Oh, Budapest, Budapest,
First of all, wow! I didn’t imagine this city so beautiful. I’ve never been to Paris, but I know they call Budapest ‘Little Paris’. And I don’t know if a person who visited Paris will agree with me, but it is definitely the most impressive European city I’ve seen.
The Danube River goes through Budapest, splitting the city into two parts: Buda and Pest.
Most attractions and accommodation are in Pest (the flat part of the city), so most tourists stay there when visiting the city. I recommend to take a few hours and walk through the mountains of Buda and enjoy the beauty and the view displayed from there. The city looks completely different by day or by night. During the daytime, the Danube with its old buildings is stunningly beautiful, but during nighttime, magic happens when all the lights turn on, and the buildings are lit in warm yellow light- it’s breathtaking. We went there at the end of March and the weather was amazing!
During the day we could wear short-sleeved t-shirts and during the evening we took a sweatshirt, usually, we didn’t even need a coat. One evening, the city decided to treat us to winterish weather and shed rain that covered the whole city. I love the perfect combination of rain and Europe, it has a romantic notion that makes me crave an indulging cup of hot chocolate.
Accommodation:
We stayed at the “Marriott Courtyard Budapest” hotel. The rooms are big, full of space and the beds are comfortable and cozy. The hotel is a ten-minute walk away from the Jewish district, which is the liveliest part of the city. On Gozsdu Street you can enjoy a long boulevard full of bars/restaurants and nightclubs open until after hours. Of course, you can find in the Jewish District Kosher restaurants and Budapest’s biggest synagogue is there.
Attractions to see in the city:
The Great Synagogue- is located on the Jewish District on Dohány Street Synagogue. It is the biggest synagogue in Europe and the fourth biggest in the whole world. It’s highly recommended to visit and enjoy its powerful beauty. It’s optional to book a guided tour for 13.5 dollars per person.
Fisherman Bastion- located in Buda, displaying a view on the Danube and on Pest. Beautiful lookout! It’s recommended to take a walk next to the castle of Buda. Escalators and an elevator will take you up the castle, so don’t be worried about walking a lot. From there on, the walk is pretty solid and straightforward. Throughout the way is an amazing view of the river, and nice cafes on the way there.
Gellért Hill- a beautiful lookout on the city, displaying a panoramic view of the Danube River and the bridges crossing it. You can reach it by taking the bus, line 27 from Móricz Zsigmond körtér, and from there a light fifteen-minute climb until you reach the lookout.
Heroes Square (Hősök tere) and the National Park (városliget)- Heroes’ Square is an impressive place at the entrance to the park. The park has a nice water fountain surrounded by cafes facing the royal lake. On the other side of the park is a gorgeous fairy-tale-like castle. It’s worthy to take a walk in this area and even to rent a small boat and sail near the castle’s shore.
Central Market Hall (Nagy Vásárcsarnok)- located at the end of Váci utca Street, the market is divided into two floors. On the first floor, you can find fruit, vegetables, spices, meats, cheese, pastry and lots of paprika (suitable for Hungary). On the second floor, you have stands for souvenirs of all kinds and fast-food stands that spread a delicious smell in the air, tempting even a full stomach. The market is closed on Sundays.
Szimpla Farmer’s Market (Szimpla Kert market)- The farmer’s market is on Sundays between 09:00 and 14:00 in Szimpla, the place is usually packed with people. As a market lover, I really like this little sweet market. It offers various stands with cheese, meats, jams, honey, fresh bread, etc. At noon there are shows in Szimpla’s garden.
Food Court called Street Food Karavan- A food court with stands of fast food, it contains benches and music and is open until the middle of the night.
Váci utca street- located in Pest, it’s a long Pedestrian (one and a half KM) full of life. It displays brand stores, restaurants, cafés, and ice-cream shops. The street is always vibrant and it’s nice to travel it down at night. Shopaholics, this spot is for you.
Shoes on the Danube Bank- a moving monument in memory of the hundreds of Jews shot and drowned in the Danube by the fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II.
Budapest’s Wonder Wheel (Budapest-Eye)- we didn’t go on a ride on the wheel since we saw already enough lookouts of the city, but the look of it during the evening, lit in warm light, was also quite satisfying. Around it is a good lawn to sit on. The price for four rounds on the wheel is nine euros per person.
An evening sail down the Danube River- an evening sail on the Danube takes about one hour and is in my opinion and must-do for everyone visiting the city. The top floor of the ship has an open roof, and you can see from there all the hypnotic lit bridges and monuments. The sail costs around 18 euros per person, including a light dinner and drink.
