Herăstrău

The Herăstrău area enjoys an advantageous location, within easy reach of the main office hubs in northern Bucharest - Floreasca-Barbu Văcărescu, Dimitrie Pompeiu, Băneasa-Otopeni and Expoziției - areas that together host more than 140,000 employees.

District 1 covers the northern and north-western part of Bucharest. With 264,185 residents, it is the least populous of the six administrative sectors, accounting for 12.5% of Bucharest's population of 2,108,049. At 68 km², however, it is by far the largest by land area — more than a quarter of the city's 236 km² — and holds 163,088 dwellings, or 15.1% of the capital's housing stock of 1,082,392.

About the area

The area, at a glance

Herăstrău means premium living on the edge of the city's largest park: modern developments and villas with access to the lake and to the northern business district. The area attracts buyers for whom the park and prestige matter in equal measure. The segment remains the benchmark of the modern luxury market.

History

The park around which the district formed started in 1936, on drained marshland north of Bucharest, on the site of some poor dwellings and an industrial site that were expropriated and demolished. The Dimitrie Gusti Village Museum appeared inside the park at the same time, and the park opened to the public in May 1939 as Bucharest's largest green space. The name changed several times: Carol II Park, then National Park, then I.V. Stalin Park, renamed Herăstrău in 1956, in the middle of de-Stalinisation. It was extended and reopened in 1951, and the Summer Theatre was also built in 1956. Aviatorilor metro station (line M2) opened on the edge of the park on 24 October 1987. In December 2017 it was named King Michael I of Romania Park, after the king's death.

Amenities and access

The park concentrates most of the area's amenities:

Dimitrie Gusti Village Museum: open-air ethnographic museum, founded in 1936
Berăria H: around 2,000 seats indoors and 1,000 outdoors, the largest beer hall in South-East Europe
The Japanese Garden and the Summer Theatre, built in 1956
Nautical club, with boat access on the lake
Diplomatic Club, with a golf course, on the edge of the park

Main access is via Aviatorilor metro station (line M2), at Piața Charles de Gaulle, on the south side of the park. The same station is served by bus lines 100, 203, 205, 282, 301, 331, 331B and 335, and line 100 provides the direct link to Henri Coandă International Airport in Otopeni.