Overview

The Palace of the Parliament (otherwise known as 'The People's Palace') was built during the Nicolae Ceaușescu administration, although ironically, Ceaușescu himself never actually got to enjoy the Palace as it was intended due to being overthrown as the leader of Romania in 1989 and then executed, along with his wife, on Christmas Day of that same year. The building itself is a magnificent structure, and can proudly boast to be the second largest administrative building in the world - falling short only to the Pentagon in the USA. The Palace has an incredibly regal looking balcony from which it was originally intended that Nicolae Ceaușescu would address the Romanian people from - however, a fun trivia fact is that the first person to speak from that balcony was in fact, Michael Jackson, during a tour of Romania! The Palace of the Parliament was also the scene of a very famous Top Gear episode, in which they drove super cars around the basement of the building. Other facts about the building include that it took 20,000 larbourers to complete the building, costing in excess of €3Bn and using only Romanian materials. In terms of accessibility - the Palace of the Parliament can be accessed from the upper level of the building, with level access and automatic doors to make for smooth entry. Those visiting the Palace do so on an organised tour, and when entering the building from the accessible entrance, you will then meet with your tour party at one of the first points of interest on the tour itself - meaning that you do not miss any of the action. Once inside and on the tour, all aspects of the tour are accessible - with lifts available in order to get from floor to floor. The Palace of the Parliament is definitely one of the highlights of not only Bucharest but of the whole of Romania.

Transport & Parking

Parking is right outside the building, with disabled parking being allocated even closer to the entrance in the administrative area (which is usually off limits to the general public)!

Access

Completely step-free throughout the entire tour, from entrance points to exiting. Smooth marble surfaces also allowed for rather effortless wheeling!

Toilets

Unfortunately the toilets were the only major let-down. I cannot confirm with any certainty that there are no disabled friendly toilets, but I personally did not find any and/or use any. However, the regular toilets were in fact spacious enough for me to use. The tour itself last around 1 hour - so it may be that access to a toilet isn't always essential.

Staff

The staff were very friendly and spoke great English. There was always someone on hand to assist with using the lifts, which were staff operated.

Photos