Bucharest Communist Bike Tour

Discover the dark secrets of communist Bucharest

The end of the Second World War brought freedom for some but oppression for others. When Winston Churchill traded Romania for Greece at Yalta, the 12-year Russian deathgrip on Romania was locked in. In 1965, the dark clouds of communist rule under Nicolae Ceaușescu closed in, and Bucharest buckled down for several difficult decades.

This is the comprehensive Communist bike tour of Ceaușescu’s imposition of suffering on the people of Bucharest, with the added benefit of bike rental. You’ll learn, by bicycle, of the struggles that shaped the city that hosts you today.

Take in the awe-inspiring scale of the People’s Palace, the heaviest building in the world (4.10 million tonnes) and an administrative building beaten in size only by the Pentagon. During its construction, Ceaușescu channeled an eye-watering 5-6% of the country’s GDP into what many Romanians saw as a colossal-scale vanity project, designed to make Ceaușescu appear regal and untouchable. Cycle into contrasting neighborhoods to learn of the difference in lifestyle between the Communist elite and the common people. Such neighborhoods became visible markers distinguishing the powerful from the powerless during a time when speaking out against the regime could have serious consequences.

Your fascinating bicycle tour finds its finale in Revolution Square, where thousands gathered to hear Ceaușescu’s last speech before he fled Bucharest in 1989, the year of his execution.