I actually went to Budapest for my hen party back in January 2015. At the time we were looking for cheap flights and drinks and somewhere I hadn’t been before. Wow I did not expect Budapest to be as lovely as it was. We had an absolute ball, from cocktails to ruin bars, a sneaky stripper 🙈 and thermal baths. I just knew I absolutely had to go back and maybe spend a few sober days there 😂
So, as Mr. Sheddon (aka Ross) is a huge Formula 1 fan and there’s a race track just outside Budapest, I thought hey, why not combine the two! Fast forward to July 2019 and we were off to the Capital of Hungary for 5 nights!
Read the details below to see where we stayed and what we did so you can start to plan your trip to Budapest!
First things first, where did we stay?
I almost always prefer to stay in apartments when I go abroad, especially if it’s for more than a couple days. I find you get much more bang for your buck and can sometimes find some really quirky places. We stayed in two different apartments during our week in the city.
First we stayed in ‘Play Apartments’. I found this apartment fantastic, really clean, excellent location and had everything we needed. A bit noisy at night time as it was in the middle of the city but we didn’t mind. This was €67 per night
*Pictures taken from booking.com website.
I actually wish we had stayed in that apartment for the full duration of our trip but I saw this next apartment ‘Lavender Circus Apartments’ on the Budapest episode of ‘Travel Man’ and had to book it. The apartment was nice but it was definitely a bit of a disappointment. The location was still good but I didn’t like the layout of the apartment at all. It was a loft style with the bed up some steps, which isn’t ideal if you need to pee in the middle of the night 🙈
This was €100 per night.
This stairs was not fun at the end of our night on the town ;)
*Picture taken from booking.com website.
Link: http://www.booking.com/Share-GcDIQJ
Day 1
St Stephen's Basilica, Central Market Hall, New York Café, Mazel Tov Restaurant
We got an early morning flight from Dublin to Budapest airport via Ryanair. The flights were super cheap and you can always find really good deals with them. Flight time was only 2h 50 mins so by the time we ordered a coffee and had a short nap we were landing!
There are a few different ways to get from Budapest airport to the city centre, and it’s super easy:
Bus 100E from terminal 2 - this is the cheapest option, takes approx. 50 mins and is less than €3 pp. the buses leave every 20 mins.
Taxi - Fötaxi is a reliable company and you can find stands a both terminal. This will take you approx 30 minutes and will cost you between €20-€25 depending on traffic.
Shuttle Bus - Can be booked via the GetYourGuide website and costs €10.50 pp. This will take approx 50 minutes depending on how many drop offs there are.
We chose to go by taxi, which was super handy! The currency in Budapest is Hungarian Florence or ‘HUFs’. I find when travelling to a different country the easiest thing to do is take your money out of an ATM when you get to the airport or use a currency exchange. I would highly recommend signing up for a REVOLUT card. They have great currency exchange rates and no ATM charges for the first €500. You can also keep an eye on exchange rates in advance of your holiday and buy the currency to keep on your REVOLUT account for when you need it. We took money out of the ATM at the airport to pay for the taxi.
Day one was all about finding our feet, getting used to the heat (31 degrees celcius🙈) and just enjoying ourselves. We dropped our bags off at the apartment and went straight for a drink at the Liberty Bridge. The bar was called ‘Up and Down’, we only had a drink there so can’t comment on food, but the view was definitely lovely 😍.
The Liberty Bridge is a gorgeous landmark connecting Buda and Pest over the Danube river. At each end is a public square, Gellert Ter, which is on the Buda side, and Fovam Ter, which has the Great Market Hall (see below :)). It was also the first bridge in Budapest to be rebuilt after they were all heavily damaged during WW2.
After that we found our way to St. Stephen's Basilica. This is a Roman Catholic Basilica named after the first King of Hungary and is one of the largest religious buildings in Hungary. We didn't go inside but you can explore the inside and either take the stairs or the elevator to the top for views of the city for only €3 per adult and €2.50 per student.
After all of our walking around in 30 degree heat we were starving!! So we headed to the Central Market Hall for a browse and a bite to eat. A really nice place to escape from the heat and buy a few souvenirs. Some interesting food choices too like donkey sausage :O. We got some hot dogs and beers and bought a few trinkets to take home. Good prices for souvenirs here compared to the more touristy shops!
After this we went back to the apartment to get officially checked in and then went to New York Cafe for cocktails and cake. This place is known as the most beautiful Cafe in the world and it really is stunning! No booking was required, we waited for about 15 minutes for a table as we were only having drinks and desert. To be honest I don't think I would have a full meal here as it is a bit pricey but definitely worth checking out for a drink. They had a string quartet playing the Game of Thrones theme tune when we were there, which was brill!
