Budapest

Budapest A Tourists Guide by Yours Truely

I was waiting for 24 to load and I thought why not throw in a quick post listing the "best" places in Budapest, in my opinion of course. So I suppose I'll start with the Szechenyi Thermal Baths which I think are probably, in an all round sense, the best Baths in Budapest. Szechenyi has a variety of different indoor baths at different temperatures and outdoor there is a regular "lane-d" swimming pool (use of swimming caps is mandatory) and two baths one hot the other not so but the colder one has a swirl pool thingy and a jacuzzi. There is also two steam rooms, two saunas and plunge pools. There are many other services which I have not indulged in e.g. massages, which have gotten mixed reviews and apparently mud baths???? It's not the cheapest baths but depending upon the length of time you spend in them you receive a refund, anything from nothing to 1000ft (4€). Others baths include Gellért(expensive and dirty apparently), Király, Rudas(gay gay gay) and Lukács among others, the website one should visit for more info is "Budapest Spas". My favourite baths in Hungary though have to be the ones in Szeged.

Restaurants: This is a little tricky as Budapest just has so many and pretty much all are great value for money and serve excellent food, well the ones i have been in. My pick out of the bunch is Stex Ház, which is located opposite the tram stop Barross Utca on the 4,6 line, its great food, great value and has a good atmosphere. Generally the waiters are adequate but sometimes one has to speak up, if ya know what i mean. For Sale Pub and Restaurant is also good, expect large servings of quality food by very good waiters with brilliant english and an idea of what tourism is all about unlike most Hungarian waiters. Café Eklektika (30 Nagymezo Utca) is a place I really like but not everyone agrees, it has good food, excellent service and a really chilled atmosphere. It also hosts a number of lesbian events regularily for those who may be interested in that sort of thing. Momoto Ramen, chinese fast food, best mac donalds, place up near marget hid

Nightlife: well it depends upon what you're looking for really, my personal reccomendation would be West Balkan as it doesn't usually have an entrance fee, normally entertains a very cool clientele and has kickin tunes. Also Szoda and Szimpla are very very cool. In my opinion stay away from the living room, b7, Budda Inside, Rios, Old Mans, Becketts (any irish bar for that matter unless there is a match on, then head to Becketts), School Club and Soho among others.

Cinemas: Budapest has loads of cinemas multi plexs and more intimate ones eg. Corvin, Taban and Puskin see this link on Pestiside for all cinema listings.

Sight seeing



part 2 or an email re hash, i'll sort it when i get a chance

ok so the best of budapest:

well first off I would recommend visiting some thermal baths while you are here, but do so at the end of the day cause it's nice for relaxing after a day of walking. The best baths in Budapest in my opinion are the szechenyi ones in city park, they're 2200 ft which is about 9 euro, but depending upon how long you spend there, you get a refund, anything from 4 euro to 2 euro. You can get there on the yellow metro line it has it's own stop

Sightseeing wise a must is a visit to St.Stephens Basilica which is absolutly beautiful, it's a 5 minute walk from erzsabet ter which is beside deak ferenc ter (pretty much the city centre), the fishermans bastion and castle hill in general is also beautiful, and you can get there with the red metro line just go to moszkova ter, margit island is lovely for walking on if it's a nice day and it has it's own tram stop on the 4, 6 tram line(the MAIN tram line), the parliament is along the river and it is also a beautiful building, there is also heroes square (hosok ter) which is near the szechenyi baths and there are two art museums right next to the square.

My favourite hungarian restaurant is on a tram stop along the 4,6 line, the baross utca stop near rakoczi ter, it's called Stex Haz and it's across the road from the mc donalds, good food and cheap, budapest has a lot of really great restaurants

the market hall is something you should also see, it's at the end of Vaci utca, which is the main touristy street. If you like Jazz then there is a jazz bar called fat mo's on a street off vaci utca it's Nyári Pál utca.

the city is beautiful to walk around at night and safe! you should climb gellert hill at night, at say 10 or so and look at the city from there, it's an amazing view.

Ok some cool clubs and cafe's well i recommend starting off in Szimpla which is on Kazinczy utca, off Rakozci Ut, look out for the yellow sign because it's just a doorway so you have to keep an eye out for it, here's the website http://www.szimpla.hu/index_en.htm

then for a late night head to west balkan which is also hard to find but here's what you should do: go to the corvin cinema which is on the 4,6 line (stop ulloi ut) and also on the blue metro (ferenc korut), now it is a few minutes walk from the corvin

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?q=Budapest,+Hungary+(budapest)&hl=en&ie=UTF8&om=1&msa=0&ll=47.487151,19.072759&spn=0.007381,0.020084&z=16&msid=103758346425890366667.000001128469f2295295b

eh that is all i can think of right now but i shall send you more if i remember anything

have a nice time, it's a brilliant city