Well, after a bit of a delay I finally thought I’d write something about my time in Budapest last week. I first went to Budapest a few years ago when I was 18 on an interrail trip around Europe. Of all the trips I’ve done, this is possibly the worst trip I could use to judge places I’d visited, from not knowing what hostels to book, to being constantly hungover, to smashing my phone and finally to getting glandular fever, my opinions of cities from this trip I usually discard. However, what I did remember from my last trip was that it was my favourite city on the interrail at the time. As usual, I struggled to explain why, it just felt interesting and fun, so when a couple of friends I’d met whilst travelling mentioned they were going to Budapest whilst I was in Albania, I thought why not go back and see what made me instantly like the city back in 2018.

It would be fair to say that the next 8 days were not really an unmitigated success, however, at least I managed to get to my hostel from the airport. As in quite a few places I’ve been to in Eastern Europe, the transport system of Budapest is excellent. From the airport, you simply take the 100E bus from outside the airport to the centre of the city for 900 Hungarian Forint (≈ £2). You can buy tickets from the purple ticket machines all around the city and the airport. The ticket for the bus from the airport is a unique one-time ticket whereas, for all other transport tickets, Budapest transport passes can be bought, I bought a 72hr city transport pass which made life much easier for me. All I can say is that from experience, Budapest can be rather large and tiring to walk around in the heat of summer.

On my first meandering walk around the city before I realised the wonders of the travel pass I ended up in the Margitsziget park, a large park in the middle of the Danube in the north of the city. To be honest, I only ended up here because I planned to walk up to the Buda old town only to realise my camera was out of battery in the middle of the bridge with the park right next to me, so I thought why not spend the day just laying around on a park. Anyway, in my opinion, the park itself is beautiful with massive open and shaded fields to just sit around in. In many ways, it reminded me of Regents Park in London with large open areas and gardens surrounding other more random attractions. It has a water park, some tower which I still don’t know what it’s for next to an open-air theatre, as well as ruins associated with the old religious institutions (I think). The only thing I would say is that I found it very difficult to buy normal drinks inside the park, there are a few restaurants, bars and cafes but they are not greatly suited to someone just wanting to chill out in the park. Therefore, if I were to go again I would definitely bring my own drinks and snacks to save some aimless wandering around. That being said, all in all, I weirdly enjoyed my incredibly lazy day just sitting in the park, I think after a bit of exploring the city it’s a great place to just relax.

The following day, having successfully found some new camera batteries (quite a task as it turned out), I finally decided to go to Buda old town, situated at the top of the hill on the right bank of the Danube. Budapest is a city of two cities, united only in the 19th century, Buda – the historic Hungarian royal capital on the Danube’s right bank; and Pest – the more modern imperial era city on the left bank. Both sides could not feel more different, Pest has a grid system of large buildings with courtyards similar to that of Eixample in Barcelona. Whereas Buda’s architecture is much more in the style of nearby Bratislava, Prague and even Krakow. The narrow streets of brightly painted houses interrupted by beautiful churches give a distinctly Central European feel. Nevertheless, Buda does retain some unique features that the other cities in the region do not. Most notably Fisherman’s Bastion, the unique walls that protect the old town from the Danube below. At this point there are very few things I genuinely look at and think this is really cool in the places I visit, Fishermans Bastion is one of these. The architecture of the walls is unlike any other I have seen and the view over to Pest is outstanding. The walk up the hill can seem a bit unnecessary, especially if you are only in the city for a few days but it’s definitely worth it. Additionally, in the Baroque Buda Castle is situated the Hungarian National Gallery, for reasons that will soon become apparent, I wasn’t able to go, however, on the advice of a friend who seemed to visit most of the significant museums and galleries in the city, this was the best place to go.

Well, now on to my third day in the city and the beginning of my completely self-inflicted problems. I was planning on having a relaxing day given my feet felt like they were falling off my body after the amount of walking I did in the previous couple of days. However, in the normal hostel way, someone at the hostel mentioned they wanted to go to the famous thermal Szechenyi Baths. So, firstly I very much recommend going to the baths, they are iconic and it’s very relaxing. The baths themselves cost 7,100 HUF for a locker and 8,100 HUF for this sort of little room you can use to get changed in and store your stuff. Given you can spend as much time there as you like, I think this price is fairly reasonable and definitely worth a visit.

