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Budapest
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Has anyone ever been to Budapest before? Is it a nice city to busy? What is there to do there?
Post edited by JustV on
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There's a big river, as you probably know, and lots of bridges across it. Another thing that impressed me was a big square that was (almost) level with the street and has huge statues of old kings.
There's a certain day (I think it's in August) where they celebrate something and shoot loads of fireworks from a boat travelling in the river.
Although, the reason my brother left Hungary is that it turned into what's practically a dictatorship (a law was passed that allows the government to control the media). I don't know if it would still be a good place to visit, my knowledge isn't up-to-date.
It's a city that used to be two, Buda to the west of the river and Pest to the east. They still have pretty different characters.
Buda is pretty hilly, and extremely pretty, with great views over Pest. There's an impressive castle/palace with ramparts that look a bit like Gondor from the Lord of the Rings (seriously, take a look!), cobbled streets, old buildings, churches and if you're into that kind of thing, an amazing Soviet-era nuclear bunker (worth a tour if you're interested in C20th history). Aslo, be sure to catch the view of the parliament building on the other side of the river.
Pest is much flatter and feels a bit less touristy and more 'busy European city'. There's a ton of stuff to do/see, but some of the things I remember enjoying were: visiting a bizzare, Disney-style castle in Városliget park (the park alone is probably worth a visit), an even more bizzare statue-park filled with scary Soviet statues (Memento Park I think is the name). There are lots of museums about the place too. Finally, not sure if you're into opera, but the Hungarian State Opera is really good and sometimes do really cheap on-the-day tickets (I think we got some for 8EUR each).
There's a pretty efficient underground that makes getting around fairly straight-forward. Worth buying a carnet of tickets.
There's so much to do.
On the left side (Buda) there is Gellérthegy (Gellert Hill) with a big kind of fortress and a fair few museums and views across Pest. There is also a nice tram route down that side of the river, where you can see the other side of Budapest.
Then in the middle of the Danube, there is Margitsziget (Margaret Island) and it's so beautiful there - it's just kind of a park. There is also a thermal baths that is lesser known than the big one in the city park. Then on the Pest side, just over from Gellért there is a wonderful market, the parliament, Heroes square and city park (with the better known thermal baths) (which are really close and lovely to wander in).
Well worth a visit, especially in the summer. It's fairly cheap too
I have heard about it becoming more of a dictatorship and also about the state becoming homophobic which is a shame - I'd love to visit again.
It depends what you want to do and how long you're going for. You could combine your trip with a eurotrip or also stay in Hungary and go to Lake Balaton - the biggest fresh water lake in central Europe. It's about an hour and a half to 2 hrs from Budapest on the train and so many of the places have different characters (we stayed in Siófok which in the summer is a young person's party paradise) but then also visited places like Tihány, Keszthely. Transport is good in the area - you can take ferries across the lake too.
I mainly went to visit my friend and her friends, so we'd just have house parties so I can't really help!