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Tiny, cosmopolitan New York City-esque cocktail bar with foreigner friendly service. Always crowded by models and hip people.
Anker koz 3. Kiraly u corner. Downtown, 5th district Budapest. Near metro station "Deak Ter".
They have plenty of well-equipped apartments for rent in Budapest downtown. Prices are not very low but still OK and the service is excellent.
I stayed in a flat near Octogon and I had a great time there.
If you go to Budapest, the baths are a must-do. Seven different temperature baths in the one building, mixed sex of all ages. Suitable for families.
Nice restaurant with a lot of delicious traditional and traditional-style dishes. Good prices and big portions.
Casual atmosphere - even pool tables inside! - and nice outdoor sidewalk dining area.
Corner of Baross Utca and Jozsef Utca (in Jozsefváros district)
Wonderfully ornate cafe which captures the opulence and splendour of early 20th century Budapest.
Now part of a five-star hotel and not cheap but certainly worth a visit.
VII Erzsebet korut 9 -11
Metro M2 Blaha Lujza ter
www.boscolohotels.com/photogallery/hotel_new_york_palace/photogallery_nwy_eng.htm
This is a great place to have a drink. Very cosmopolitan and yet laid back. Seems to be very popular with young people and expats.
Not bad value either - a large glass of wine set us back about £1.30.
On the main square in the heart of the what was once the Jewish ghetto.
District VII, Klauzal ter 1-2, Around Kiraly utca, Budapest
Metro M2: Blaha Lujza ter
This is the hotel we stayed in in Budapest. Really central and great value. You can book it on a number of websites such as the accommodation site of Ryanair.
IX. Ferenc körút 19-21
tiny.cc/oV0Fx
An open-air bath on Margitsziget on the Danube. In a very beautiful green park with many nice and fun pools and thermal water.
If you visit Heroes' Square, I strongly recommend to pass by this small and cosy wine store on the nearby Damjanich Street. It has a wide range of Hungarian and Italian wines, and absolutely not a rip-off like other wine stores in the centre. The staff speak German and Italian, but no English - yet.
1071 Budapest
Damjanich u. 25/A
(on the corner of Damjanich and Nefelejcs Street
It's a self-catering apartment. I stayed there for one week and I just loved it, because it's really nice with a cute garden view. It's in the very centre, pretty close to everything.
It's in Veress Palne utca, right next to Vaci utca in district 5. Nearest metro is Kalvin ter. However you mostly need to walk only.
www.budapestapartments24.com/Apartment_Cosmo/apartment.php
If you've done the Budapest basics, you should absolutely take an afternoon and visit Bela Bartok's house museum in the Buda Hills. This is a hymn of praise not only to the conductor, but his passion for Hungarian folk culture.
Among the highlights: his oversized, primitive recording device which he dragged all over historic Hungary, having local residents sing their songs into it, and his furniture, most of which is handmade from various parts of Transylvania. The ladies who staff the museum can give you a tour in English and are very nice and accommodating.
While you are there, make sure you walk through the Napraforgo ut. housing estate, built in 1931 to house refugees from areas cut off from Hungary by the Treaty of Trianon. Architecture fans will delight in the display of creativity there, from Bauhaus to Arts and Crafts. Unfortunately, rich Buda residents are now buying all of them out and restoring them according to their own tastes, so the results of that could harm the ensemble, but you should go there anyway.
This is a great doubleheader excursion well off the well-trodden tourist paths.
It's best to go to Ferenciek Tere (metro blue line), look for restaurant Karpatia and wait for bus #5 just outside there. You go to the end of the line, i.e. Pasareti Ter, and look for the signs. The way to both is actually marked.
Fatal actually means wooden plate in Hungarian but the portions may well prove life-threatening.
Located in Pest off the Vaci Utca, the restaurant is easy to find, cheap and offers huge traditional meals, mostly cooked and served in the dish dish, atop of a wooden plate.
I had the pork knuckle and only got halfway - highly recommended but book in advance if you're going in the evening.
# Address: 1056 Budapest, Vaci utca 67.
# Phone: +36 1 266 2607
# Directions: In southern Vaci utca, halfway between Fovam ter (trams 47 49, buses 15 City, trolley 83) and Ferenciek tere (metro M3, buses 5 7 7A 7exp 8 15 78 112 173exp City).
Hungarian food is simply great. I spent a week there and was really impressed. My favorite is the paprikas! It's a juicy Hungarian dish you shouldn't miss.
hungastro.com/2008/03/21/paprika-chicken-a-traditional-hungarian-chicken-recipe/#more-21
Really good hostel, comfy beds, free internet, incredibly friendly staff, walking distance from most attractions, free breakfast and it's one of the cheaper hostels in town. I would definitely go back there. Can be difficult to find, up a staircase in the alley next to the billiard hall, follow the pictures of goats.
www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/GoatHostel-Budapest-21850
I've used the fixed fare taxi system (a shared minibus) every time I have visited Budapest - ask for the return fare. They will come and collect you from your hotel and take you back to the airport.
NB: you have to ring 24 hrs before and confirm collection.
They offer individual and group transfers from Budapest Ferihegy airport to any hotel in the city for a fixed price to avoid any local rip off taxis.
This website is about the real Budapest, and gives very interesting background details about the history, culture and architecture of this beautiful capital which is slowly losing some of its unique features (old presszo bars, neon signs, dingy borozos) as it changes into a modern European metropolis. Written by a Hungarian speaker, the articles featured go behind the facade and into much more detail than a guide book could manage.
It has a wealth of information for people who really love Budapest and want to know the city better.
Check out the recent story on the Trabants - really interesting!
A guide with some interesting info about Budapest (the nightlife).
Auguszt Confectionary is a charming little cafe in the downtown of Budapest. They are friendly and polite, it is as if you stepped back in time. Not to mention their excellent sweets, cakes and coffee!
Downtown Budapest, between Ferenciek tere and Astoria metro station.
Kossuth Lajos street 14.-16.
www.augusztcukraszda.hu
Under its dazzling coloured tiled roof and ironwork is a huge array of specialty foods and preserves, liqueurs, caviar, berry jams, and some tourist tat. Wander round the many stalls, and if nothing else, at least buy a colourful string or two of chillies to take home. Take a little care of your possessions, but get stuck in.
Vamhaz korut, right by the river across the green Szabadsag Bridge from Gellert
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