The problem with reasonably priced things which have no time limit means I stay far too long. An hour and a half in the hottest baths there, followed by my third night out in a row was not the greatest idea. I followed this up the next day by returning to the baths (I clearly enjoyed them) and again spending far too long in the hottest bath. I managed to complement this by drinking barely any (hydrating) liquids. Result – heat exhaustion. But, of course, I didn’t stop here. That night there was a quiz, and if there’s one thing to know about me it’s that I pride myself on my quizzing ability. So when I turned up at the quiz in a stifling hot room with one of the worst headaches I’d ever had, I decided the best course of action was to stay and complete the quiz obviously. Needless to say, this was a poor decision. The night ended with me collapsed on a hostel sofa using chilled vodka bottles to cool myself down, not really being able to speak, being confused, having cold sweats, and the list goes on. Thanks to David at the hostel for not letting me die, which it felt like at some points. To add insult to injury, we didn’t win the quiz.

The more drastic impact was that I basically had no energy and felt terrible for the rest of my trip in the city which sort of defeated the object of me returning in the first place. All I would say is, on the advice of an Australian who can deal with heat significantly better than myself, drink Powerade or Gatorade. I’ve never had something that had such an immediately energy-inducing effect on me.

Thanks to my stupidity I left Budapest having not visited any of the museums I wanted to, having not fully experienced the nightlife and feeling slightly as if I’ve left Budapest incomplete again. If I am completely honest, this time around I did not get the same immediate great feel for the city I got in 2018. Much of this is probably down to my heat exhaustion, however, I think my dislike for the many stag parties and general feel in some places as a party town for British people on a weekend away has increased. I’m well aware I am and was one of these people, however, I feel the city is much more plagued by these groups than places such as Bratislava, Kyiv and even Krakow. Krakow certainly does have these people but to me, it is less blatantly obvious than in clubs such as Instant in Budapest, which to me just feels like I’ve been transported home, albeit in a much cooler building. For some people, this sort of environment will be great and the ruin bars are very cool, nevertheless having travelled to less popular places with a more authentic feel recently, I think my preferences have simply changed.

All in all, though, I think Budapest is a great city for people to visit, especially for those who are perhaps looking for their first trips outside of western Europe. The city has a beautiful old town, a bustling more modern area, iconic attractions, and lively nightlife (regardless of how boring I am). I’m sure I will return to the city, I still feel there are things I need to do in it. However, for now, I going to go a bit further afield in my next trips and try and experience something a little bit different.

Accommodation

So I stayed in Carpe Noctum Hostel, which is close to the train station at the north end of the city. I was recommended this hostel by a friend who was volunteering there and was a previous guest. The hostel is super sociable, and only has about 20 beds so definitely has a family vibe which is always good in a hostel. The hostel runs bar crawls every night or other events such as Boat Parties or Jaeger Trains, therefore for a solo traveller it is perfect for meeting people. The hostel also has a restiction of no groups larger than 3 which is a massive plus in my opinion as prevents the large groups that I dislike and ensures the family vibe. For a solo traveller wanting a fun few days in Budapest I’d definitely recommend Carpe Noctum, just be aware in summer that it is often fully booked up.

Hostelworld Link – https://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/Carpe-Noctem/Budapest/24308?

Price – I think prices change throughout the year, however I payed £168 for 8 nights in an 8-person dorm, so about £21 per night. For a summer time bed in a great hostel in Budapest this is a very reasonable price. Private rooms are not an option.

Things to do

I’ve mentioned a lot of the highlights of the city but I’ll do a brief summary of some of the key things and others which I didn’t mention here:

Ghetto Goulash

Goulash is the Hungarian national dish, a sort of beef, paprika and vegetable soup. As I’ve said before I’m not a soup fan but this was really good, so good I went two days in a row. The restaurant Ghetto Goulash does excellent Goulash, as well as some really cool iced teas which I really enjoyed. The restaurant as it suggests is situated in the area of the former Jewish Ghetto during the Holocaust and therefore has some really interesting history nearby as well as the stunning Synagogue.

Buda Old Town

On this trip, as I’ve already mentioned, Buda Old Town and Fisherman’s Bastion were the real highlight of the trip. Also, check out the National Gallery in the castle whilst you are there.

Szechenyi Baths

Despite being extremely busy all the time, the baths are definitely worth a visit. The blend of tourists and locals playing chess in the baths is an interesting juxtaposition worth seeing. Just don’t do as I did and stay in the hottest baths far too long.

Boat Trip along the Danube

I did an evening on an all you can drink boat party for about £25. To be honest I didn’t enjoy it that much because I was quite ill. Nevertheless, for those who don’t get heat exhaustion, an evening boat trip along the danube, party or not, is great. It’s possible to get some great pictures of Buda Castle and the Parliament Building lit up at night.

Margitsziget Park

Just a beautiful and relaxed place to chill out for an afternoon. Particularly good for those who are staying for more than a few days and want someone to have a more relaxed day.

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The Random Wanderer