BUDAPEST MINIGUIDE

Organizing a weekend trip to Budapest?

Budapest is the capital and largest city of Hungary, in the heart of Central Europe. Its remarkable beauty, rich history and vibrant culture, has established this city as one of the most popular destinations in Europe. It is a city of contrasts, where you will discover its historical significants, relax in its thermal baths and enjoy Hungarian nightlife in its ruin bars.

MUST SEE PLACES IN BUDAPEST

Here is a summary of what the city of Budapest offers:

BREATHTAKING ARCHITECTURE

On one side of the Danube River lies Buda, characterized by its historic castle district with medieval and baroque buildings, including the iconic Buda Castle and Fisherman's Bastion (2nd photo). The gardens, main courtyard and the surroundings of Buda Castle are free, if you want to visit the three wings of the main building house, you need to pay a fee. The same happens with Fisherman's Bastion, it is opened all day and it is free, except if you want to enter inside the building. Both places offer breathtaking views from the city.

Pest, on the other side, has a more grandiose and neoclassical architecture with landmarks like the Hungarian Parliament Building and St. Stephen's Basilica (3rd photo). The first photo is about Hösök Tere, known as the Heroes Square, just 7 min walking from The Széchenyi Termal Baths. Both avenue and square are part of the World Heritage from 2002.

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PARLIAMENT BUILDING

It deserves to have its own place in this list. The Hungarian Parliament Building is one of the most iconic landmarks in Budapest. Its design and riverside location make it a stunning sight, especially when illuminated at night. But be careful! In our case we went after having dinner and the lights turned off at 10pm, so we couldn't take as many pics as we wanted. This photo was taken from here (location in Maps).

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DANUBE RIVER

The Danube River flows through Budapest, dividing the city into Buda and Pest. This waterway is lined with beautiful bridges, including the famous Chain Bridge, a beautiful example of the 19th century engineering, which offers incredible views of the city. It was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary, so it played a significant role in connecting the two sides of the city.

The Danube River is a popular route for river cruises, offering a unique perspective of Budapest. Taking a river cruise allows you to admire the city's architecture and landmarks from the water, often accompanied by live music and dinner.

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THERMAL BATHS

Budapest is renowned for its thermal baths, which have been part of Hungarian culture for centuries. The Széchenyi Thermal Bath and Gellért Thermal Bath are among the most famous.

In our case we chose The Széchenyi Termal Baths as you can see in the pictures. We booked it through Get your Guide and we paid 39€ for a full-day pass with a private cabin to change privately and leave our belongings (the cabin option only costs 2€ more, we recommend it). This plan also includes a guided tour in the Palinka museum, however, we didn't go there so we can't review that part. Click here to book your entrance and don't miss these moments of pure relaxation!

The termal baths open from 7am to 8pm during weekdays and from 8am to 8pm at weekends. We strongly recommend to go there early in the morning. We were there once they opened and we could enjoy and take photos nearly alone. From 11am on, it started to get over crowded.

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RICH HISTORY

The city's history is both captivating and turbulent. Budapest has witnessed therise and fall of empires, and remnants of its past can be seen in places like the Royal Palace, Matthias Church and the poignant Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial, which you can see in the first photo. In less than 10 minutes walking from the Parliament, you can find these pairs of shoes as a memorial to the Hungarian Jews that were shot into the Danube river in the winter of 1944-45 by the Arrow Cross party. Don't miss it!

The second photo shows the Monument to the Victims of the German Occupation, created in memory of the German invasion of Hungary. You can find it in the Liberty Square. The story behind is quite controversial, as the Jewish community alleges that the monument absolves the Hungarian state collaboration with the Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. We will recommend you the Free Tour that we took to know more about the history of these places below.

Monument to the Victims of the German Occupation Budapest

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CULINARY DELIGHTS

Hungarian cuisine is flavorful, known for dishes like goulash, paprikash and chimney cake. The Great Market Hall is a must-visit for eating local food and purchasing traditional Hungarian products.

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✽ Zerge Coffeeshop: the perfect spot for having breakfast, it was very close to our apartment. The photo of the bagel was from here, 5 EUR more or less each bagel and they had plenty of options for drinks too.

✽ New York Café: if you search for MUST visit places in Budapest you will find this café in nearly all the lists. It is part of the Boscolo Hotel, famous for its 19th century atmosphere. We wanted to visit it but we couldn't... or we failed to; because there was a queue for more than an hour to enter inside! So if you really want to visit it and enjoy some coffee or snack (quite expensive by the way), we strongly recommend to go there early in the morning, when it opens at 8am.

✽ The Magic Budapest: are you a fan of Harry Potter? We went there because we had seen several reels about this place and it looked so magical! After experiencing it, we have to say that the place is VERY original, they even prepare some "potions" as in the Harry Potter films, but we have to admit that the quality of the food was quite low...

