I don’t know. I imagine if you’re here for events, it’s also good to be here since the Arena is right next to it.
- Iulius Mall – if you go east of the, then you’re going towards the Iulius Mall and Iulius Park area. Which is also a nice and busy area to hangout (on the weekends). I feel more of my local friends live around this area.
Hostels:
- I didn’t stay at any.
Neighborhoods & Walking areas:
- Piata Unirii (main square) – this is the main square of the town center where everything is. Everybody usually meets here or hangs out somewhere around here. Lots of walking around to explore everything in the nearby adjacent areas.
- Parcul Central
- Iulius Park
Activities to do:
- Buildings & architecture:
- Parks, gardens, green spaces:
- Parcul Central – lovely park for a sunny day. Stroll around the lake and sit on the benches. Lots of grass and shade.
- Iulius Mall Park – nice midsize park with a lake and long strip of grass beside it. Nice for a walk or a run. Bar and restaurants right there with outdoor seating. On the weekend, tons of food and drink vendors are open and tons of people all over. Great for an afternoon hangout outdoors.
- Alexandru Borza Botanical Garden – haven’t been but I hear it’s nice.
- Cheile Turzii – beautiful national reserve, 45mins drive away. Go for a beautiful hike with beautiful views.
- Beaches, bridges, water-points –
- Arts & museums –
- Sunset views –
- Shopping:
- Iulius Mall – nice mall, and also nice mall park and outdoor restaurants/bars are a great place to hang out on sunny days. Not bad to walk around the water, too. (IMO, not the greatest shopping selection…not many local brands and boutiques like I’ve found in other cities/countries. Maybe because it’s Cluj, maybe because it’s Romania.)
Restaurants & Cafes:
- Roata – delicious authentic food, local restaurant. Good for lunch on a sunny day.
- GARLIC – really nice restaurant with amazing food, and outdoor seating. Good for dinner.
- Visuin – great restaurant bar that has indoor and outdoor seating inside a courtyard. Nice music, nice vibes, can be both classy or casual. Great food and drinks! Good service and easy enough to find seats without reservation. I love sitting outdoors inside the courtyard on a sunny day.
- Sisters (cafe/bar) – probably the #1 most crowded little outdoor cafe and bar. If you’re not lucky to find seats, you can go next over to Insomnia. Nice busy area to chill, chat, and people watch.
- Nuka – great restaurant with outdoor seating (indoor as well) right outside the big church.
- Tortelli Pasta Bar – great Italian pasta and outdoor seating by the castle wall.
- Eggcetera – nice breakfast, brunch spot…with western-style breakfast food. Eggs, toast, omelette, salad, that sort of thing.
- Insomnia – frustratingly slow service but a nice artsy bohemian atmosphere. Has the front outdoor seating (always crowded), then big outdoor courtyard inside (crowded but can find seats), and the big upstairs indoors (lots of seats available). Worth exploring the entire place so you can see all the cool artwork. Upstairs indoors is less noisy, you can definitely get some work done.
- Form Cafe – nice place for food and drinks, with lots of outdoor seating. Always busy day or night.
- Napoli Centrale – great pizza ANNND a nice outdoor garden seating area in the back. (Front entrance is at the bottom underneath and behind the stairs. Make sure you walk all the way through the place and to the outdoor area outside.)
There are many great outdoor places to eat and drink. Go around Piata Unirii (main square and adjacent areas), Biserica Franciscana (Franciscan Temple), castle wall areas (like Cinema Arta and around there), and also at the Parcul Central.
Bars & Clubs:
- Piata Unirii (main square) – the main square area is the perfect place to see many outdoor bars.
- Atelier Cafe – hipster bar with random pop, funk, alternative music. Nice friendly crowd. Different rooms to talk or dance.
- Che Guevara – nice bar in an open air courtyard inside the building. Lots of different seating arrangements from typical 4-chair tables to couches for larger groups.
- Planetarium – right upstairs from Che Guevara, is basically like a bar built around an open air balcony and also has indoor space. It’s more for chatting and meeting random people as people sit and stand everywhere. Depending on the night, it can be mostly very young college kids. Stays open later, so it’s a good option if you wanted if Che Guevara closed early for you.
- Strada Piezisa (“Manele Street”) – this is the busiest bar/club nightlife area in Cluj. It’s more of a young rowdy college kids scene, but don’t worry there are still some classy older folks too. And I like to call it “Manele Street” because they play of a lot of Manele genre music, which sounds like the Romanian version of reggaeton. Many Romanians find it too trashy, the beat as well as the typical shallow lyrics about women, money, street life. Regardless, this is the only place to go if you want to party and everything else in city center is closed. This place will be open and lively up until sunrise. If you need a Google Marker, look up bar names like London Pub, Plan B, Barmacie, Booha, Studio 26.
- Flying Circus – depending on the night, it can be a divey rave or karaoke bar. Laidback and divey, also lots of space in there. Stays open till 3 or 4am like every night. Fun and also usually lots of foreigners.
- Klausen Burger – a nice casual burger bar/brewery with a rooftop terrace overlooking the city skyline. Lots of seating available for groups. Also plays some electronic music.
- Carmangeria Moldovan – chain restaurant of delicious Moldovan soups and meats. You can eat there or buy raw meat to cook at home.
- Club NOA – big busy club with usual VIP areas and catering to large groups. Door fee, drinks more expensive than other places, music and crowd can be hit or miss depending on the night.
Generally, for typical outdoor bars…go around Piata Unirii (main square and adjacent areas), Biserica Franciscana (Franciscan Temple), castle wall areas (like Cinema Arta and around there). For clubs and nightlife, go Strada Piezisa area.
Most places by city center close at 1am (which means last call is 12:30am). Some spots might go later like 2am. But if you want to stay out super late, the only option is the Strada Piezisa area.
Miscellaneous tips:
- General travel tips for Romania.
- Transportation:
- People like walking. If it takes 25 mins or less, they’ll walk.
- Public transportation is good here. Also free on Fridays, I think.
- Currently only trains and buses. Metro under construction.
- Rideshare – Bolt & Uber are both here.
- E-scooters – Bolt & Uber/Lime are both here.
- CLJ Airport is good enough and with enough direct connections to popular places.
- Festivals
- Cluj has several nice festivals usually in the summer time. Always something going on at the main square.
- TIFF (International Film Festival of Transylvania) – awesome film festival happening here every year around end of June to early July. Great films of all types. Very reasonable prices and ticket packages.
- Electric Castle – July.
- Untold – August.
Nearby towns:
- Timosoara* (4.5hr car, 6hr bus) – smallish but beautiful and worthwhile. I recommend GEA TOURS if you want to take a shuttle.
Unfiltered notes: