Experience in Cluj-Napoca, Romania by Adela

What is it like to live in Cluj-Napoca? Would you recommend it? What is the city like?

Cluj Napoca it is one of the major Cities in Transylvania Romania. Host of many excellent festivals and socio-cultural events every year (Electric Castle, Untold Festival). It is an very active city, a lot of things are going o there and somethimes it is hard too keep up with everything. The city itself is not that big (as surface) but there are a lot of places where to go near the city at the end of the week (mountains, lakes, hils, ski, etc). I would definetely recommend the city because is full of life, a lot of partys, cultural events, film festival but in the same time, because of this, is very crowded and the infrastructure is not that good so.... you can get angry very easily.

To take however the good sides, "you will never get bored here! ", lot of people say this: Talks, conferences, seminars, concerts, festivals, meet-ups, drink-abouts, you will find all kinds of social events organised by amazing people.

What is the student lifestyle like in Cluj-Napoca?

So, if you are a student you can find some cheap places where usually students go, you can join different groups and do some sports, art, discover places and other things. Despite of this, I also think that the city can work a little bit more for foreigner students, not only the city, but also student organisations.

There are also indoor activities, sports parks, you can make a start-up/IT Business or be a Freelancer, almost everybody speaks english, there are jobs in english, so no need to learn romanian.

over 85. 000 students (most likely to be 100. 000) live in Cluj and nearby areas. This means every fourth person you see is a student, like you. And this is awesome!

How much does it cost to live in Cluj-Napoca?

The living costs, comparing to other countries, it is quite cheap, I can also give some examples just to see:

Basic lunchtime menu (including a drink) in the business district €5. 62; 1 bottle of red table wine, good quality €5. 84;

500 gr (16 oz. ) of local cheese €2. 64;

As for house: Monthly rent for a 45 m2 (480 Sqft) furnished studio in EXPENSIVE area is €310 and in NORMAL area is about €250, utilities €55, internet €7.

As for entertainment: 2 tickets to the movies €9; 1 beer in a neighbourhood pub €1. 62; 1 cocktail drink in downtown club €3. 76; Cappuccino in expat area of the city €1. 85; 1 month of gym membership in business district €37; 2 tickets to the theater (best available seats) €16

Is it difficult to find accommodation in Cluj-Napoca? Is there any advice you can give?

Of course that all depends on the money (how much you want to spend for this). So, if you wanna find something really nice at a normal price, you should search early for a rent. There are also agencies who can find for you but you have to give them some certain percentage.

What is the food like? What are your favourite dishes?

I really love romanian food and I am not saying that just because I am from there, I am saying because we still have natural food, the local vegetables and fruits taste very good and we try to keep the old recipes.

I like to eat cooked food, not semi prepared, fried, fast-food, etc. We have a lot of "push the tray" restaurants and you can choose from there type 1, 2 and desert. We also love soups but is actually borsh (with beans and meat, or potatoes and meat, spinach, macris, etc). We have also a lot of types of stakes, sarmale, mamaliga, papanasi as a desert and there are very good. Just be careful that romanian traditional food is a little bit fat and mostly consists pork.

We also have good pizza, my favourite one is at Acrobatica, burger places, pastas and steaks. The most expencive place to eat steak is "Adi Steakhouse". If you want to go once in a while to a fancy restaurant, you should try "Via", "Baracca", "Carrousel", "Olivo Caffe", for indian food "Ghandi", japoneese "Tokyo" and there is an very old-school chineese fast food on Horea Street near Capriccio (also at Capriccio have veeeery good pasta) that is a must try.

What places would you recommend visiting in Cluj-Napoca?

There is Art Museum you should see, Botanical Museum, Museum of mineralogy, Museum of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, Museum of Zoology and last but not least Outdoor Ethnographic Museum.

You also have to go to the Botanical Garden, to go to the Alandala parties (which are hold in different places during the summer: Secret Garden, By the lake in Gilau County-Motel Gilau, In the Central Park and in Feleac).

You should visit or better, you should attend an event at Cluj Arena and Polivalenta Hall. If you are a fan of sport, "The Sports Base of Gheorgheni" is a must go.

Also I want to recommend to go visit arround Cluj, Tarnita Lake, Somesu Cald, up to the mountains in Marisel and then Belis. It's a beautiful place where the views are incredible!

Is it good to eat out in Cluj-Napoca? Can you tell us your favourite spots?

Hmmm.... this is hard even for me:D I like Marty Restaurants, Panemar patisserie (especially for breakfast/good sandwiches), Downtown Flavours, Toulouse, Valahia and Matei Corvin Restaurants-for traditional food, Jaax for burgers and other local pubs.

If you are there during spring-summer you shuld definetely attent to Cluj Days, Hungarian Days and Street Food Festival. At this events there are a lot of places from where you can choose, good food, amazing food!

Is the nightlife good in Cluj-Napoca? Where is good to go?

Yes, the nightlife is awesome! The very known club is "Noa-Nast of Angels", then is "After8" and "Euphoria Music Hall" and other smaller places. As I already said before, during the summer you should go to Alandala Events-for Electronic music but during the winter is in "Midi Club". There are also Rooftop Parties and other events in different places all the time.

As pubs, I suggest "Studio 26", "Beraria Ursus", "The Londoner - Great English Pub", "Joben" and I forgot to mention that in "Crush Wine Bar" and "Chios Lounge" they organise best parties on Fridays and Saturdays.

I have to mention that in July there is Electric Festival at Banfy Castle and it is an amazing amazing festival and also Untold at the beginning of August and a lot of biiig artists come to perform and play awesome music! Check on the internet about this!

What advice would you give future students heading to Cluj-Napoca?

Try to stay away from some people which consume stupid drugs, there are not good and some groups can take very very down, I saw some students quiting University because of this problems. Focuse on what you have to do, on learning, sport, arts, culture, involve in active stduents organisations and gooo to cabins/cottages when someone organise! You will not regret it, there are a lot to rent and you can cook outside, make a big firecamp, sing, dance, playing games, hike, etc.