Budapest Itinerary from a Hungarian

Here are my two cents. I’m trying to avoid the mainstream advice, since there’s no need to repeat tripadvisor. Enjoy!

Breakfast

• Cserpes tejivo: Hungarian flavored hot cheese sandwich w milk coffee and the best yoghurt ever + def get a cottage cheese chocolate bar (rudi)
• Zoska: at Astoria, has good and cheap menus (scrambled eggs + coffee for ~ 4 USD)
• Fekete: bit more expensive specialty coffee and breakfast food spot
• Vaj: Great bakery. The name translates literally to “butter”
• Find local bakeries on any street or walk into any supermarket (like Spar).

Classics at Cserpes

Lunch & Dinner

• Menza: My top recommendation for affordable delicious food. Go on weekdays, and get the ~10 usd daily lunch menu to try your luck. If you don’t like today’s menu, walk over to “A fozelekes”.
• A fozelekes: another great cheap lunch option for a classic Hungarian food category, fozelek
• Vakvarju: My top recommendation for a date night. Modern Hungarian food with great ambience. Fancier and sometimes w live music but still doable under 15~20USD.
• Belvarosi disznotoros: any day, traditional Hungarian dishes
• Bors Gastro Bar: Hipster Hungarian food. Soup bar with sandwhiches.
• Rakoczy Market Hall: classic Hungarian market hall with tons of food. It’s better than the Central Market hall because it has less tourists.
• Csendes: artsy cool bar/restaurant
• Laziza: Best cheap Syrian food
• Koleves kert: for outdoor food

The best food guide I’ve seen. They have a map to make your job easier.

Great vibes and cheap food at Menza

Coffee & Dessert

• New York Cafe: Budapest’s most famous 100 year old mega-fancy, gorgeous cafe
• Kurtos kalacs: Must try traditional dessert. You can search for it on google maps or go to this cheap and ratchet underpass one
• Kelet kavezo: very local cute cheap student cafe for working
• Espresso Embassy: a must for coffee enthusiasts
• Magveto Cafe on Dohany street: cheap and friendly place
• Ruszwurm Cafe: 200 years old dessert cafe in the castle
• Ice cream is literally anywhere in the summer (you could try “Fragola”)

The New York Cafe commonly ranks in the top 50 best cafes in the world…

Nightlife

• Szimpla Kert: MUST VISIT! THis is the most iconic ruin bar, which are local special breed of bar with a ton of art. The streets around are filled with other cool small ruin bars.
• Instant: giga-club with rooms for techno/chill/metal/everything, little ratchet sometimes.
• Vittula: cheap shots for pregaming before going to the nearby clubs.
• Eleszto: the best craft beer.
• Outdoor pubs around Mikszath ter

The eclectic Szimpla kert

Walking Tours

A. Gellert Mountain -> Parliament

1. Climb up Gellert mountain in the morning
2. Walk across the Szabadsag bridge to the Central Market Hall (do not buy anything there, very pricey, but very pretty)
3. From there take Tram line 2 to Parliament.
4. Check out the “Shoes on the Danube” memorial
5. Enough walking for a day. Go eat and chill

B. Buda Castle

1. Take metro line 2 to Batthyany Square
2. Make your way up to the Fisherman’s Bastion, enjoy the crowd of tourists and the amazing views. Perfect place for some romantic pics
3. Walk to the Buda Castle, more pics
4. Find your way down to the Castle Garden Bazaar through the Deli Rondella

C. Downtown tour

1. St. Stephen’s Basilica
2. Vigado ter
3. Parisi Udvar (go inside into the indoor shopping street, it’s gorgeous)
4. Egyetem ter

D. If you’re into architecture, definitely do an architecture walking tour. You can google “hidden architecture tours”, “art nouveau tour” or just “architecture tours” and book the one you like the most

Recommended Museums

• Terror haza: super famous communist history exhibition
• Vasarely Museum: small modern art museum
• Museum of Applied Arts: great museum in a mega fancy old building

Museum of Applied Arts from the outside

Recommended Baths

• Szechenyi Bath (most touristy old bath),
• Rudas bath (small turkish bath, check their website which days of the week are “naked”)
• [Temporarily closed but worth checking back] Kiraly bath and Rác Bath (historical baths undergoing renovations)

Rudas Bath from the Ottoman Era

Nature

• Picnic in the Philosopher’s garden, or Margaret Island, or Kopaszi-gat
• Go caving! Cool down on hot summer days in one of the many caves of Budapest. This one is great. If you’re adventurous, sign up for a more hardcore guided caving tour.

Caving under Budapest. No,there’s no concrete pathway and yes, you have to crawl.

Misc

• Ice skate in the winter in Varosliget
• Vajdahunyad castle is a frankenstein building for the 1896 world expo to exhibit the best architectural elements of the old Hungary
• Sunset boat ride on a public transportation boat from Boraros square to Kossuth Lajos Square. You’ll see all the coolest buildings on both sides of the river (should be free with daily transit pass on weekdays — do not take tourist boat rides ever)

Whenever in doubt, check out welovebudapest.com or offbeatbudapest.com/top10. Those are the best collections of cool restaurants and events throughout the city.