Accommodation
Camping – All the cheapest accommodations are concentrated at Lake Ciric, near the airport in Iasi, about 6 km to the northeast. The campground has indeed been closed, but on the right, on the other side of the dam, Baza Sportiva si de Agrement Ciric (tel.179304; half of May-August) has simple cabins (casuja), one- and double after 2 $. The tent can be pitched in the forest; however, it is better not to be conspicuous, unless it's a popular camping spot. There is also a lake, mostly closed, restaurant. To get here, you have to take the tram to Tirgu Cucu and change for the bus there #25, departing to Lake Ciric every hour from the stop in front of the building signed 'Complexul Tirgul Cucului”.
Private accommodation – No travel agency organizes private accommodation, but you can get directions from time to time at the reception at Hotel Traian. As Iasi is not a tourist destination, you don't find people renting private rooms at railway stations.
Hotels – Rooms in the older four-story Continental Hotel (tel.114320), Market 14 December 1989, costs 17 i 25 $ and 19 i 29 $ with bathroom. The rooms vary a lot, so it is worth seeing them in advance.
The elegant Hotel Traian is located in the adjacent row of buildings (tel.143330), Union square 1. For ones and twos you pay accordingly 18 i 35 $ with breakfast (hotel passes are accepted). In both hotels mentioned you have to endure the noise of the trams.
The 13-storey Unirea hotel is more expensive (tel.142110), Union square 5. Prices for en-suite rooms with breakfast are 25 i 38 $.
14-storey hotel Moldova (tel.142225), Palatuli Square 1, near the Palace of Culture, prices are too high – 39 i 75 $. Behind him is the Horizon Hotel (tel.112700), where do you pay 28 i 40 $. It is a youth tourism hotel”, run by the BBT student travel agency, so the conditions, except for the price offer, they are unattractive.
Gastronomy
The best dishes in town – the fish, poultry, flour dishes and (of course) pork – is served by the Select restaurant, in front of the Continental Hotel. The exquisite Moldovian Tochituia is a delicious cholesterol bomb (polenta, eggs and pork cuts too 2,50 $, great wine list).
Iasul Restaurant, north of the Traian Hotel, is an elegant place, where typical Romanian dishes are served. Sometimes a folk band plays here.
The best pizzas in town are available at the trendy and thriving Europaradis restaurant, GI Bratianu road 32, next to the National Theater. You pay for the portion 0,75 $.
Supermarket przy boulevard Stefan cel Mare, is one of the better-stocked stores in Iasi.
Entertainment
China – There are three cinemas in the very center, Youth and the Republic, on the Lapusnean slope, and Victoria at Piata Unirii.
Discos – Flickering lights and loud music are the label of the Coctail Night Club, under the apartment blocks behind the Luceafar Theater, ul. The best fun is Fridays and Saturdays (gum. pn.).
Students like the disco in Metro Pizza the most, in Copmplexul Studentesc "Tudor Vladimescu” in the eastern part of the city (gum. pn., tue. and VII-half IX; five stops from Piata Unirii by tram #8).
Theatre and classical music – From the east side of the boulevard Stefan cel Mare, almost opposite the Moldovan Metropolitan Cathedral, stands the neo-baroque National Theatre im. Vasile Alecsandri (1896), designed by famous Viennese architects Fellner and Hellmer, and confusingly similar to the theater im. Słowacki in Krakow. You can visit the nearby Philharmonic. The program of shows and tickets are distributed by Agentia Teatrala-Operei, adjacent to the RANCOREX building (pn.-sb. 10.00-13.30, sb 10.00-12.00).
Journey
Train – Iasi is situated on the main railway line connecting Bucharest with Kiev, running through Chisinau (for rum. Chisinau), the capital of the state of Moldova. The border crossing in Ungheni is just 21 km from Jass. Four trains from Iasi to Chisinau are fully booked.
Several express lines leave for Bucharest every day (462 km; 7 time.) and to Suceava (138 km; 1,5 time.). Also a few fast trains (accelerated) runs daily from Jass to Timisoara (793 km; 16 time.) via Suceava and Cluj. Travelers to Gałacz must change at Birlada or Tecuci.
There are night passenger trains running between Iasi and Brasov every day (people) – survivable, if first class is purchased.
Bus - Direct routes to Tulcea have been suspended. You can use any of the four daily connections to Husi, so is 7.00 the 13.15 take the bus to Gałacz, and then catch an evening course to Tulcea. It seems more complicated, than it really is. It is certainly more recommendable to travel by coach than by train (just take a look at the CFR railroad plan, to understand why). Buses to Brasov also depart from Jass every day (326 km) and Radowiec (rum. Radauti).
SURROUNDINGS JASS
To the north of the city there is a vast valley of Prut, an agricultural and pastoral land famous especially for the cultivation of vines. The best Romanian wines come from the Cotnari vineyards – visiting the country must necessarily be supplemented with tasting. From the south, Iasi is surrounded by a semicircle of hills. On one of them stands the Cetatuia Monastery, built around the same time, every golden church of the Three Prelates. The monastery church is its exact replica, except for the relief decoration of the exterior walls. Some of the old fortifications of this once fortified monastery have been preserved.
THE BICAZ STREAM RIVER
Travelers from Moldova to Transylvania, if they are looking for strong sensations, they can cross the Eastern Carpathians in the Bicaz pass (Bicaz Canyon, on the Gheorgheni-Bicaz track). Road not well maintained, partially carved in solid rock, runs along the bottom of a narrow slit with vertical lines, coming to 800 m in height, walls, fest is the deepest canyon in Europe (next to the canyon of the river Verdon in Provence). The climbing routes on the walls of Bicaz are among the most difficult in the country. Below, a stream rumbles over foaming waterfalls, you can't see the sky above. In Hell's Isthmus, the rock cliffs seem to merge into a vault. Even in the hottest heat, it is cool here, darkly, wet. Nearby you can spend the night in hostels: White Bicaz Gorges Piatia Singuratica. Each of them stands at the crossroads of several mountain trails.
The Bicaz stream, flowing east of the Carpathian slopes, flows into the Bystrzyca River in the town of Bicaz. Bystrzyca is famous e.g.. from wood floats, which is transported this way from the mountains to sawmills and factories in lower Moldova. Perhaps you can politely invite you to the raft (it is worth thinking about gifts for raftsmen and, of course, provisions for the road) and get to know the charms of living in fast water, listen to unique rafting songs and stories.