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thanks Loic, my job tonight is to go and contact old friends there and see what they can recommend too.
Oh and this obviously, for the Gob Bluth moments:
http://citysegwaytours.com/budapest/tours/budapest-private-segway-tour
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I used to live there, so I don't know about hotels, I only know about a student residence that transform to a youth hostel during the summer, BUT my favorite restaurant was the "Szent Jupat" in Moskva Ter (Moscow Square)
Here's the webpage:
http://www.stjupat.hu/
But the picture you can see is where not to go, as it is the ground/first floor room... The good place is in the basement, as it used to be a trucker restaurant, openned 24/7, super greasy smelly and massive plates, mega generous serving, great ambiance... I remember going there after partys very early in the morning, when you are starving... amazing!Otherwise you HAVE to go to the baths, the szechenyi being the most famous, and possibly the nicest...
Because of being such a good place it is full of tourists, but it does not really matter, and you can avoid that by going very early in the morning (I think it opens at 5 or 6...) Winter is great to go there, the steam coming out of the water creates a great ambiance.They are plenty of other baths, I did not go to all of them, I remember one just next to Danube (name was Luckacs or Rudas... I don't remember which is which, one of them is gay maybe, as these smaller and maybe more traditional baths are not mixt every day, or sometimes never, monday women, tuesday men, etc...) Anyway I think it's the Luckacs... it's on the west side of the river, few tramway stops at the north of the liberty bridge I think. Here's a picture google found:
But there is also in the same place another part of the building which still has the turkish dome, which is beautiful...
So I recommend you go out and get shitfaced, after your party you go to one of these bath, the first one I mentionned is better as it's bigger, and is located in the woods at the end of Andrassy avenue, with direct access from the number one tube line (yellow). You repair your hangover lying in 34 degrees bath for an hour and then you will really be starving, so you go to their fabulous patisseries, the poshest one being the Gerbaud, but our favorite was the Muvesz, quieter, less tourists, not far from the opera.
Once there you eat all the cakes they have and your life will feel like paradise! Really!
Ah, I enjoyed writing this, I had such good times over there, Budapest is such a beautiful city...
Cycling there is really easy, due to the radio-concentric layout of the city, you never really get lost, it's not as rational as a city like New York, the streets are not necessaraly straigh, but it's not confusing like London for example...
Enjoy your time there, good choice to go when it's start to be colder, everything looks nicer when it's cold there... and summer is way too hot... Too early for snow though I suppose...
Loic
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^I went to those top baths - quite busy, but still well worth it...
I wish I'd had Loic's advice before I went. Risking sounding like a hipster I would recommend getting the wallpaper travel guide, we had it and it gave us some good stuff to do for three days in a city we otherwise knew nothing about. It's quite small and completely walkable...
Szimpla kert is quite a well known but no less awesome open air pub...you'd never find it if you didn't know where to look: http://szimpla.hu/index_en.htm
There is an amazing little coffee shop on Lizst Ferenc Ter, opposite the picture house (?). Foodwise we ate cheap rubbish for three days - what you get for travelling with saffa phillistines...
I never went to the the communist statue park, but I wish I had. (A bit out of town).
Amazing place...
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I've seen a few apartments and stuff and they are all reasonably priced, but I was wondering what the best area(s) to stay in were?
Try to stay within what they call the "small crown" if you can, as you will be able to go everywhere easily, although you might have to pay more.
Here:
Basicaly the "small crown" is the yellow road forming a circle arround where you can see on the map above the districts 1 and 5 (Var & elvaros). You can also go a bit further, but try to stay within the "large crown", which in the map above is the incomplete circle that includes district 6, 7, 8 and 9 on the est side of the river (Pest) and on west side districts 11 & 12 (more or less: on the Buda side you have like small montains, some area feel quite sub-urban in a nice or less nice way depending where you are... I'd say it's good really to stay within the "small crown" on the Buda side, when on the Pest side you can go a bit further...) Not that the rest of the city is not nice, it's like everywhere, there's variations, but considering you are there for a short period, you would prefer to stay in the area of the town with more density...
If you find an appartment further away, make sure you are on one of the two main tube lines crossing the city (the red and the blue) for quick connections to wherever you would need to go.Loic
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I never went to the the communist statue park, but I wish I had. (A bit out of town)
Have no regrets for that... I went there and I was quite desappointed...
The friend I went with to that park had a friend who spent time in Budapest years before us (I was there in 97 I think). That friend went to that place when it was still not really known apparently, and he went during the winter, there was snow everywhere and the park was just a basic field with the statues randomly installed... it was described a quite a dramatical experience... especially for west europeans like us... a desert field covered in snow, imposing communist statues in the middle of nowhere...
But when I was there thing had changed, as it was very well organised, with gates, nice little alleys, trees, etc... a bit like a communist disney world... all that attention of making the place an attraction distract your attention from the statues which are not anymore the feature, but just like decorations...
So because it take so long to go there, I feel that it does not worth to go really, but that's only my opinion...Loic
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Is that a dead person?