Finally we went to Mazel Tov for the main meal. I had heard about this place on no other than Instagram and it did not disappoint!! Located in the Jewish District, it serves Middle Eastern Food. I had the shawarma plate, sweet potato wedges and a few different cocktails. Oh and the deep fried pitta bread is an absolute must!! Make sure to book a table in advance as this place is very popular.
Day 2
Fisherman’s Bastion, Buda Castle, Pontoon Bar, Szechenyi Thermal Baths, Boat Tour, Ruin Bars
The Fisherman's castle and Buda Castle are located on the Buda side of Budapest at the 'Castle District' and are an absolute must see if you are visiting the city! This district can easily be reached by Tram, Metro, Bus, or walking. Just type it into google maps and let your phone guide you ;)
There are a couple of options for then reaching the top of Castle Hill and :
Walk up the hill - plenty of routes can be found on google or using google maps.
Get the bus up the hill and walk through the entire district.
Funicular railway - this takes approximately 2 minutes but you will have to queue if there during peak times/seasons. It costs €5 / 2000 HUF for adults return and €2.76 / 1100 HUF for children return.
Official Budapest Castle Bus from 'Clark Adam Square'. This is a hop on hop off bus that takes you to the Fisherman's Bastion, Buda Tower and Old Town, Buda Castle and Castle Garden Bazaar. This was the option we took and found it brilliant! It costs €10 / 4000 HUF for adults and €5 / 2000 HUF for kids. It's open from 9:00-16:00 every day and departs every 20 minutes. You will find people selling these tickets at the bottom of castle hill.
Next we walked back over the Chain Bridge, which I would highly recommend for the stunning views of the Danube. We found a really cool bar called Pontoon, where we could get some beers and cocktails and sit on the bank of the river underneath the bridge. How fab!!
After our drink at Pontoon we headed for the Szechenyi Thermal baths. There are a number of Thermal Baths to visit in Budapest and Szechenyi Spa is the biggest and oldest at over 100 years old. It contains 18 geothermal pools, some indoor and some outdoor and is open 365 days of the year. I've been both in the summer and the winter and had a different but enjoyable experience at both.
Visiting the baths in winter are exciting and reminded me of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. There's something so nice about sitting in a warm outdoor swimming pool while the outside temperature is 0 degrees celcius! In the summer you can spend the day relaxing by the pool on the sun loungers and having food and drinks.
Tickets can be bought directly on the website, when you arrive at the baths or on GetYourGuide. Tickets are €30 per person with a private cabin to get changed in and leave your stuff. They also hold pool parties throughout the summer, details can be found on the website for the baths - http://szechenyispabaths.com/
After the baths we got an evening boat tour on the Danube. We booked this on the Viator website, it was about €16 per person and included a welcome drink (watered down cocktail). Cocktail aside, I would highly recommend this tour as you get to say great views of the city including the Hungarian Parliament Building.
Next we went back to the apartment for a quick change and headed out towards the Ruin Bars. Ruin bars are these strange, weird but wonderful bars in Budapest where you can get cheap drinks, take a multitude of instagram worthy pics and dance the night away. Located in the Jewish Quarter, these bars started around 2000's in the Jewish Ghetto as a place for people to get cheap drinks in an abandoned building. Since then the concept of ruin bars has exploded and they are not one of the most popular sites in Budapest.
One of my favourites is Szimpla Kert, which is sorta dingy and full of random pieces of Junk but somehow it works. From old bikes, cars turned into seating areas to bath tubs with cushions that you can sit in and smoke a shisha, this place is like nowhere else you've been before!
Food court beside Szimpla Kert. The BBQ box was amazing!!!
Krampus Tiki Bar - would highly recommend for the crazy cocktails!!
Shisha in a bathtub, where else would you do this lol!
Things to Do & See
Fisherman’s Bastion
Buda Castle
Boat trip on the Danube
Szechenyi Thermal Baths
St Stephens Basilica
Chain bridge
Liberty bridge
Heroes square
Shoes on the Danube
Where to Eat/drink
Mazel Tof
Hotel New York
Pontoon Bar
Szimpla Kert Ruin Bar
Krampus Tiki Bar
Market Hall Market
Up and Down at Liberty Bridge
Here is a 2 day Sample Itinerary that I would recommend. I've changed it up a little bit from how we did it at the time to make it more efficient and also added in a few of the things that we didn't visit as I saw them on my first trip here :)
Day 1 -
St. Stephens Basilica
Liberty Bridge
Market Hall for lunch
New York Cafe for Dessert & Cocktails
See Shoes on the Danube
Evening boat tour on the Danube
Dinner at Mazel Tav
Day 2 -
Walk or take the tram/metro to the Szechenyi Chain Bridge
Visit Fisherman's Bastion
Lunch/Cocktails at Fisherman's Bastion
Buda Castle
Pontoon Bar for a drink
Heroes Square
Thermal Baths
Eat at food court beside Szimpla Kert
Ruin Bars (possibly book bar crawl/tour)
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