Herăstrău, the lakes and the Village Museum

About Herăstrău, the lakes and the Village Museum

By the ULTIMATE Bucharest Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

In the north of Bucharest, a chain of lakes runs along the old course of the Colentina river. The largest park around them, King Michael I Park (Herăstrău), is the city’s favourite place for walks, boating and summer evenings, with the National Village Museum on its shore.

A park around a lake

King Michael I Park, still widely known as Herăstrău, was laid out in the 1930s around a lake that had been drained and regulated. Today it has gardens, promenades, a Japanese garden, boat hire and lakeside restaurants.

The Village Museum

The National Village Museum, founded in 1936, gathers hundreds of houses, churches, windmills and farm buildings brought from villages across Romania, in an open-air museum on the lake shore.

An entire Romanian village sits on the shore of Lake Herăstrău.

Summer

In summer, the lakeside terraces fill, and boats and pedal boats glide across the lake.

Our advice: visit the Village Museum in the morning, then walk around the lake and stop at a lakeside terrace. Combine with the Arcul de Triumf nearby.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Herăstrău, the lakes and the Village Museum before you go.