Budapest is awesome. A grand, powerful city with tallelegant buildings and important history. At the same time a bustling, youngcity filled with ruin bars, relaxing spas and delicious food. I visitedBudapest this July for 3 nights with my two best friends. It was the first timeI had been but by the end of the trip I felt like I had a good feel for thecity and had seen the highlights.
In this post I will show you what I did for 3 nights inBudapest, including budget tips/advice!
Here's a quick overview of our time:
Day 1:
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Danube River
| The iconic Budapest terraces, hidden behind the shops |
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Central Pest
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Szimpla Kert
Day 2: (Full day in Pest)
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Parliament Building and surrounding area
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1965 Museum
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The Shoes on the Danube Bank
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St Stephens Basilica
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Riverboat Tour
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Karaván for street food dinner
Day 3: (Full day in Buda)
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Matyas Church
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The Royal Palace and changing of the Guard
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Gellert Spa
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Jewish Quarter/Bar Quarter/ Area VI
Day 4
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Central Market Hall
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Coffee at Gerbeaud Café
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Home time
General Info/Advice
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When you first arrive at Budapest airport,outside is a marked taxi rank with a booth. There’s a very efficient method,all you need to do is give the person inside the booth your address and they’llgive a ticket with the number of your taxi. There is a bus but if you’re in agroup of 3 or more, by splitting the cost of a taxi, it’s not much differencein cost and saves a lot of hassle trying to figure out where to get off.There’s a fix price to get into Budapest, and you will need cash to pay thetaxi man. We ended up paying about £15 for 3 of us.
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Currency: The currency in Hungary is theHungarian Huff, not the euro! The exchange rate is quite hard to get your headround so before you go out, buy some cash and figure out how much thedifferent notes are worth.
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The city is split into two main areas: Buda andPest. They’re split by the Danube river that runs through the centre. Whenbooking your accommodation, look for somewhere within walking distance of theriver so that you can easily get to the key attractions.
Here is a more detailed look at what we did, how much thingscost and what we thought was really worth doing! Enjoy…
DAY 1 (EVENING)
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RIVER FOR DINNER
We started by the river Danube, a central point in the citywhere you can get your bearings. Along the waterfront, there were plenty ofrestaurants offering traditional Hungarian dishes. We were aware we were payinga little bit more to be sitting by the river, as you usually do, but we werehappy to! I had a beautiful roast duck dish, and it cost about £11.00. From theriver, you can pretty much get to all the big sites in Budapest by foot, bothsides. (Although there is a lovely tram line that’s definitely worth using toget to the other side!)
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EXPLORE INNER CITY
From dinner we walked up through Central Pest, taking in theviews of the tall, impressive buildings and the open squares as the sun set. Wewalked for about 15 minutes from the river to the Jewish Quarter (home to thebest night life in Budapest.)
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RUIN BARS
We were way too tired for clubbing (a common occurrence), soinstead decided to head to the most popular of Budapest’s ruin bars. I wasenchanted. Not knowing what to expect, we walked in to Szimpla Kert and we werehit by a chaotic mix of lights, people, strange décor, plants and of course,alcohol. It’s a hard place to describe but 100% worth checking out. A littlebit overwhelming but also amazing. A pint of beer or cider there cost about1000 Huff (cheapest) which currently converts to around £2.75. This was prettyaverage pricing, we went to some cheaper places but in Szimpla Kert you’re paying for thevenue and atmosphere as well, which is worth the extra 50p. While entry isfree, don’t forget your ID as there are bouncers on the door in the evenings.
DAY 2 (FULL)
For our first full day in Budapest, we put on our most comfyshoes and explored the city on foot. More specifically we explored Pest and thearea around the Hungarian Parliament. Weended up walking over 40,000 steps that day so pack your least blistery shoesand maybe some blister plasters!
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PARLIAMENT BUILDING AND 1965 MUSEUM
The first place we headed was the Parliament building andthe surrounding area. I had been told that the building was amazing but oh myWORD, was that an understatement. The parliament building itself was beautiful,but the surrounding area was also worth a wander. Fun fact, due to 3 amazingdesigns, the parliament square actually contains 3 “parliament buildings”, eachimmaculately designed and built with extravagant exteriors. While only 1 endedup being used as the parliament building, the other 2 are now used as theMinistry of Agriculture and the Museum of Ethnography.
We also took a tour of the inside of the parliament buildingwhich was equally as awe-inspiring. My friends and I are all students, so wepaid a slightly lower rate. (Top tip: Take your student card with you ANYWHEREin Europe, there’s all kinds of discounts.) Although you can pre-book onlinehere, we managed to book an English-speaking tour on the day, so don’t despairif they are all full up online. The tour was really nicely done, with a guidetaking you through small details and the history of the building, as well ashow it is used today.
Outside (and beneath) parliament square is the 1965 museum,a small museum remembering and explaining the tragic events of 1965 thatoccurred in the square and throughout Hungary. It is only a very small museumbut worth visiting nonetheless.
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THE SHOES ON THE DANUBE BANK
From the parliament building, we found ourselves back by theriver. Walking back towards our Airbnb, we passed the Shoes on the Danube Bank.It is a sobering memorial dedicated to the Hungarian Jews prosecuted andmurdered by Nazis throughout their occupation. It is a sad site but importantto reflect and think.
