Bucharest, Romania's capital, offers a citybreak combining museums, quirky cafes and Therme, Europe's largest wellness and spa resort, with return flights from Manchester Airport available from £58 in January via Ryanair.
Known as the 'Paris of the East' for its Belle Epoque architecture and wide boulevards, the city is a short half-hour drive from Therme, a resort that stays at 30C all year round, filled with palm trees and featuring its own beach. This makes it a cheaper alternative to a Caribbean trip, with three-hour visits priced between £11 and £20 depending on the zone chosen.
Therme: Europe's largest spa resort
Therme boasts 10 pools, 17 slides, 10 saunas and three restaurants, offering facilities such as swim-up bars and water massage beds. A similar Therme is under construction next to the Trafford Centre in Manchester, with bosses confirming it is expected to open in early 2029.
The three-and-a-half-hour flight from Manchester is made worthwhile by the resort's amenities, which provide a holiday feel without the cost of a long-haul trip.
Old Town sights and bookshops
In Bucharest's Old Town, visitors can explore the Stavropoleos Monastery, an Eastern Orthodox monastery for nuns built in 1724. Its tiny church interior is covered in paintings with a domed ceiling, and a small courtyard offers a tranquil spot.
The Cărturești Carusel bookshop, housed in a building constructed in 1903 by a family of Greek bankers, is considered one of the most beautiful in the world. After being confiscated by the Communist regime in the 1950s, the building fell into disrepair. In 2007, the grandson of the original owner regained possession following 24 years of legal battles, and it was transformed into a five-floor bookshop that opened in 2015.
Quirky cafes and communist history
The Grand Cafe Van Gogh, with bright colourful walls covered in Van Gogh artworks, features a Starry Night mural upstairs. The Museum of Communism in the Old Town offers informative displays and artefacts from Romania's communist period, which lasted from 1945 until the Revolution in December 1989. It includes a partial replica of a communist-era apartment with kitchen and living room, and visitors can interact with the displays.
At the museum's downstairs coffee shop, guests can try Nechezol, a coffee substitute created in the 1980s that contains around a fifth coffee bulked out with plants such as barley, oats and chickpeas. Adult tickets cost 40 Romanian Leu (around £6.25), university students and seniors pay 25 Leu (£3.91), under 18s pay 10 Leu (£1.50), and under 7s enter free.
