Budapest?

Duff

Hey guys,

Thinking of booking 3 nights in Budapest for Feb/March next year for myself and my o/h. What are the must-do things? All I really know of is the baths. Any recommendations on where to stay or does it not really matter with the metro there? What should our budget be for a few drinks and food each day? Any info is appreciated.

Thanks.

Hellrazer

Was just there in February.

You have to do the Holocaust Museum , Terror House and of the baths.
You have to see the big square (cant remember the name of it)

You have to go to Labirinthus--its the caves under Draculas castle and they basically give you a gas lantern to discover the caves by yourself in. That was my highlight of the weekend. Scary as anything.

Don't mind the Metro--we walked everywhere. First day we did over 15 kms,Second day we did 18kms. The only way to see the city if you ask me.

As for food and drink..the place is dirt cheap. Meal for 2 was 15-20 euros with drinks.Pints are around 1.50 - 2.00 euros.

Wine is for nothing.

Make sure you go to the dive bars. Theyre basically shells of buildings that have been converted to pubs. They have no heating , barely any lighting but the atmosphere in them is fantastic.

And finally--don't do what I did and forget gloves and a hat. Its ****ing freezing in February and March..It was -12c when we were there and I had to but gloves and a scarf and hat and by god did they know how to charge for them.Think I paid about 40 euros for the lot. Id say theyre used to tourists forgetting them!!!

Brilliant city and so safe. We were wandering around at all hours of the day and night and there was no hassle at all from anyone.

Rows Grower

Ye could do the guided tour on the Bus/Boat which is very good.

Food and drink are great value, about half what we pay here, could be less.

There's a firing range where you can fire all types of guns and rifles at targets, it's well supervised and something a bit different.

(okay, it's very different)

Duff

Thanks for the replies, guys. Some fantastic suggestions. Really looking forward to it now

Hellrazer

https://www.kkhotels.com/en/budapest/hotel-opera

We stayed here after a recommendation from a friend.

Its quite central. Located less than 500 metres from the Terror Haus.
About a half hour walk from the Holocaust Museum.
It was a 6 euro taxi to Draculas Castle--we walked back and it was only a 15 minute walk back to the hotel across the famous chain bridge which also a must see. Theres a bar right across from the hotel that opens till 3.00 am.Its a locals bar and was good fun.
Its right beside the metro station. Around the corner is the main street that has everything you want--restaurants etc.

Another quick tip--download the offline maps for google maps. Gps was a bit slow but that was due to the network over there not being as fast as you`d get here.

gmisk

There is a place you do wine tasting in the old part of town which is fantastic (place called Faust).. Hungarian wine is delicious who knew!

The baths are excellent I went to szechenyi the big outdoors one, very nice lots of family's etc, and the other one veli bej it's a bit more old school but also excellent.
It's a lovely city excellent museums, food and beer (Ferdinands is good and they do nice goulash).

I stayed in the hilton lovely spot and has an executive lounge where you can get drinks and snacks.

Duff

Booked 4 nights Wed-Sun. Would circa €400 each spending money cover us do you reckon? Have a Wedding the weekend before so funds will be lower than usual :pac:

Duff

Duff wrote: »

Booked 4 nights Wed-Sun. Would circa €400 each spending money cover us do you reckon? Have a Wedding the weekend before so funds will be lower than usual :pac:

well, it would be way more then I would spend for 4 days, couldn't imagine you would need more.
You can buy a public transport card for 15 euro, does 3 days, great value.

Duff

bubblypop wrote: »

well, it would be way more then I would spend for 4 days, couldn't imagine you would need more.
You can buy a public transport card for 15 euro, does 3 days, great value.

Yeah, I've no intention of spending 100 per day but just want to cover myself for food, transport, attractions etc.

Dibble

Great city. Check out the ruin bars. Also, Memento Park is an interesting place to visit: http://www.mementopark.hu/?lang=en

rizzee

Went for 5 nights start of October. Dirt cheap. Stayed in the Flamenco Danubius approx 30 min walk to the Hungarian markets/main streets.

Did a 4/5 hour bus tour one of the days for 900 forint approx 30 euro, went to all the main spots around the city with a tour guide and plenty of opportunities for photos.

As mentioned, Szimpla Kert ruin bar is a must. Also did the synagogue.

As mentioned again, walking is the true way to explore the city. Clocked up 20km+ 2 of the days.

Would definitely go back as didn't take advantage of the traditional food and other bars.

I spent less than 300 euro for 4 nights/5 days including airport taxi.

