Cișmigiu Gardens

About Cișmigiu Gardens

At a glance: Parks and gardens in București. Ticket: Free. The visit takes 1 – 1½ hours. Information verified on 9 October 2026.

Cișmigiu Gardens is the oldest public park in Bucharest and the largest in the central area, at roughly 14–16 hectares (sources disagree), between Regina Elisabeta boulevard, Schitu Măgureanu boulevard and Știrbei Vodă street. The name comes from the "cișmigiu", the official who looked after the city's public fountains: one of them lived here, beside an unhealthy pond that stayed in Bucharest memory as "the lake of Dura the Merchant". The land passed into public use in 1845, and under Prince Gheorghe Bibescu, from 1847, the German gardener Wilhelm Meyer, helped by Franz Hörer, turned the pond into an English-style park, with a lake, winding paths and a romantic landscape of rocks. Meyer died in 1852 and his team finished the work; the official inauguration is dated 1847 or 1854, depending on the source. The whole is a listed historic monument (LMI code B-II-a-A-19655).

What you can see

The park centres on the lake, with its bridges and a boat landing where, in summer, you can hire rowing boats and pedal boats. The wide avenues, lined with old trees and iron benches, are the best for a stroll, and in season there are flower beds in front of the State Archives. The Writers' Rotunda, laid out in 1943, is a circular platform with the busts of 12 Romanian writers, from Eminescu and Caragiale to Creangă and Alecsandri. Among the monuments in the park are the one to the French heroes of the First World War, in Carrara marble, made by Ion Jalea and inaugurated in 1922, the Monument of the American Heroes, from 2002, and the Sissi Stefanidi Fountain. In a more secluded corner, "La Cetate", there are stone walls and vaults in the romantic style, around which legends about a vanished monastery have grown. The playgrounds were modernised in 2023.

Good to know before you go

Getting there

By car: the park is right in the centre of Bucharest, opposite the General City Hall, on Regina Elisabeta boulevard, and the centre is congested; the simplest thing is to leave the car elsewhere and walk. Access is free through several entrances, from Regina Elisabeta boulevard, Schitu Măgureanu boulevard and Știrbei Vodă street.

Public transport: the nearest metro stations are Universitate and Izvor, 5–7 minutes on foot. From Gara de Nord it is ~2.5 km, by metro or tram (check the current routes on the STB website).

Where to park

The park has no car park of its own. Spaces on the surrounding streets are paid, in meter or app zones, and fill up quickly at weekends and on summer evenings.

Fees & discounts

Entry to the park is free. Rowing boats, pedal boats and the ice rink are paid; I could not find an official tariff for 2026–2027, so ask at the landing or check with ALPAB.

Rules

Follow the signs in the park: pets only on a lead, do not pick the flowers or walk on the beds. Boats are taken only at the landing.

Facilities

paved paths · benches · playgrounds · boat landing · kiosks and terraces · metro 5–7 minutes away