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ST STEPHEN’S BASILICA
From there, we strolled back through the city, towards ourapartment. On our way, we passed St Stephen’s Basilica which is the largestchurch in Budapest, with architecture on par with a cathedral. Although wedidn’t go inside, it was an impressive building from the outside which weappreciated while having an ice coffee to cool us down.
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RIVER BOAT TOUR
After a much-needed sit down and refresh at our apartment,we headed back towards the city to jump on one of the many river boat tours. Ihave to say, I was sceptical after some bad experiences on boats, but I waspleasantly surprised! We paid about £5 (again, student prices!) and had an hour-longtrip up and down the river. From the top deck of the boat, it had perfect viewsof some of the main sites of Budapest, as well as some further out sites whichwe would have never made it to on foot. It was a great way of seeing a lot ofthe city, without walking miles. The guide itself was also brilliant, tellingus all about the history of different buildings and the many beautiful bridges.
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STREETFOOD
For dinner, we headed to Karavan for some street food. Wehad seen it the night before and decided we wanted to go there for dinner. Itreminded me of food markets in London, but significantly cheaper. There was areally relaxed, friendly atmosphere as everyone tucked into their Langos on largegroup tables with some Hungarian beer. I was also impressed at the deliciousvegetarian and vegan options available for reasonable prices.
DAY 3 (FULL)
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MATYAS CHURCH
On our second full day, we headed to the Buda side of thecity, over the river. We crossed … bridge by foot and headed straight up toMatyas church. It was a bit of an uphill walk, and busy once we got there, butthe church itself was exquisite. The tiling of the room was beautiful and theviews from the towers over the city, made it worth the walk. I would recommendthis doing this early before it gets too hot in the summer as the crowds andheat made it a little intense.
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THE ROYAL PALACE
From Matyas Church, we took the path towards the RoyalPalace which meant we didn’t have to go back down and up again, it’s allclearly sign posted. As we arrived at the royal palace, we managed to see thechange of the guards which was a very extravagant, exciting event! A lot betterthan our change of the guards in London... There were drums and gunchoreography, it was all very cool.
However, we didn’t go into the Royal Palace (which is now anart exhibition), but it’s worth seeing the outside, especially if you’re up thehill anyway.
- GELLERT SPA
From the Royal Palace, we made our way back down to streetlevel and jumped on a tram. We had bought our single ticket at the start of theday and thought this was the best opportunity to use it as we made our way toGellert Spa. We had lunch at a local bakery, buying an assortment of pastrieswhich worked out at about 50p-£2 each! Then we headed to Gellert Spa.
As you may already know, Budapest is famous for their thermalbaths and spas. The two main ones are: Szechenyi Bath and Gellert Bath. Myfriend had already been to Szechenyi Bath (which is the biggest), so we decidedto go to Gellert Spa, the oldest spa in Budapest. It cost us about £15 each toget in, and we decided to only get one changing room/locker between us whichworked out fine. The ticket allows you stay for the whole day, trying out thedifferent pools and relaxing on sun beds in the sun outside. Luckily for us, itwas warm when we went so, we got lots of use out of the outside pool (which hada wave machine!?!!?). The inside was beautiful, covered in ornate tiles, makingGellert Spa perfect for a winter trip as well. There were hot plunge pools,steam rooms and ice-cold baths. We came out feeling thoroughly relaxed, althougha little bruised from the very aggressive wave machine!
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JEWISH QUARTER
I know what you’re thinking, we did end up in the Jewishquarter most nights but there’s a reason for that: it was so cool! We did a bitof a bar crawl this time, visiting a couple of the smaller ruin bars and havingdinner at a highly rated restaurant right in the centre of the ‘bar quarter’.
DAY 4 (MORNING)
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CENTRAL MARKET HALL
On our final morning, we headed (in the boiling heat) overto Budapest’s Central Market Hall. It was whopping building, with two floors,jam packed with market stalls and tourists. On the top floor there were moremagnets, tea towels and mugs than you c… and downstairs there was a slightlymore spacious food market. (Although 80% of the stalls sold the same variety ofpaprika products.) It’s perfect for magnet shopping, but don’t go expectingunique, hand crafted products. It was extremely busy when we went, probablybecause everyone was trying to escape the heat, so prepare for some seriousbarging and tutting.
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COFFEE AND CAKE IN GERBAUD CAFÉ
Our final stop, before heading to the airport, was GerbaudCafé. My friend is a massive café geek, we couldn’t resist visiting one of themost famous and oldest cafes in Europe, operating since the middle of the 19thcentury. Their selection of homemade cakes (although expensive), weredelightful and a pleasure just to see. The decoration is elaborate and veryfancy, our little bit of luxury on a fairly budget few days in Budapest.
Finally, we jumped in a taxi and headed back to the airport.The journey was about 40 minutes but we allowed plenty of time as the route isprone to traffic jams.
We absolutely loved Budapest, the city was the perfect mixof cool, fun and historic. For us, 3 nights (with 2 full days and 2 half days)was the right amount of time. By the end, all the walking had worn us out. It’salso a great city on a budget, with meals costing anywhere between £5-£12, it’svery doable on a smaller budget. For the whole 3 nights (not including flightsand Airbnb), we all spent approximately £200.
Have you already been to Budapest? Have I missed something?Let me know in the comments below!
As always, thanks for reading,
Laura 😊