Enjoy your trip

septictank

Where are you staying, Buda or Pest? Most stay in Pest but a visit over the river to Buda is a must.
We done the bus tour, which was great to see most of the sights but if you do make sure to wrap up.
We were there March last year during the big snow. They are very well prepaired unlike here, -15 no problem but sitting on an opentop bus for an hour haha, no, sit downstairs.
Go to Cafe New York, voted best cafe in the world. Beautiful building, always busy, right in the centre of the city, nice treat and not too expensive.
2, 2 course lunches and drinks €20.

grimm2005

Great suggestions on here, would also add the ruin bars (particularly Szimpla) as a must, probably my favourite bars that I've been to in any city. The Szechenyi baths are brilliant, would definitely recommend.

One that I don't think has been recommended is a trip to the Citadel at the top of Gellert Hill. It would be a bit of a trek to get up there walking so I'd highly recommend getting a taxi all the way to the top (just tell them to take you to Citadel statue) as it shouldn't cost more than a couple of euro each in fare. You get incredible views of the city (best done at night when all the bridges are lit up) and they even have stalls selling snacks and beers. You can then walk back down the steps which takes you out to the famous chain bridge that takes you back to the Pest side of the city.

Millypenny

You can get a Budapest travelcard (for 24, 48 or 72hrs) at various spots around Budapest, you can even buy the card at the airport. It's very handy as it includes free travel on the metro, trolley-buses, buses, free entry to most of the main museums etc.)

I've been in Budapest about 4 times and love the place. I think their public transportation service is great, the city is big so I think you need to use public transport to get around if you only have a few days there. Whatever you do, keep your travel pass or ticket with you at all times when using public transport as they have lots of inspectors checking tickets!

The travel-card also includes free use of the public transport boat (ferryboat), which operates from mid-March till winter-time. This boat service goes over and back from Buda to Pest at numerous times during the day. If you time it right, it can work out faster than getting the metro when travelling over and back across the river. If you want, you can stay on this transport boat and go up and down the Danube and buy a cup of coffee etc. which is very civilised. It is a bit hard to spot the terminals for the boat (usually has a black & white sign), one of the terminals is hidden in amongst the river cruise boats.

If you do get a Budapest travel card, you get discounts off the River Cruises which are really good (most include a glass of wine).

Would highly recommend the House of Terror Museum, Buda Castle (and take the funicular up to the castle), Labrinthus, St. Stephens Basilica, Central Market Hall etc.

The food and drink is really good in Budapest, have never had a bad meal there.

There's loads of hotels etc. in Budapest with something to suit every budget. 2 years ago I stayed in the Roombach Hotel (small rooms) but it is in a great spot, with lots of restaurants nearby https://www.gozsduudvar.hu/gozsdu. If you want to go for something much posher then the Boscolo Budapest Hotel (which has the famous New York Café) or the Prestige Hotel are great! If you're booking for February or March next year, then you'll get some good deals on hotel rooms.

Duff

Going tomorrow, lads. Staying in an apartment called United Colours Of Budapest. Thanks again for all the great suggestions. Really looking forward to it, and the weather forecast doesn't seem too cold!

JPCN1

Lovely city, very safe and easy to navigate on foot.

Ruin bars worth a visit. As mentioned the Terror Museum too though it is a very sombre experience. Walk up Andrassy to Heroes square and some nice museums here and cross over to Vajahunyad Castle which is nice a photo op.The cathedral also but take the lift if you're going up to the Dome!

Deryne, Big Fish and Ket Szerecsen all central modestly priced restaurants within walking distance of centre.

A tour of Parliament also worth it.

Enjoy.

MillField

You have to visit the Szechenyi Baths. There is actually a bath party there at night too if that's something you would like. The area all around Buda Castle and the Chain Bridge is really nice too.

I'd recommend using the tour bus to get around. It will drop you off in all the touristy areas.

Enjoy, great city!

shar01

Try the unicum distillery tour for something different. That stuff will put hairs on your chest.

Sabre0001

Most things have been covered. The Hop On Hop Off tour was worth doing, I thought.

Also, if you like sweet things, I would recommend visiting Sugar! It's on a side street parallel to one of the main shopping streets.

Duff

Actually one last thing! I have all my spending money on my debit card. Would I be better changing it to HUF before I go or change it over there or just leave it all on my card?

septictank

I carried a good bit of cash as we walked all over the city. there are lots of underpass's at road junctions that have stalls that are good for getting chocalates and drinks. they home a lot of the homeless drunks aswell so be carefull, I never had a problem but there was the odd handbags with each other.

I'd always carry cash but maybe that's me, would never pull a card for small stuff.

There are clothes shops that turned out to be second hand or soiled which had great bargins, especially for the bigger lads which is rare here.

Duff

septictank wrote: »

I carried a good bit of cash as we walked all over the city. there are lots of underpass's at road junctions that have stalls that are good for getting chocalates and drinks. they home a lot of the homeless drunks aswell so be carefull, I never had a problem but there was the odd handbags with each other.

I'd always carry cash but maybe that's me, would never pull a card for small stuff.

There are clothes shops that turned out to be second hand or soiled which had great bargins, especially for the bigger lads which is rare here.

