Palas & Anastasie Panu

Palas is the newest piece of Iași and, at the same time, the densest. The development was built over the last decade directly below the Palace of Culture, in a perimeter combining landscaped gardens, restaurants, offices, hotels and retail — something that exists nowhere else in the city.

What you see

Palas Mall is the commercial core, but the area is not reducible to it. Palas public garden is the best-kept green space in the centre, and the way it connects to the Palace of Culture above turns the whole ensemble into a single walk.

The area also holds the Poni-Cernătescu Museum, devoted to the history of Romanian chemistry, in the house of the chemist Petru Poni.

What it's like, practically

It is the only good option in Iași in bad weather: food, shopping and covered space in one perimeter, a few steps from the most important sights. With 17 restaurants listed, it has the city's second-largest concentration of venues, after the centre.

The area visibly changed how the centre works. Class A offices brought part of the city's daily life here, which means that unlike many Romanian historic centres, Palas is active at midday on weekdays, not only in the evening and at weekends.

For the economic context, see the economy of Iași.

What changed here

Fifteen years ago the ground below the Palace of Culture was largely unused. Today it is the densest perimeter in the city: class A offices, three hotels, seventeen restaurants and two evening venues listed, plus the mall and the gardens. It is the only large-scale contemporary intervention in central Iași.

The interesting side effect is that it moved part of daily life off the boulevard and into the enclosure. Ștefan cel Mare boulevard remains the monumental axis; Palas has become where people have lunch.

Who it suits

Business travel — the hotels here work with corporate clients during the week, which means weekends are often cheaper. Families with children, because everything is a short distance away and under cover. And visitors who want comfort rather than historic character: for character, climb up to Ticău or Copou.

An honest observation: Palas is new, clean and functional, but it is not the Iași tourists come for. It is the area that makes the visit comfortable, not the one that justifies it.