Bucharest Would Like to Remind You, Yet Again, That It Is Not Budapest

Michael Jackson, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Lenny Kravitz, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden – the list of touring rock stars who don’t know the difference between Bucharest and Budapest seems to grow every year. Following a trend started back in 1992 by Michael Jackson, so many musicians playing Romania’s capital have mistaken it for Hungary’s and come on stage shouting “how are you doing, Budapest?” that locals have moved on from amused indulgence to being seriously pissed off. Granted, some of these musical offenders would have trouble recognizing their home addresses or their own faces in the mirror, but when a (possibly mythical) story emerged last year of 400 Spanish soccer fans accidentally flying to Hungary’s capital for a Bucharest-based game, some Romanians decided they’d had enough.

To fight back, Romania’s capital has launched a “Bucharest not Budapest” campaign this summer, to encourage visitors to learn the difference between the two cities. Bankrolled by a Romanian chocolate manufacturer, the campaign features videos, T-shirts, airport billboards and a newly customized airport shuttle – the campaign has even installed a “Welcome to Not Bucharest” sign at Budapest airport. It’s not hard to see why Bucharestians find the confusion irksome. Their city is the European Union’s 6th largest, a national capital with over 2 million inhabitants, a fine cultural scene and a remarkable if mixed-up cityscape of historic buildings. While it doesn’t come close to matching Budapest’s grand opulence or tourist numbers, Bucharest is a fascinating place that doesn’t deserve to play second fiddle to its distant neighbor just because its name is similar.