When it comes to traditional food, we tried goulash and chicken paprika and we really loved it!

And we have to specially talk about the chimneys, OMG, what a delicious cake! We would describe them as a mix between churros and donuts, and you can find them just sprinkled with sugar, coco, cocoa or cinnamon, or completely filled with white cream, Nutella or any sweet option you can imagine. We tried some of them around the city, and the best one for us was the spot in Google Maps called Hirlap Kurtoskalacs, just a piece of heaven and also one of the cheapest!

Activities

FREE TOUR AROUND THE CENTER OF BUDAPEST

As we mentioned before, we took a Free tour via Civitatis and it was the one we've ever enjoyed the most. The city is full of history about the II World War, so if you like to know more about it, this is definitely your city!

During the Free tour we visited:

✽ The Parliament. It started there, admiring this impressive building which has been declared a World Heritage Site. It is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe. After learning some history and curiosities about this place, we walked to the next stop.

✽ Liberty Square. Located in the heart of Budapest, it is a scenic square with a turbulent history. Don't miss the Ronald Reagan Monument, the Memorial to fallen soviet soldiers and the Monument of German Occupation. You can also see the Hungarian National Bank, the US Embassy and the Statue of General Harry Hill Bandholtz.

✽ St. Stephen's Basilica. It is the most important church building in Hungary. Its name comes from Stephen, the first King of Hungary., whose right hand can be contemplated inside the chapel of the Holy Right, the most revered relic in the country.

✽ Erzsébet Square. It's located right in the heart of the city, dedicated to entertainment, with its gigantic Ferris wheel, restaurants, and terraces, as well as full of history. It is the biggest green area inside the city center of Budapest.

✽ Ferenc Deak square. It is one of the busiest squares in Budapest, as its station serves three out of the city's four metro lines. It is considered the main hub for public transportation.

✽ The Great Synagogue of Budapest. It is the largest synagogue in Europe and the second in the world. You can appreciate part of its beauty in the last photo, with the moon in the background!

We leave the link to this Free Tour Here.

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RUIN BARS BUDAPEST

Have you heard of Ruin bars before? They are abandoned ruined buildings, primarily in Budapest's Jewish District, which have been recovered and turned into Budapest's main attraction, perfect for grabbing a drink , eat something or dance the night away!

The most recommended ones are Szimpla Kert, Instant-Fogas Complex, Mazel tov or Élesztöház. In our case we chose the most famous one and we spent some time there drinking a beer while we enjoyed the decoration and originality of that place.

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Where to stay

We stayed in Butik Apartments by BQA. The apartments were clean and the communication with the owner was excellent. We paid 193€ for 2 nights in March 2023, via Booking.

These apartments are in Pest, so notice it when you look for accommodation as that means that you are on the side of the Fisherman's Bastion and Buda Castle, but the rest of the main attractions are located in the other side of the river, in Buda, so you will need to use public transport, taxi or just cross the bridges that join the 2 parts of the city. Despite the fact that we couldn't because it was under maintenance, we recommend the Chain Bridge, the most beautiful and emblematic one.

The Apartments are located within a short walk of several key attractions: Fisherman's Bastion is just a 7-minute stroll away, Buda Castle can be reached in 11 minutes and only 10 min on foot to get to the Parliament viewpoint from Pest area. Additionally, the Chain Bridge to cross to Buda area, which is currently open for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic, is also just a 7-minute walk away.

The best areas to start searching for accommodation are, as they use to be in a lot of European cities, the ones in the city center. We would recommend Bélvaros and Lipótváros in District V as you can find a lot of cafés, restaurants, discos and exclusives shops in Vaci Utica, the most famous shopping street of Budapest.

Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is a must-have when you're on the go.

Here are four great reasons to consider travel insurance every time you travel abroad:

Protection for Your Stuff: Whether it's your passport or your checked-in bags, travel insurance has your back in case of loss.
Medical Bills Covered: Sometimes, medical treatment abroad can be shockingly expensive. That's why it's smart to have coverage that takes care of those bills.
Flexibility for Your Plans: Life happens, and your travel plans can change unexpectedly. Travel insurance can help you out when things like health issues or last-minute cancellations by hotels or airlines throw a wrench in your itinerary.
Personal Liability Backup: In case you accidentally cause harm or damage to someone else, travel insurance can step in to provide liability protection.

We always travel with Iati Insurance. Now you can book your IATI travel insurance with a 5% discount and travel with peace of mind in any situation!

Find all the places mentioned

* We would like to point out that no company, hotel or restaurant has paid us to mention them in this blog. We simply recommend what we booked and paid for ourselves, considering that we enjoyed it enough to recommend it.

Some of our cOntent