Going there tonight. Anybody have any recommendations?
I’m guessing you’re staying in Pest? You looking for food, bar, or sightseeing info?
For sightseeing, Buda Palace is ridiculous, you can pretty much see all of Buda in an afternoon of walking around - or spend days if you want to go nuts. There’s a good restaurant in the Hilton that overlooks the parliament, sick view at night. You can also dine on Fisherman’s Bastion and see the parliament/danube, again views are incredible. River cruises are also good, they are pretty short, give you a drink, and it’s a cool view.
Most of the good restaurants/bars are on the Pest side. Cafe Kor is very good, and right by St. Stephen’s. You could check out St. Stephen’s, eat at Kor, then make your way toward the inner city to check out some bars in that area (streets like vaci utca, etc.). Also very good restaurants/bars in Liszt Ferenc square, it’s off Andrassy.
There’s good shopping on Andrassy, and probably worth taking a stroll on. The bathhouses are supposed to be good, but never did those. There’s also plenty of adult entertainment around, shouldn’t be too hard to find.
IMO, find a good cab driver/company for your trip. There’s a lot of issues with unregulated cabs and they can get stupid expensive (like worse than london) - a good driver will save you money and can point you towards cool stuff.
Budapest is awesome, I is be very jealous.
Thanks, yep staying in District 5 in Pest. Good recs, much appreciated. Looking for all of the above, will be there for 3 nights.
Sweet, that’s a good area. IIRC there’s a pretty big market by there, good local foods to try - I liked Langos, it’s basically just a funnel cake.
I hear escorts are below market rates due to an oversupply.
How was the trip, did you like the city?
Great city, locals are very cool and not as stuck up and overrun by tourists as Prague as become. Labrynths where Dracula was held prisoner for 10years (underneath the castle) were genuinely terrifying…me and a girl, nobody else around walking through these cold, dark, mist filled labrynths where you can see about 4 feet and there’s spooky organ music playing. She was terrified, I was ok up until this one room where there was an iron gate and…I don’t know, just scary as hell and I almost shat myself.
Food was good, bars are good. Went to a ruin bar called Szimpla that was a great time, also like how they have redone the old Jewish ghetto there. When to the bathhouses, one of the largest in Europe, and that was very fun although I spent most of my time in the heated pools area. Both the pools and baths are fed by hot mineral water.
The night I arrived was the first day of the Palinka Festival, which is Hungary’s national drink. It’s like a fruit brandy that’s stong as hell and you just walk around doing shots of the stuff with some random bands playing. Great first night to be there and meet some Hungarians.
Did not end up doing Cafe Kor, but did hang a bit on Vaci Utca, Andrassy and spent a good bit of time on Kascinsky Utca. For sight seeing, saw St. Stevens and the Dohany Street Synagoge (largest in Europe), the castle and the Buda hills, baths, Great Market Hall. Oh yeah, can Cafe Gerbeaud is expensive by Budapest standards but the food, especially deserts, are off the hook.