Budapest To Do List

Once upon a time I fell in love with this city, an old story of the university days in Lithuania…

Me and my friend aka ‘partner in madness’ suddenly hit a Eurotrip (Vilnius – Warsaw – Prague – Vienna – Bratislava – Krakow – Vilnius) …by hitchhiking!

Hungary did not appear in our plans.

However, we were heading from Prague to Vienna, when those two hippy kind of fellas picked us up. They got simply amazed by our “European highway adventures” story. Then, suddenly they suggested: “Since you are free travelers and have already completed such an impressive pathway, why wouldn’t you go visit Budapest? The city is so cool and literally nearby!”

Unexpected idea had its impressive effect. My friend and I looked at each other, opened the European Road atlas (year 2011, obviously, we did not have smartphones and GPS navigators, only an atlas from a kiosk at the Vilnius railway station and some well-developed path-finding skills), then looked closely at the distance, thought about… and got very excited! That moment another destination was drawn in itinerary of our journey.

But as soon as we reached the borders of the Hungarian capital, we were immediately desponded: lousy images of dysfunctional suburbs and kind of “black quarters” seemed so depressive. We had no clue how to get to the city centre and where to find a shelter, besides, unwelcoming Hungarians were not particularly keen to help us figure it out. In a word, we got a thousand regrets about our spontaneous venture. We even wanted to immediately continue our journey and head straight to Krakow. However, night was falling, so it was necessary to get some sleep, rest, and learn the way out of the city in order to set a course for Poland in the morning. Thus, we wandered somewhere around a bit more, getting on the wrong bus with the route opposite from the centre.. But!

When we had changed the direction to the correct one and finally rolled out of those provincial hills, a breathtaking picture was drawn in the window of our tram: magnificent landscape of the Danube river, sparkling in the night lights of all its bridges, great rocks on one side of its banks and glowing Old Town on the other. It took our breath away and we immediately concluded that it’s definitely worth staying here for a couple of nights…

Following the results of incredible time in Budapest, being inspired by its picturesque centre, atmospheric streets and majestic architecture, we marked this city as the best one in our Eurotour (after Vienna, of course, which is beyond competition :).

Well, here I am again, this time in a new company and traveling by plane, but the centre of Budapest remains charming and truly fascinating, important point here is not to get out of it eventually into faceless neighborhoods :).

Things to do in Budapest

So, let’s get back now to the Budapest To Do List:

Visit Széchenyi Thermal Bath and drown in the crowd.

Dine out in a local restaurant serving traditional Hungarian dishes. Enjoy your meal with a local dry rosé.

Take 2-hours Danube cruise at a sunset, savour champagne and wine with extremely scenic sightseeings passing by.

Take funicular up to the National Gallery and observe astonishing night city views.
Stroll across each of the beautiful central bridges.

Then, spend a peaceful day in charming parks of the Margaret island chilling in the shadows of old trees, smelling wonderful flowers here and there, enjoying musical fountains dancing to Hungarian pop songs, and eating gross, but freaking delicious Lágos in one of those hippy buffets around here.
Sit like local teenagers on the green Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd) in the night and drink some local beer observing stunning and sparkling night view onto all those bright bridges over the Danube river.

Break through the Gozsdu Udvar – local bar street, and savour a glass of sparkling Aperol touch. Then find the Game street right in between the bars and spend dozens of 200 Forint coins in machines, pinball, motorcycles and cars. Feel fun and joy like it’s 90s!

Don’t forget to explore both sides of former Buda and Pest, that united in 1873 and formed modern Hungarian capital.

And simply get lost on cozy city streets finding random spectacular places!

Hungry in Hungary

It’s about time to get to my favourite point. Food.

To be honest, Hungarian cuisine hasn’t amazed me. I mean, at all.. Some street food specialities, a few traditional dishes, and basically that’s it. However, if you are a “local-food-seeker” like me, here are some ideas in case you are ‘hungry in Hungary’:

Try national Mangalitsa cheek paprikash with Hungarian dumplings and scrambled eggs. Enjoy it with a local rose wine;

Try some of traditional soups, such as Veal Goulash soup, or Catfish soup with home made bread, or Cold and sweet Strawberry soup (which is actually a kind of simple sugary strawberry smoothie that you sup with a spoon, as for me);

Try local Hungarian pastry Kürtöskalács – sugary chimney cake stuffed with chocolate or jam, and ice cream;

Try Lángos – traditional Hungarian street food with sour cream, garlic butter and a loooot of cheese on a deep-fried crispy dough. Better with extra bacon and onions that improve the taste of this simple, gross, but freaking delicious local dish;