Bacău (in Romanian: /ba'kəw/, Hungarian: Bakó) is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. It covers a land surface of 41km² and has an estimated population of 210,469.
The city is situated in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, and on the Bistriţa River, which meets the Siret River about 8 kilometres (5 miles) to the south of Bacău.The Ghimeş Pass links Bacău to Transylvania.
The earliest known reference to the city dates from 1408 during the rule of Alexandru cel Bun. The etymology is unclear, but one possibility is being derived from the name of a dark-age Hungarian warlord, Bakó, which also gives the Hungarian name of the city.
During WWI and the occupation of Wallachia by the Germans, Bacău was the headquarters of the Romanian Army.
The city is about 300 km north of Bucharest.
The city of Bacău is served by Bacău International Airport which provides daily direct links with Romanian cities Bucharest and Timişoara, and international links with 11 cities in Italy and Germany.
The Bacău railway station (Gara Bacău) is one of the busiest in Romania; it has access to the Romanian railway magistral 500. Thus the city is connected to the main Romanian cities; the railway station is an important transit stop for international trains from Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria.
The city has access to the DN2 road (E85) that links it to the Romanian capital, Bucharest (to the south) and the cities of Suceava and Iaşi (to the north). The european road E574 is the access to Transylvania region and the city of Braşov. The city is located also at the intersection of several national roads.
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