CLUJ-NAPOCA, The Treasure City of Transylvania, Romania

Cluj-Napoca has everything a tourist may need: average-price shops, as well as brand shops, cheap clothes and expensive cosmetics, kiosks, boutiques and supermarkets. There is a central supermarket and four on the outskirts of the city. Most of the shops are open from 9-10 am until 8 pm daily, and from 10 am until 3-5 pm on Saturdays. General stores, clothes shops and some bookshops are open on Sundays, as well. Services are not generally available on Sundays. There are shops with non-stop program, in the central area (supermarkets and large shops) and in districts (shops or kiosks), and the products they sell do not have differentiated prices. There are non-stop kiosks selling tobacco, sweets, packed coffee, cigarettes and condoms on the major arteries throughout the city.

SOUVENIRS. There are special shops throughout the city which sell homemade or industrial made products, either Romanian authentic or not, such as lacework, embroidery (embroided blouses, table cloths), wood carvings (artwork and houseware products), woolen garment and and others. Local craftsmen sell their products at Cluj exit to Oradea, selling original Romanian artwork and houseware along the road. The peasants in Izvorul Crisului, on the way to Oradea, sell an impressing variety of homemade artwork, and almos every second household offers the passing tourists a wide range of goods.

SHOPPING AT HOLIDAYS. It may be quite an adventure to do your shopping around major holidays if you plan to do your shopping around major holidays, when the teeming crowds of shoppers fill the shops and streets. Prices may be to some extent higher, especially for food products (eggs at Easter, flowers before Mothers’ Day etc.). If you hunt for bargains, then the best periods are after the holidays, when the prices go down substantially. In winter, since mid January until the beginning of March, and in summer, since July until October, prices of the products may be reduced with up to half percent of their value.

PARKING. Although parking lots are quite scarce especially in the center of the city, one may park his car just outside of some shops; sometimes, this is quite a time consuming adventure, especially at peak times. On the contrary, on Sundays they are less crowded. The authorities plan to build a few parking areas which should relieve the problem of the parking lots.

PHARMACIES. Most pharmacies are open between 10am and 8-10 pm and general use medicine may be bought without prescription. They also post notes on which pharmacies have night services and those which are open non-stop and their address.