Rudas Baths- Budapest has a lot of natural thermal baths, the most known of them is Szechenyi, and also the biggest and most crowded one. We chose the more intimate
one, Rudas. What drew me to this one is a thermic pool on the building’s rooftop, under the open sky overlooking the Danube. Additionally, the place has five indoor pools at
different temperatures.
Afternoon on a standing Yacht- Budapest has a lot of standing Yachts who serve as cafes/pubs/restaurants. One of the things we loved to do on a sunny day was to catch a corner on the yacht’s balcony and order a cold drink, lazily hanging out by the quiet river.
Szentendre- a small pastoral artists’ town, about half an hour drive from Budapest. It has beautiful alleys with colorful houses, each in a different shade, and plenty of souvenir shops, all kinds of paprika, a marzipan museum, cafés with great local desserts and an Indian restaurant on the river’s shore which was WOW! I recommend half a day for a visit to this magical town.
ממליצה לכם לתכנן את החופשה שלכם לחודש אפריל ואז תוכלו ליהנות מפסטיבל האביב בעיר, עם דוכני אוכל רבים במרכז העיר ולאורך הנהר, מוזיקה ברחובות ואווירה חגיגית וכיפית.
Hungarian cuisine, how good it is. Here are a few recommendations:
Goulash Soup- served with potatoes, vegetables, and beef. When properly made it is a comforting meal that you can enjoy especially on cold days.
Gombóc- boiled potato dumplings, stuffed with plums and covered in buttered bread- crumbs. Super tasty.
Kiortosh- a pastry made of sweet yeast dough, covered in sugar and cinnamon. When hot and fresh it’s just wonderful. If you want, you can add ice-cream and whipped cream to it and make it a sinful dessert, but in my opinion, the simple and original one is the best.
Lángos- a fried potato pancake, spread with garlic paste/sour cream and shredded cheese, it’s worth a taste, though it’s soaked in oil and can make you nauseous if you eat too much. Careful 🙂
Apple Strudel- Thin dough filled with apple served with vanilla sauce and ice-cream. The Hungarians know how to prepare it g-o-o-d!! There is also a poppy Strudel, for poppy lovers just perfect!
Recommended places to eat:
Vicky Barcelona- a tapas bar on the main road of the Jewish district, on Rumbach street synagogue location. A sweet place with a lot of sitting places indoors and outdoors, all the tapas we ate were delicious, especially the perfect cheesecake. The owner of the place is Israeli, I don’t know if that’s the reason Alex, the cute waiter, kept pouring us shots on the house.
“Ramenka” ramen restaurant- a small and tasty restaurant on Kazinczy street location, with various kinds of ramen served in a huge bowl! You can find beef/chicken/seafood/vegetarian. Additionally, they serve dishes of Gyoza/Dim Sum. The prices are very cheap.
Thai-Food (Wok Bar & Thai Soup)- a small street-restaurant, also on Kazinczy street location, with stir-fry made from fresh ingredients. We had a great dish of rice with curry and vegetables.
Lado Café- a beautiful restaurant we found by accident on Dohány St. A local band played there and caught our attention. We took Gombóc (Hungarian dessert) with a hot chocolate with cream. I can’t tell you about the food but the table next to us ordered and it looked very appealing. The atmosphere was nice and romantic.
Authentic Hungarian Cuisine (Barack & Szilva Restaurant)- located on Klauzál u street. We ordered Goulash soup, mushroom and chestnuts soup and palatschinke with spinach and cheese. Everything was very tasty. During the evening a musician performs music, it’s a great restaurant for dinner.
Ruszwurm- located on Szentháromság Street, it’s a local family bakery since 1827. It is mainly famous for its Mille-Feuille. The place is extremely popular and often requires to stand in line. So, yes, the place is nice, but to say it’s the best Mille-Feuille I ever had? Not at all. In my opinion, it has too much cream and too little dough. But, if you are in the Fisherman Bastion’s area I recommend stopping for coffee and cake (not necessarily mille-feuille and don’t come especially for it)
Café Nyereg- the place is located near the national park, we arrived when getting coughed in the rain and we treated ourselves to an amazziiiing apple pie and thick hot cocoa just the way I like it!
Useful information- the local Hungarian coin is ‘forint’. It’s recommended to buy them in advance in Israel, most places don’t accept euro. 1000 forint= about 12 ILS, depending on the day.
I hope my recommendations were helpful and made you want to visit this amazing city!
