City guide | Budapest, Hungary

My First Time

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Budapest is a city of times gone by. Crumbling buildings with beautiful frescos sit solidly next to communist era brutalist office blocks and apartment complexes. Litter lies in the gutters and graffiti covers walls, doors and statues. Despite all this, and perhaps because of it, Budapest has retained its identity through the years, growing into the city we see today: beautifully diverse.

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This was my first time in Hungary, and I was taken with how proud the people were to be Hungarian. Perhaps this was because we were in the capital, and like Prague, the people living here had a different quality of life than those living in villages and more rural parts of the country. Whatever the reason, everyone we met was cheerful (if not a little staunch), helpful (if you had their attention) and from what I could see, very hard working. 

Arriving

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We arrived in Hungary by train. The station in itself is an amazing building, very large and imposing but also extremely dilapidated. Broken and boarded up windows, crumbling plaster and dated furniture met us off the train. I felt as if I had stepped into a film set. Despite the condition of the buildings I felt comfortable outside the station, where a wide plaza looks onto two main highways coming in and out of town, and an over pass bridge. Unlike the unease I felt at the station in Rome, the atmosphere here seemed a bit more modest and reassuring. Central train stations are unfortunately often a magnet for crime and dodgy characters, as there are naturally a lot of tourists and opportunities to scrounge a bit of food or money. I find that my time in a city is often coloured by the circumstances of my arrival. This time; so far so good.

Accommodation

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These two photos show our little internal balcony and the view from the window looking into the street behind the building.

We walked to our AirB&B from the station as it was only a few blocks away. The streets were smooth and wide, but taking a taxi (if you can get past the language barrier and confusing system of bargaining for a ride with someone who may or may not be a mafia boss) might be easier for you if you are travelling at night, are alone or have a bag that is hard to pull over curbs.

The general amount of street rubbish and old buildings is glaringly obvious at first, but after a few days this doesn't seem as threatening as it may first appear.

Our airB&B was a cute little city apartment a few underground stops away from the city centre. For the price it was lovely, although I can't compare it to any local hostels as I didn't stay at any or look into the pros and cons of each. We were on the top floor and most of these sorts of residential city buildings don't have lifts. I might have injured my back being a bag hero, a show of strength never worth the glory.

Transport

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The underground system seemed easy to use and navigate. You purchase a ticket from the machine either at street level or down the steps on the platform on the side of the road in the direction you want to be travelling. Because the trains are so old, and the tracks are only one level below the street surface, you have to exit the platform and cross the street overground to access the train going in the opposite direction. The bigger stations further out of the city are a little more complicated to travel through, but are easier to get to the right train, once you know what you're looking for. 

There is a tram that runs along the waterfront which is fun to take for the view. At night when the city has its famous lights on, this would be magical. Not so at peak hour when there is less room to move than a Lindon tube carriage.

Buda

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After watching Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel I was dying to go on the funicular. I wasn't disappointed, this was so dinky and silly I felt like a kid on a ferris wheel, as did everyone else. The ride starts at the bottom of the bridge on the more historic 'Buda' side of the city and takes you up to the attractions at the top, including Buda Castle, art gallery and Fisherman's Bastion lookout. I was expecting amazing things after reading about this whole hilltop complex, but I was a little disappointed. A lot of the recommendations and attractions which were once there had closed or been changed, there were a lot of tour group tourists (you know the type). The historic interiors had been plastered up and white washed, and the art gallery was extremely difficult to navigate! There was some lovely architecture including the church, fisherman's bastion which is an observation platform, and the museum building, but I wouldn't make this your biggest thing to see if you are in Budapest. Where there are locals there is life!

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Pest

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The Pest side of Budapest is a crazy mish-mash of old and new. Before the decline, downtown Budapest would have been a beautiful bustling city full of art nouveau architecture. Then with communism, the city centre was neglected, no new buildings were built, meaning nothing was demolished, as the new concrete megastructures and apartment blocks were built further out in the suburbs. The city fell into a sort of financial sleep, to wake up in the present day like sleeping beauty, ready to receive the money from tourists returning to the area, like the prince charming of tomorrow. See, even talking about Budapest makes me use whimsical and magical analogies. 

Budapest is a city coming back into its own, and I think it's popularity (especially the cool as hell music festivals happening here) will see the city grow exponentially in popularity in the next few years. The downside is the current neglected state of some of the buildings. I saw buildings with the top stories covered in building cloth, with businesses still open in the ground floors, tagging and unartistic graffiti, all the rubbish - I just hope that when the money does start returning to the city, the buildings themselves will reap the benefits.

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St. Stephen's Basilica

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The heart of Budapest is the Basilica. This church has an interestingly wide design inside, with extravagant red and gold decoration and fantastic stained glass windows. I was excited to see a design of the crossed keys, perhaps a creative influence for Anderson's Society of the Crossed Keys? Also when the sun sets it shines directly through the surrounding buildings and onto the church, creating a few minutes of dazzling beauty.

Applied Sciences Museum

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 Amazing building (soon to be going under a mullet-like renovation project) and beautiful items on display, this museum was lovely. There is only one floor open to viewing, but this felt like the perfect amount to satisfy my attention span. Go have a look if you like interior design, art nouveau, design and ceramics etc etc etc - it's an applied sciences museum. The description is in the title.

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Central Market

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Although a lovely building and surrounding area well worth a walk to, this market was a huge disappointment. The food stalls selling produce were impressive, and the hot food and takeaway stalls were selling amazing calorific creations, but the crafts market itself was filled with a whole lot of mass produced crap. This market clearly started out with good intentions, but was quickly influenced by the amount of tourists wanting trinkets.

Szechenyi Baths

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I didn't risk myself with my camera this close to the water! If you can stomach the severely overpriced admission cost, go with friends, leave lots of time to relax, try to bring some food and drink, sunbathe, and make sure you bring a swimming cap if you want to go in the lengths pool. The whole thing was a little confusing and unorganised, I can't imagine how much of a hell hole it would be in the height of summer. Make sure you make it to the outdoor pool that you see in all the photos if you decide to go. Alternatively, go to one of the baths the locals prefer and get a more authentic experience perhaps?

Dining 

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The food was delicious in Hungary. If you're still reading, I congratulate you for getting this far! I'll try to keep it short with two basic options:

1. You want the shoestring option and don't really care about what you're putting in your mouth - there are a lot of good supermarkets with surprisingly good deli sections for a cheap homemade feast, or you can get cheap street food or fast food in Hungarian style - delicious meat products, especially the stews i.e. goulash soup. 

2. You are a foodie who has a large food budget - if you're a traveller with no limit on your food spending you will already heard of trip advisor and will have systematically researched and reserved a table at a place that takes your fancy. I really enjoyed the food in Budapest, and a few I can remember are a Jewish restaurant a few streets away from the train station, a dining room with a stage for live jazz close to our apartment in the jewish quarter, and a book restaurant called KonyvBar, also close to the Pest Jewish Quarter. KonyvBar was my favourite because as well as being amazing quality food, as the menu is set to a book of the month.

We also had a drink at the trendy Bestia, which specialises in craft beer. This is right opposite the Basilica in the middle of town.

Thank you for reading, I hope you are inspired to visit Budapest!

x G x