Summer came with its hot days, shining sun and high temperatures. Newcomers to Romania will learn that summers here can be especially hot, with temperatures easily reaching 40 degrees Celsius. If you don't want to hide indoors all day, turn off the air conditioning and head for the city, as there are several pastime options in the Romanian capital city during the summer. From big green parks, to cinemas, swimming pools, to tennis fields or concerts, we've listed some options for spending time in what Romanians used to call “little Paris”.

By Irina Popescu

If you like swimming, pools can offer that refreshing morning you want in a hot day. All you have to do is to pack your things and give a try to one of Bucharest’s swimming pools, such as Bamboo Sporting Club (39, Ramuri Tei St.), Floreasca Club (1, Mircea Eliade St.), Sporting Club Triumf (2, Primo Nebiolo St.), or Sporting Club Pajura (50-52, Nicolae Titulescu Blvd.). Prices can vary between RON 20 and RON 80.

More swimming pools in Bucharest here.

An alternative to swimming can be a day spent in the nice Water Park (www.waterpark.ro ) in Otopeni, near Bucharest, where prices stay between RON 30 and RON 50. It’s a good way to gather your friends and family and spend a fun day together.

In case you prefer other sports, you can try jogging early in the morning or late at night in the big parks of Bucharest, like Herastrau Park, Cismigiu Garden, Tineretului Park, or any other park you like, or you can play tennis at Tennis Club Bucharest (Barbu Vacarescu Blvd.), Dinamo Sport Club (7-9, Stefan cel Mare St.) or Arenele BNR (42, Dr. Staicovici St.).

More tennis courts in Bucharest here.

If you’ve chosen Herastrau Park during a hot day, you should take a small walk to see the Japanese Garden arranged in the park, and you shouldn’t skip a visit to the Romanian Peasant Museum (3, Kiseleff St.), which in 1996 won the European Museum of the Year Award. While in the park, you can also hop on one of the bikes offered through the I Love Velo bike sharing program. Bikes are available in other Bucharest parks as well- Tineretului and Izvor. You can actually rent a bike online, but you'll need to know a bit of Romanian as the page is in Romanian. The best way is to rent the bike in the park.

For movie fans, at the Romanian Peasant Museum you can also find the Romanian Director’s New Cinema, an art cinema with outdoors film screenings. Find the films schedule here.

Another museum to be seen in Bucharest, close to the Peasant Museum, is the National Museum of Natural History “Grigore Antipa” in Bucharest (1, Kiseleff St.), that is going to be re-opened on July 15 after some modernization works. Great for a day out with your kids!

In case you feel like doing some yachting, you can go to Sport Club Sportul Studentesc (5, Mihail Moxa St.), the Romanian Yachting Federation (16, Vasile Conta St.), or Japo Nautic & Snow (22, Baneasa, Building 6/4).

For those like the horses and want to do some horse riding, try the Riding Club (2, Jandarmeriei St.), Horseback Riding (124-126, Bucuresti-Stefanesti St.), or Hipocan Corbeanca (in Corbeanca). More places for horse riding.

If you find the day too hot and you don’t feel like practicing any kind of sport, you can try to just take a walk through the parks, in the old center of the capital city (known as the Lipscani area), stop for a drink in one of the nice terraces there, or visit the nice Botanical Garden in Bucharest (32, Cotroceni St)

If you fancy watching a movie, you can find all kinds of cinemas in Bucharest, from old cinemas that, sadly, are now struggling to survive but manage to send out that vintage movie feel, to new cinemas that you can usually find in the shopping malls. Check out our new movies lists. You can find the list of Bucharest movie theaters here.

A lot of concerts will be held in Bucharest this summer, so, if you are a music fan and you want to end your day listening to some good music, choose a concert from our concerts calendar here.

Irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

Have you found or know about a nice place in Bucharest where one can spend a summer day? Have we missed anything in this list? Your suggestions are welcomed. Feel free to comment below or e-mail us at editor@romania-insider.com.