Bucharest is Romania's capital and largest city, as well as the most important industrial and commercial center of the country. With 2 million inhabitants in the city proper and more than 2.4 million in the urban area, it is also one of the largest cities in Eastern Europe.

Bucharest is the primary entry point into Romania. It typically elicits a wide spectrum of opinions on the part of tourists. Known in the past as "The Little Paris" Bucharest has changed a lot lately and today it has become a very interesting mix of old and new that has little to do with its initial reputation. Finding a 300 years old church near a steel-and-glass building that sit both next to a communist style building is common place in Bucharest. Perhaps "The Big Mix" would be a more appropriate name for the current Bucharest. Some adore it and enjoy its unique charm, while others feel uncomfortable around the gray Communist-era buildings and lack of western style tourist attractions. However, Bucharest offers some excellent attractions, and has, in recent years, cultivated a sophisticated, trendy, and modern sensibility that many have come to expect from a European capital. Bucharest has been undergoing major modernization programs in recent years and is still going to continue with more projects in the years to come. Bucharest is experiencing an economic boom and will be experiencing this boom for many years to come.

Bucharest has, like most of Romania, a temperate-continental climate with hot summers and cold winters. This region of Romania gets all four seasons, although spring is brief and falls mainly in April.