Rocketing into our top 5 favourite European cities, Budapest delivered the goods. In the last 12 months we have had 9 family and friends visit the city and we were keen to check it out for ourselves and see what the buzz was about.
It’s an interesting city in that it feels like it has multiple personas: of course there is the physical split of 2 cities either side of the Danube with Buda and Pest (pronounced ‘Pesht’ by locals) joining forces in the mid 19th century; then there is the tourist city of Budapest and the city for the Hungarians. You can certainly come here and spend a lot of money on flashy hotels and restaurants, which we did on a few occasions. Equally though a little research can have you eating like royalty in a backstreet or at the markets for next to nothing.
We opted for Air BnB accommodation here for our 6 night stay and moved into our studio apartment near the Buda castle precinct for the grand total of $280. Most of the popular things to see in Budapest are on the Pest side of the river, and the best vantage point of the city is from the Buda castle – a bonus we had not considered when booking our apartment. As we ascended the 200 stairs from our street into the castle area we were blown away by the view – it’s a gorgeous city to behold in daylight, and spectacular as the sun goes down and the lights come on.
Our first few days were filled with wandering the streets in awe of the stunning architecture: the well known sights of Parliament House on the river and the stunningly decorated Opera House, churches and synagogues, palaces and squares. There are so many excellent places to eat and drink we could not even consider using the kitchen in our apartment, and frequenting the coffee houses provided respite from the thick heat that hangs over the city in the summer afternoons.
Opting for a tourist haunt one day because it looked so pretty, we entered the New York Cafe which was so decadent and full of stories over 100 years old. We can’t say the 2 coffees and shared cake was worth $46 but it was a taste of the old world glamour of the city! Note if you do visit Budapest service charges are common and “conveniently” included on the bill!
Of course you can’t come to Budapest without visiting one of the many thermal baths that are dotted around the city. Some are pricey, some cheap; some welcome both sexes and others have specific days by gender. The one we had on our radar was Szechenyi Baths which is one of the largest of its kind in Europe and about 20 minutes outside of the city by metro. Its easy to lose hours here moving from bath to bath, both indoors and out, and of course when lunch comes around there is beer and hotdogs at the ready!
Another drawcard of being in this city in July was our chance to attend our 3rd Grand Prix and our 3 day pass to the Hungaroring track gave us the chance to check out all the action of practice and qualifying in the lead up to the actual race. We had weather ranging from steaming humidity to torrential downpours, ate $18 hotdogs and spent a few hours each day getting to and from the track. It was hot and sticky work made somewhat bearable by Riccardo finishing on the podium at least!
There is no doubt this is a city we will return to again one day and while it felt more expensive than the Baltics and Slovakia, it’s still a dream compared to Sydney where 3 course meals and a bottle of wine would cost us far more than $100! Thanks for the memories Budapest, we’ll meet again soon.
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