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Try to stay within what they call the "small crown" if you can, as you will be able to go everywhere easily, although you might have to pay more.
Here:
Basicaly the "small crown" is the yellow road forming a circle arround where you can see on the map above the districts 1 and 5 (Var & elvaros). You can also go a bit further, but try to stay within the "large crown", which in the map above is the incomplete circle that includes district 6, 7, 8 and 9 on the est side of the river (Pest) and on west side districts 11 & 12 (more or less: on the Buda side you have like small montains, some area feel quite sub-urban in a nice or less nice way depending where you are... I'd say it's good really to stay within the "small crown" on the Buda side, when on the Pest side you can go a bit further...) Not that the rest of the city is not nice, it's like everywhere, there's variations, but considering you are there for a short period, you would prefer to stay in the area of the town with more density...
If you find an appartment further away, make sure you are on one of the two main tube lines crossing the city (the red and the blue) for quick connections to wherever you would need to go.Loic
Thanks so much Loic! That's exactly what I need to know.
Top thread.
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Buda > Pest.
Angelina Jolie is currently filming outside my mates flat on the river, apparently they've made the street look like war-torn Serbia.
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Report..... Got in close to midnight on Friday. Checked into a hostel called Paprika which is close to the main train station. Went out for a few beers.
Next morning, one of the hostel staff gave us the lo-down. He was really helpful and circled a load of suggested attractions/things to do on the map. We strolled from our hostel down to the Danube and followed it south to the central market. Had a browse about there, then crossed the bridge to Buda. Strolled up to the Citadel and Castel hill, then onto the Fishermans Bastion. By the time we got here, the view across the river to Pest was a lovely shade of pink. It got dark at about 4.30pm, so we kept walking along the Buda side of the river, but heading north. The idea was to walk across the bridge connecting Buda-Pest and the Island, swing back via the Parliment then head back to the hostel. We walked alot. Got half way across the bridge and worked out only half of it was open as there was loads of construction going on... so we could get onto the island, but not back to Pest. So we about turned, ate some sausage (purchased earlier at the market) and backtracked. To rest our weary legs we found a Belgium Beer Cafe - yes a bit of a cop out when in Hungary, but we needed to sit down. This place had scaffolding out the front, and I'm not sure of the name, but it was next to the Victoria hotel and they had about 150 beers on their menu. We sat there long enough to forget about our tired legs, then headed to Loics recommendation for nosh - "Szent Jupat" in Moskva Ter. The portions were gigantic, and it was about £25 for 2 courses and drinks for 2.
We strolled back to the hostel, had a few local beers, then went out to a bar called Instant on Jokai Utca. Brilliant bar - more like a club, with a bit of drum and base/dub step down stairs, an airy pretend outdoor bit on the ground floor and another dj room upstairs. Ended up staying there til about 6am. Fun times. Sunday we weren't exactally early to rise, but we strolled down to the Heros square and the Széchenyi Baths. Had a good soak - they're bloody awesome. So grand and the outside pool is brilliant. They seem to randomly turn on different jets/whirl pools and everyone gets involved.
On Monday we strolled back to the markets and had one last session of food and booze from another travelers recommendation. 2 hours all you can eat/drink for £10 each, and not bad stuff.
http://www.trofeagrill.eu/en
Ahh, I think that is about it. All in all I really enjoyed Budapest. The people were so nice and you could have a proper laugh with them. 4*s and highly recommended for a mini break. -
then headed to Loics recommendation for nosh - "Szent Jupat" in Moskva Ter. The portions were gigantic, and it was about £25 for 2 courses and drinks for 2.
And how did you like it? Last time I was there was over 10 years ago, I hope the food is still as good as it was, plain honnest, perfect when it's cold...
Loic
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The famous big outdoor spa (seceny?) is incredible. Cannot be missed. Give yourself a few hours to enjoy it. Sitting outside in huge outdoor hot baths whilst it is freezing outside is amazing. All the indoor spas are touristy and expensive.
The old Jewish ghetto a area to the east of the city centre has lots of of really cool (but not ostentatious) bars and little restaurants all of which are cheap and great. Lots of pork and cabbage. There is a restaurant called M which is very good and quirky.
The area down by the Danube is touristy but pretty stunning. There is a big food hall market which is worth a visit to stock up on paprika but is also very touristy.
Walk up to the spa because it is in the really grand old part of town but otherwise don't be scared of the underground system. Reall cheap and fast.
Anyway tl;dr Budapest is an awesome city. Very jealous.
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About
Budapest
Posted by
@runcible_rakan
I used to live in Budapest for 18 month almost 10 years ago... it is a marvellous city!!
Flea market I used to go to, every sunday, was at the "Petofi Csarnok" (sorry for the approximative spelling...). You go at the end of the tube line no. 1, behind the heroes square and city small forest... But I don't remember of bikes there, more like old watches, etc...
I bought the bike I was using there at ther time and that I brought back to France after in a second hand / charity shop on Kiraly Utca (Street), were there was a lot of shop of that sort...
Szia
Loic