In part 1 we spoke which places you should visit in Budapest. In this part, we will explore all the things you need to know to make your stay in Budapest excellent.
Nextravel Tips:
Budget For Visiting Budapest
Compared to other European cities, Budapest is affordable. If you want to experience every aspect of Budapest, that means, food, drinks and other leisure a budget around $40 it will be enough. However, it all depends on your personal preferences.
How Long Should You Stay In Budapest?
Nextravel recommends staying at least 3 days. We would say even more because there are always hidden parts in and around Budapest that are worthy of exploring. If you want to experience the full might and beauty of Budapest, we recommend six days. Enough time to explore everything.
When to Visit Budapest?
Summers are pretty decent, with temperature going from 17 degrees up to 30 degrees. It is pretty evident that summer is the best time to visit this city, but it is not so crowded as you might think. Also, Spring and Fall can be a good time for a visit.
For instance, in September, the temperature can go up to 25 degrees or more. Spring always has that good vibrant feel, with decent temperature, making exploring not as big of a challenge, especially for older folk.
On the other hand, winters are freezing. Snow rains all the time and the streets are frozen. So, probably this is not the time to visit Budapest.
Food and Drinks:
In Hungary, you will never go hungry – te-he. You can find nearly any type of food in Budapest because after all, it is an international city. You have your McDonalds and King Burger all around, but Hungarian food is something different.
Hungarians have some tasty traditional food that some might dislike where others will simply adore. Don’t think about your budget when purchasing food. The reason why is simple – the most affordable meal could go under $5, and an excellent decent dinner can go around $15.
In the Hungarian kitchen, you can find a lot of meat such as pork, beef, and also veal and poultry. In Hungary if you want to taste traditional food we recommend these dishes: Gulyásleves – basically a goulash soup made from a mix of meat and vegetables; Kolbice – traditional Hungarian sausages with a wheat-bread cone; Lesco – a tasty vegetable stew (vegan friendly!); Paprikas Csirke – a well made creamy chicken mix together with paprika; and finally Porkolt a meat stew with paprika sauce. As you can see, they love meat and paprika!
Nightlife and Resturants
Budapest has a cafe culture similar to the one in Italy. You can find several expensive coffeehouses that offer great coffee and excellent luxury experience. Nextravel recommends avoiding restaurants in tourists areas, especially near Vaci utca, because those restaurants are overpriced and provide low quality meat. Plus, always be aware in restaurants and coffeehouses, some owners try to rip tourists off. Speaking from experience, paying with euros in McDonald’s, I received Serbian dinars as change.
Budapest is filled with different generations. However, the most prominent one is the millennial generation. Thanks to them, the city offers nightlife experience like no other in Europe. One of the most alluring parts of Budapest’s nightlife are the Ruin Pubs. Yes, like the name suggests they are pubs built in ruined and abandoned buildings. After the second world war, many parts of the old Jewish districts were destroyed. Also, those buildings had a secret room and passages. This made many creative people open pubs and bars in them. Nextravel recommends visiting the three most famous pubs in Budapest – Fogas Haz, Instant and Szimpla Kert.
Hotels
As evert Eastern European country, in Budapest you can find many affordable hotels. In general, a night in Budapest can cost you from $9 up to $22 per in hostel. On the other hand, if you want to go in a good hotel with a private room, a night can cost you $38-$68, which is pretty cheap compared to prices in Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid. We’ve been a couple of times in Budapest and recommend you these hostels – Pal’s Hostel, Central Backpack King, HomePlus Hostel and Avenue Hostel.
Transportation
From my six-day stay there I could tell you one thing – Budapest has a good network of public transportation. You can get anywhere with a tram, bus or a subway. Plus, the transportation cost is cheap, only $1.30 for a single ticket and if you want to have a day-long pass, you need to pay around $6. Taxi is also cheap, but Nextravel recommends caution. There are a lot of illegal taxi services who have hacked their taxi meters. You will end up paying too much for a short ride.
