Budapest

run_time

Well-known member
heading to Budapest for a long w/end wondering if anyone has been and would care to share any experiences, first hand or otherwise

thx
 

blunt

shot by both sides
Budapest is beautiful! Kind of like a cross between Berlin and Paris, but with an Islamic taste for the decorative - tho the locals won't thank you for pointing that out ;)

I went a couple of times late last year; it was great. For my money, it's almost uncannily like mid-90s Berlin, both architecturally and atmospherically. Lots of cheap accomodation in grand old tenement blocks, great warehouse parties and impromptu bars that are there one minute and gone the next. Really great restaurants too, all dead cheap.

Club: Kultiplex, Kiniszi utca 28

Bar: Szoda, VII. Wesselényi utca 18

Restaurant: Leroy Cafe Leroy Cafe, Szent István tér 7. (by the Basilica)

The Time Out guide is pretty good for all the sites. And if you're up early enough on the Sunday morning, the flea market in the central park is worth a look; all good fun.

Be aware that minicabs tend to charge tourists thru the nose and take the most outrageously circuitous routes - try and makes some Hungarian friends...
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
One of my favourite cities; been twice and will go again. If you get a chance, spend your last afternoon at one of the big bath houses; Gellert is the famous one, but I always go to the Szechenyi baths in the middle of the city park (Varosliget). This is the one with a giant outdoor hot spa where the Budapest old boys stay all day and play chess. Perfect preparation for travelling home.
 

gabriel

The Heatwave
i was in budapest in april, loved it, great city. there's some turkish baths in a big park that has an outdoor heated pool that is very very cool, definitely recommend that.

also went to a nice dancehall night at a place called trafo bar tango on liliom utca (utca = street i think). more info on http://www.dancehall.hu/ including lots of other dates for nights and concerts.

a trip up the danube is recommended too

EDIT - exactly, the szechenyi one is what i mean. i didn't like gellert, found it a bit decrepit and sleazy...
 

owen

Well-known member
Budapest is lovely, if a little hm well culturally nondescript (ducks)- certainly liked it more than my blog post on it would imply. I particularly recommend going into random bars off the grimier bit of Andrassy Ut, and avoiding the Victorian follies like the castle and so forth...

I'm very, very impressed you manages to find a dancehall night there, seeing as all I heard over there was either sub-MTV base or terrifying twee/militaristic turbofolk...my radar obviously isn't all that...

WHATVER you do, do not go be lured by the name into going into 'Beckett's'- there I was expecting walking into a place with Krapp's Last Tape on in the corner or summat, and it is not not not good
 
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gabriel

The Heatwave
owen said:
I'm very, very impressed you manages to find a dancehall night there, seeing as all I heard over there was either sub-MTV base or terrifying twee/militaristic turbofolk...my radar obviously isn't all that...

the wonder of the internet innit - did a search before i went, hit up the guys who run the dancehall website/record shop and played at their weekly event as well :)
 

run_time

Well-known member
would have to add my recommendation for the city...does the whole 'faded grandeur' thing pretty well although i get the feeling that the city is changing fast. i definitely see the Berlin comparison although things are changing there at such a rate that i'm not sure how long these comparisons will hold. amazing architecture if your into older buildings.

things i would recommend are some of the courtyard bars (obviously more a summer thing) which made for an exciting change from London alternatives (one included an outdoor cinema) and the baths with my favourite being the Gellert Baths which were v elaborate and felt more like a Turkish bath and less like a swimming pool
 

jenks

thread death
without sounding melodaramatic but i was never happier than the two weeks i spent in budapest

it was 1990 though, but i sense that the inviolate budapesteness of the city is indestrucible, a rather wild speculation i know but i feel solid in my supposition.

really mustn't drink in the afternoon :eek:
 

Badmarsh

Well-known member
most beautiful women on this planet. mad up for it party crowd (ive djed there) some wicked underground vibes in hungary
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Any more recent thoughts or recommendations? Am headed there Tuesday en familie... (so not bovvered about clubs)
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I'd love to be of service but I spent my whole time there drinking beer and being fleeced in a strip club. Its a beautiful city though, I'd love to go back there for longer (only went for a few days on the way to Exit festival). One thing we only discovered on the way home was these outside bars they have in the courtyards of some buildings. Apparently there's loads of them around and they stay open until very late.

The hill overlooking Budapest must be climbed too.

That's all, soz. :eek:
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Any more recent thoughts or recommendations? Am headed there Tuesday en familie... (so not bovvered about clubs)

Yep, lived there for six months way back when. Testing the memory banks, but....

Check out the 8th quarter, I think it is, where there's Budapet's Chinese population, loads of atmosphere and the train station that went to Auschwitz for gravitas.

Heroes' Square is very beautiful, as is the park behind it.

Go to Buda. I lived there, and it's very calming compared to Pest. In winter just beautiful, but obv that's not strictly relevant.

The food can be stellar. If there's still a kebab shop called Three Kings (whatever that is in Hungarian), go, for I do recall it being the best kebab in the world.

Marxim's in Pest is a cute Communist-themed cafe with great pizza breads that we used to frequent. May be gone now, but that's progress...

All the World Heritage stuff (castle etc) is overrated to my mind. But the river view is mindblowing.
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Thanks folks. All good, if only to remind myself not to get fleeced in a stripclub :p

I think wandering around is the order of the day, but we'll see - it's pissing it down apparently.

Still looking forward though :cool:
 

sufi

lala
just popped up in the in box - interesting tho probably less useful...:D
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baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Just found this thread again, so a few restaurant tips, albeit a bit late for You's trip:

http://everythingbudapest.eu/Budapest_-_Restaurants/Budapest_Restaurant_Roundup.html

found this when I went last year. Some stunning places listed there - I ate as well as I've ever eaten on holiday.

Will try to remember which ones I ended up going to....

ah yes - one of them was Kanaan (Csanadi ut) and that was pretty sublime.

Not from that site:
Cafe Kor (Sas utca) was extremely good, little bit more expensive as I remember, but that's only in Budapest terms.
Kadar (Klauzal ter) - Jewish restaurant, again excellent.
I think it was Millennium da Pippo (on Andrassy ut) where they serve the most divine ricotta and pear cake in the entire world. The Italian food can be fantastic in Budapest.
And I had pizza in a random pub that was good as any I've had in my life (and that includes Sicilian pizza) - it's pretty mental how good the standard of food is, tbh.
And if you're in Buda, Marxims is still one of my favourite places to get breakfast/lunch, but that's also mixed in with nostalgia on my part maybe.

As to bars - for early evening drinks, some lovely little non-touristy bars with outside tables in the pedestrianised area in the VI district, around Hollan ut (I think it is), around the corner from the restaurant Kanaan i mentioned. Apart from that, the same website as above - http://everythingbudapest.eu/Budapest_-_Restaurants/Budapest_Bars_&_Ruin_Pubs.html - has tons of recommendations that I didn't have the chance to test out...
 
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