Cooling off in Bucharest: boat rides in the Herastrau park

Summer is here and everyone seems to have rushed to parks in Bucharest. Many have chosen to cool off near a lake, or, better yet, on the lake. Boat rides are in high demand these days in Bucharest, and the Herastrau park is one of the go-to places for a relaxing boat ride. Be it in a two-person boat with paddles, in a hydro-bike, by a small sail, in a canoe, or in a larger boat shared with the crowd, everyone seems to have their fix in the Herastrau park. Prices are lower than one would expect: it’s RON 5 (a little of EUR 1) per person for a ride with a larger boat, which takes about 15-20 minutes, and which tours the Herastrau lake – the lake itself is larger than imagined at first sight. Children up to 10 have free rides, and it's RON 2 for children between 10 and 14. For a small, individual boat with paddles, it costs RON 5 an hour, and for a hydro-bike, RON 10 per hour. Mix that with a tour at the nearby Village Museum, and you’re in for a relaxing day. Just beware that the Herastrau larger boat ride itself can get rather noisy, as many kids sometimes join. If you are with kids yourself, take the boat ride to the Children’s Island – a paradise for kids with all sorts of games and playgrounds, somewhere in the middle of the Herastrau lake. Here’s how a Saturday in June looks like on the Herastrau lake. (photo copyright: Corina & Andrei Chirileasa, for Romania-Insider.com)