Palace of Parliament is the second largest administrative building the world after the Pentagon in US.
Posted By : Karen W
The skip the line ticket made it easy. The guide from the company gave us his number in case we need any assistance while we are in Romania. The tour itself was interesting and the guide was clear and informative.
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Posted On : 2023-12-03 13:17:44 
Posted By : Derettens
Skip-the-Line is an agency that feeds its clients into the Palace's guided tour system.
The availability of buying the ticket online through TripAdvisor from the comfort of my home prior to flying to Bucharest was a definite positive. As it was the only guided tour experience I had in Bucharest, I cannot comment on whether or not €29 is good value for a 90-minute tour.
Skip-the-Line's instructions for finding the visitor's entrance are excellent, with my personal caveat that you avoid looking at Google Maps on a laptop or desktop as someone has located Visitor Entrance A on the wrong side of the building!
The tour started on time. The group comprised about 20 people in age ranges from early 20s to 70s and as it turned out varying degrees of both fitness and mobility.
The ID/Passport control and security system is much the same as that found in government buildings the world over. The key aspect is that Palace personnel use the same system. This is the first indication that the functional spaces of the Palace overlap with rooms, corridors and stairways incorporated in the tour.
The tour starts at the bottom of the fairly broad marble stairs (56+ spread over 5 flights) just beyond the security control. Having twisted my knee the day before I realized my ascent would be one of the slowest. The tour guide did not offer the stairlift (available to wheelchair users) to any of the oldest generations. This flight of stairs was manageable. There is, however, a 76-step 12-14 flight stairway that did pose a serious health risk in both directions—up and coming down—for an elderly gentleman in the group. As the wheelchair users popped up on the higher floor, it was clear they had access to lifts.
The tour is visually striking and encompasses half-a-dozen key rooms (but not the parliamentary active ones) and several stairways. The esplanade at the front is closed to visitors as is access to windows, where they are available, so you won't get any vista shots.
I cannot comment about the content of the guide's talks because my hearing aids could not pick up her speech unless I was within a foot of her shoulder. I did however shoot several hundred fantastic interior shots of the Palace.
Ninety minutes sufficed for the rooms on the tour. As 70% of the Palace rooms are unoccupied, I'd argue including one or two rooms on the upper floors (they are lit at night) and perhaps the underground bunker would greatly add to the interest and value of the tour.
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Posted On : 2023-10-10 07:36:30
Posted By : N3361WYjulies
I felt this was not really worth the money, it was an average tour.(45 minutes)
1. Did not need to skip the line- there was no line.
2. Apart from the size of the building and the money spent, there was not a lot of anecdotes and I would of expected to see more rooms /areas.
I think if the tour was expanded to 2/3 hours, it would be better.
Unfortunately I walked out of there thinking - was that it?
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Posted On : 2023-10-04 11:02:24
Posted By : MamaB92
Our guide contacted us the day before and reminded us what was required and the importance of being on time for the tour -- that is to say 15 to 20 minutes ahead of time. What I liked is that he provided an exact pin on Maps for where to meet. This is so important for anyone not familiar with the Palace. It is huge and you can't really just walk quickly to the correct entrance if you happen to walk up to the wrong entrance. So having the exact location is really helpful. Our guide arranged to get our tickets so all we had to do was get in line at the right time. We were required to show our passport and proceed through a security check. The tour itself was really wonderful and our guide was very informative. As other reviewers have noted, you will only see a small portion of the building, but what you will see is quite impressive.
There are steps to walk up and it did not appear that there is any place to check a bag.
Highly recommend this tour. We did walk around the outside of the building to get to the art museum in the building.
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Posted On : 2023-09-12 01:11:36
Posted By : angelawF511TE
Guide was helpful. Worth visiting. Must take passport ID to enter!! Recommended during your visit to Bucharest
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Posted On : 2023-08-16 16:55:33
Posted By : R8138ONchristophera
An unexpectedly beautiful, grand and imposing building. We had expected soviet era concrete and were amazed to find a palace buildt of marble, really worthwhile to see it from the inside.
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Posted On : 2023-07-13 09:17:05
Posted By : Jet02583253328
Interesting tour. We nearly missed the start, though, because we were late. Our ticket for TripAdvisor said 11:00 AM start. But when we got there a few minutes before 11 they told us we were supposed to be there 15 minutes early. They said our email confirmation informed us about the 15 minute requirement. But the email we got did not say anything about being 15 minutes early.
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Posted On : 2023-07-13 08:13:44
Posted By : LourensAucamp
The operator only tried to contact my on my phone, which had a +1 as area code, there was no contact from them through the application or e-mail, thus we did not get the details that was needed and thus our tickets was sold and we could not do this, the operator response was they tried on the phone but we did not respond. Horrible service and no effort, also we cannot get a refund now.
DO NOT USE
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Posted On : 2023-07-12 05:16:56
Posted By : mightypink6
Great idea to skip the line with this tour option. Make sure you have your passport with you for security. Good tour guide around the building, very impressive, a must to see in the city.
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Posted On : 2023-06-29 23:49:34
Posted By : Pedash1
Wonderful insight into how the building was designed built and used. Would recommend if walking there to allow plenty of time as it’s bigger than it looks from a distance.
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Posted On : 2023-06-16 06:03:03
