Budapest

Eat / Play / Shop

Shopping:

-Vaci Street (pedestrian street with lots of shops and restaurants)

-Folkart Kes Muvehaz (handicrafts)

-Gozsdu-udvar -enter at Kiraly utca 13 (passageway of shops, cafe; Sunday market)

-Kiraly Street (design street; Sunday craft market; funky boutiques and galleries)

-Nagycsarnok (Great Market Hall; indoor market)

-Ecseri Flea Market (bus No. 54 -leaving from Boráros Square; I never went but looks like fun)

-Antique Row at Falk Miksa Utca (north of Kossuth Square as far as Svent Istvan korut; Take Streetcars 2, 4 or 6 to Jászai Mari Square; http://visitbudapest.travel/local-secrets/falk-miksa-street/)

 

Eating:

-Central Kavehaz (great sweets)

-Gerbeaud Cafe (coffee and cake)

-Gozsdu-udvar -enter at Kiraly utca 13 (passageway of shops, cafe; Sunday market)

-click here for a list of award winning restaurants: http://visitbudapest.travel/articles/award-winning-restaurants-in-budapest/

-try Bull’s Blood wine

 

Nightlife:

-Spinoza (Friday night Jewish music)

-Liszt Ferenc Square (good place to socialize; cafes; bars)

-stroll by Danube or take a nighttime boat cruise (city looks beautiful lit up and it’s a great perspective)

-Chain Bridge lit up

-Ruin pubs (ruinpubs.com)

 

Tours:

-Budapest Jewish Heritage Walking Tour (Viator)

-Gabriela’s Private Tours in Budapest (http://www.privatetoursbudapest.com/budapest.htm)

 

Baths:

-Kiraly (old; small; traditional; Turkish)

-Rudas ( Turkish; oldest; remarkable architecture)

-Gellert (art nouveau; elegant; roman-style swimming) RECOMMENDED

-Szechenyi (public bath, 18 pools; locals play chess)

Itinerary

Around Belvaros

-Great Synagogue (Nagy Zsinagoga)

-Ruin Pubs (there are a bunch of pubs set up in run-down buildings – check out ruinpubs.com; there is a farmer’s market at Szimpla on Sundays)

-head along Vaci Street until Vorosmarty Square (leafy centre of Belvaros)

-Great Market Hall

-Raday Street (walking street) and Mikszath Square

-#2 Tram rise (along Pest embarkment; get on southern end near Palace of Arts and go until Parliament)

-Holocaust Memorial Centre

-Botanical Garden

 

Around Lipotvaros

-Magyar Allami Operahaz (Opera House)

-Orszaghaz (Parliament)

-Szent Istvan Bazilika (St. Stephen’s Basilica; check out the treasury)

-check out Gresham Palace Hotel (art nouveau foyer; drink in glass-roofed arcade)

 

Oktogon to Varosliget

-Andrassy Street (elegant blvd; shopping; Heroes’ square at end – nice lit up at night)

-Mai Mano House of Photography

-Robert Capa Comtemporary Photo Centre

-can take detour from Andrassy at Kodaly Korond and go to Varosligeti Fasor, a lovely street

-Terrorhaza (House of Terror – I never went but heard it was interesting)

-Varosliget (beautiful city park; Gundel resto; Szechenyi baths; Vajdahunyad Castle; zoo)

-Kerepesi Temeto (cemetary; art nouveau funerary arcade) and Jewish Cemetary (beside it)

 

Gellert-hegy to Rozsadomb

-start at Hotel Gellert, visit Cave Chapel then continue up; walk around Citadel (or can take Bus 27 most of the way up)

-Gellert Baths (bring flip flops, towel, bathing cap; book treatments in advance –gellerbath.com; 6am-8pm)

-Semmelweiss Medical Museum

 

Castle District

-take Siklo funicular to get up (walk across Lanchid “Chain” bridge to Clarke Adam Square)

-Budapest History Museum (see medieval palace lying beneath current complex)

-Hungarian National Gallery

-Fisherman’s Bastion (great views; don’t bother going to upper terrace)

-Buda Castle Palace

-Matyas Church

 

Day Trip

-Szentendre (1.5 hr boat excursion to quaint town; artist colony)