Things to do
15-
Great Synagogue
Come Sunday to Friday, before mid afternoon; it is closed on Saturdays and Jewish holidays.
-
Iași Metropolitan Cathedral
Unless you have come for the pilgrimage, avoid the days around 14 October, when the queue for the relics fills the streets around it.
-
Palace of Culture
Come any day but Monday, when the four museums close; the main halls and the clock tower still open that day.
-
St Nicholas Princely Church
Look in on your way to the Palace of Culture, which faces it across the square.
-
Cetățuia Monastery
Take a taxi up in the late afternoon for the view over the city from the walls.
-
Copou Park
Walk up from the centre past the university, then take the tram back down: the park is the natural end of the city's main walk.
-
Galata Monastery
Pair it with Cetățuia in one taxi loop. It is a working convent, so cover your shoulders and knees.
-
Golia Monastery
If the gate tower is open, climb its 120 steps for the best view over the centre.
-
Hall of Lost Steps
Step in on your way up to Copou if the doors are open. It is a working university, so keep your voice down in term time.
-
Hotel Traian
A hotel of 1882 on Union Square whose iron frame was designed in the Eiffel workshops, and the oldest hotel still working in the city. The dining room keeps its iron columns. Union Square outside fills with cafés and walkers on summer evenings.
-
Iași Botanical Garden
June is the month for it, when the roses are out. Give it two hours, since the garden is far larger than it looks from the gate.
-
Ion Creangă Memorial House
The hillside cottage in Țicău where the storyteller Ion Creangă lived, now a small museum; read one of his childhood stories first.
-
Three Hierarchs Monastery
Walk the whole way round the outside before you go in: the carving is the reason to come, and the interior is dark and best kept short.
-
Union Museum
Come after the Palace of Culture, a short walk away: this is how the prince behind the union actually lived.
-
Vasile Alecsandri National Theatre
Book a performance if you can: the hall full and lit is the reason to come, and a daytime tour is the fallback.
