Manuc's Inn, Bucharest, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

Manuc's Inn (Hanul lui Manuc) is a historic inn in the Old Town of Bucharest, built in 1808 by the wealthy Armenian merchant Manuc Bei. It is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city centre and still works as a place to eat, drink and stay, which makes it one of the easiest pieces of 19th-century Bucharest to step into.

The story behind it

Manuc Bei was a merchant and well-connected figure of his day, and he built the inn as a large complex for travellers and traders. In its early years it was a meeting point for merchants, a place to do business and a place to sleep. It also became a setting for diplomacy: the preliminary talks that led to the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812, which ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1806 to 1812, are said to have been held here. Manuc Bei died in 1817, and historians still dispute the circumstances.

A popular legend says Manuc Bei had secret passages built beneath the inn so that guests and traders could escape in times of conflict. Treat it as a good story rather than established fact. Just around the corner, the old princely court of Curtea Veche and its church, built in 1559, belong to the same early chapter of the city, and the first written mention of Bucharest dates from a document issued in 1459 under Vlad Țepeș.

What to look for

• Walk into the central courtyard and look up at the galleries that run around it, a layout designed for guests, merchants and their goods.
• Notice how the inn sits among the streets of the Old Town, a reminder of how busy and commercial this quarter once was.
• Look for the cafe and restaurant tables set out in the courtyard, where the inn still does what it was built to do: feed and gather people.
• Step out to the nearby Curtea Veche area and compare the inn's 19th-century scale with the older, ruined court and its church.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 20 to 30 minutes to see the courtyard and look around, longer if you stop for a meal or a drink.
• Visit in the late morning for quieter photos, or in the evening when the courtyard is livelier. Check current opening hours for the restaurant and any other parts open to visitors.
• The courtyard is usually the easiest part to enter, but access can change, so check before you plan around it.
• The inn is close to Curtea Veche and the streets of the Old Town, so it fits neatly into a longer walk on foot.

See it on a quest

In Dracula's Secret Journal: The Bucharest Mystery, you reach the inn on foot as one stop of a longer route through the Old Town. The app tells you about each place as you arrive and sets a puzzle in what is in front of you. One ticket covers the whole group.

The Beer Trail of Bucharest suits a place that was built for food, drink and conversation. You walk to the inn as part of a wider route, hear about it on the spot and solve a puzzle there. One ticket covers the whole group.

Secrets of Old Town Bucharest: The Lost Treasure Adventure takes you through the same historic streets as a self-guided walk. You can start any time, with no guide and no group to join, and one ticket covers the whole group.