Cheers, did you change your euro into HUF over there?

septictank

I did change a small amount €50 euro at the airport more for the craic than anything else. bad exchange rate. I didn't spend that much over there it was cheap to get around.

Equium

The Szechenyi Baths are an absolute must in my opinion. Was there in September myself, when the weather was a lot warmer (circa 30 Celsius), but I have heard that they baths are just as fantastic all year round. The water is typically 36 degrees, so it's never too cold outside to enjoy them!

The chain bridge, Buda and the castle district are also spectacular. Get the funicular up to the Fisherman's Bastion for a great vista over the city below. I also took an evening river cruise along the Danube, which provided brilliant views of the Hungarian parliament. It was around €17, including two drinks.

I personally didn't enjoy the ruin bars at all. Szimpla was full of patrons openly snorting cocaine at 7pm - two tourists at the table next to mine were thrown out for smoking, but the drug-taking was tolerated. There was also a fight between stag party goers when I was there. Not my cup of tea. The food stalls next door, called Karavan Budapest, were great however, as were other bars in that area.

One last piece of advice is to try a (in reality, several) kurtoskalacs - cinnamon-coated grilled chimney cakes. They are available at any amount of the stalls around the city and are incredible!

fdevine

Duff wrote: »

Cheers, did you change your euro into HUF over there?

When we went the only option was to change money over there IIRC

There an ATM in arrivals as you exit the airport so get some cash there and then just dip into ATMs to top up along the way

septictank

fdevine wrote: »

When we went the only option was to change money over there IIRC

There an ATM in arrivals as you exit the airport so get some cash there and then just dip into ATMs to top up along the way

I ordered money to be collected at Dublin airport. When there herself just asked for more and there was no problem. Keep the reciept and when you come back and have some left over there is no cost to exchange back to Euro.

I changed the €50 at the airport in Budapest just to try my few words out, much to there amusement, the rate was very bad, we came back with money left over.

If you haven't tried the kurtoskalacs - cinnamon-coated grilled chimney cakes, there the same as in Prague, very nice and warm, in summer they fill them with ice cream, have to go back for that.

BelovedAunt

Try not to pick up taxis off the streets as a lot are unregulated and rip you off. There’s an app called Bolt Taxify that you should use to order taxis.

MillField

BelovedAunt wrote: »

Try not to pick up taxis off the streets as a lot are unregulated and rip you off. There’s an app called Bolt Taxify that you should use to order taxis.

Yep, they can't be trusted. I was in Budapest last year and was looking for a taxi at about 7am to get the the airport. I found one on the street eventually and the guy drove (not joking) at about 100+ kph through the streets of the city, overtook cars on the wrong side and defended himself by saying "I've drove millions of kilometers don't worry" :mad:

grimm2005

MillField wrote: »

Yep, they can't be trusted. I was in Budapest last year and was looking for a taxi at about 7am to get the the airport. I found one on the street eventually and the guy drove (not joking) at about 100+ kph through the streets of the city, overtook cars on the wrong side and defended himself by saying "I've drove millions of kilometers don't worry" :mad:

Sounds like an experience I had when I was there once, we never hailed off the street as have been warned many times before but ordered via our hostel so was surprised that we had such a negative experience. To be fair, it was only once out of the many times I've booked taxis in Budapest that we had a bad experience but this guy did exactly that, speeding through the city, at one point sped ahead on the wrong side of the road to get to the top of the lights and as well as this he was smoking in the car and had loud techno music blaring for the duration with a 15 minute break where he had a conversation over the phone on the loud speaker.

To top it off, he insisted on an extra 2000HUF when we got to the airport above what was on the meter for parking charge, and I knew this was BS as I've done the taxi journey to and from BUD a few times and this was never an issue so I refused saying I didn't have the money (which was true) and he got full on p!ssy with me so we just got out of the taxi and he sped off. Left us shook when we reached the terminal and was a crappy way to end the trip.

That said it was a once off and certainly doesn't seem like the norm with reputable taxi companies but as has been said, I would never hail off the street as I'd say you're more than likely to get ripped off.

MillField

grimm2005 wrote: »

Sounds like an experience I had when I was there once, we never hailed off the street as have been warned many times before but ordered via our hostel so was surprised that we had such a negative experience. To be fair, it was only once out of the many times I've booked taxis in Budapest that we had a bad experience but this guy did exactly that, speeding through the city, at one point sped ahead on the wrong side of the road to get to the top of the lights and as well as this he was smoking in the car and had loud techno music blaring for the duration with a 15 minute break where he had a conversation over the phone on the loud speaker.

This could be the same guy we had. Loud music, talking on the phone etc. I'm pretty sure he ran a red light too. We were going so fast the car was hopping on the road going around corners!

OkeyDoke12

Has anyone been to Budapest recently? I was in Krakow in November and it was quite cheap how is Budapest in comparison?