Palace of Parliament in Bucharest - fast-track tickets and guide

We thought we were reserving a tour of the Parliament building with a guide from Viator. As it turns out, the "guide" from Viator (who was extremely nice by the way) did buy our tickets to the Parliament building tour, but he did not give us a tour. Parliament tours are only given by government employees that work at the Parliament building, so our Viator "guide" was not able to give us a tour. You can get tickets to join the Parliament tour all by yourself or through your hotel. There is absolutely no need to buy this "tour" on Viator. We were quite surprised that our "guide" from Viator only went in and bought the tickets for us. We were under the impression that he was going to give us the tour. On another note, you will need to bring your passport to tour the Parliament building. We don't have any complaint with the Viator "guide" we had for this "tour" because he was very nice and helpful.... it is just that you don't need to buy this through Viator.

We all need to make a living and I don't want to be the person stopping these guys from making theirs. However, I do think tourists need to know what this tour is about. I booked and paid for this tour online and then waited at the "meeting point" as per the voucher, which was at the intersection of two roads by the traffic lights next to Parliament. Come 13:00 nobody arrived so I asked the security guard standing at the gate if he knew of this tour. He stated that no tours leave from here and that I should go to the visitor center, he also said all tickets need to be purchased from the ticket office and can't be pre-purchased, which I thought was odd. I went to the visitor center and showed the lady at the ticket counter my "fast tracked" voucher, she said buying a ticket from anybody other then the ticket office is impossible, there is no such thing as a "fast track" ticket. She even called over a parliament tour guide who explained the exact same thing. I ended up just buying a ticket from the ticket office for 40 RON which is less then half the price I paid for the "tour" which was 83 RON. I later discovered that what you are actually paying for is a meet and great by the tour company who buys the tickets for you. The tour company then just hands you over to the Parliament tour guide who has nothing to do with the tour company. The tour company can not buy the tickets for you until the day as they need your passport for the purchase. What this tour company can do is book a timeslot as they usually have more then 9 guests, groups of less then 9 have to phone. I emailed Greg, the tour operator, and he was quick with the snap back comments when I questioned him about certain things. He said they tried to phone me about the change of meeting point but from what I was told, no tours have left from that spot for weeks which means they had heaps of time to warn customers via email etc..I think the "tour" description is misleading as the tour is not provided by the company, what you are actually paying for is the convenience of not having to wait in line to buy a ticket or book a timeslot.

There's very little difference in skipping the queue and for the guide to bring you there. Basically I would not pay €17 again when you can pay €8 at the entrance. Otherwise the tour and the parliament building is top notch.

This place is huge! I was astounded by how much we did see and it was only 7%. The ceilings are a tall person's dream. The tour was filled with great information and the guide was excellent! Such a feat in architectural wonder! Make sure you have someone to take your photos while you stand next to everything in the corridors, rooms, and in front of the stairways and doors! Selfie sticks won't do the job. If you have a GoPro, bring it or anything that has a wide or ultrawide lens. You will leave there knowing why it is the heaviest building in the world and you can see it from space.

Guide was outside early, exactly where the email I received said she would be. Once inside, we were transferred to another guide who was excellent. He gave just the right amount of information and was very interesting. He even offered other sightseeing tips in Bucharest. Very professional!

It basically does not worth it. It is like paying for nothing. The guide stays with you in a waiting period close to 45 min, saying literally nothing. So please don’t be a fool like us and don’t pay for nothing. Instead, take the ticket directly from the official ticket office.

Went only for 30 minutes when I paid for 90min, some of the rooms were busy I understand that, but I warning would of been nice

The ticketing and entrance procedures were good. However the tour itself was not. We visited just 3 conference rooms and the tour was over in 25 minutes. No Parliament chamber, nothing on the various underground and higher floors. They had private events on over the weekend so we saw practically nothing. Hugely disappointing.

Manuela was an excellent guide. We spent 3 hours walking around the city, visiting the major (and some quirkier) sites. It’s much more leisurely and infomative than a bus tour but be prepared: we covered 10km. Highly recommended.

Highly recommended, great tour. Fun, informative and Greg was a fantastic guide. He helped with tips for the rest of our stay also