Living in Străulești, Bucharest

Străulești is the area on the northern edge of Bucharest where the M4 has its terminus and where a large interchange between metro, buses and car park is located. In recent years several new residential developments have appeared here, turning an outlying area into one of the city's expansion zones.

Who lives here

Young couples and families who have bought or rented in the recent buildings, workers who use the interchange to get into the city. The population is younger than average and largely arrived recently.

What it is like by day

By day it is quiet. The flow is concentrated around the interchange in the morning and in the evening. The fabric is made of new residential complexes, green areas and land still free. The street life of established districts is missing: people have only just arrived here.

What it is like in the evening

The evening is silent and residential. The offer of bars is limited and tied to the complexes. To go out you take the metro into the city.

Getting around

The M4 terminus is the reason the area has grown: from here you reach Gara de Nord on a direct line. For the old town, though, you need to change at Gara de Nord, and that lengthens the journey compared with what a direct link suggests. The interchange gathers many bus lines, including some from outside the city. By car the position is convenient towards the north and the airport.

Eating and shopping

Chain supermarkets in the complexes and along the main roads, a few shops. The offer is still limited compared with established districts and you partly depend on the shopping centres of the north.

When NOT to choose it

It is outlying and newly built: limited services, little neighbourhood life, a real distance from the centre even if the link is direct. The M4 serves one axis only. It is the right choice for anyone who wants a new home with the metro downstairs and does not need the centre every day; the wrong one for anyone looking for city life.