Weekend in Budapest

In November 2016 me and my friends took a weekend trip to Budapest. It was the first time for all three of us in the city and country. We had a really nice time together and enjoyed it a lot, just the way a weekend should be like. In this post I will talk about the top things we did while there.

1. Szechenyi bath

It is a must to visit one or more of the hot baths when you’re in Budapest. There are many to choose between and I wished we would had time to visit more than one, but time flies you know. We chose to visit the Szechenyi bath which is the most popular and the biggest. There are 18 pools covering the area, both inside and outside. We only tried the pools outside though which were really nice. The pools have different temperatures and there’s a clock right next to the hottest pool so that you could keep watch on how long you’re in. They only recommend 30 minutes at a time.

2. Boat trip by night

As you know Budapest is the capital of Hungary and right in the middle of the city flows the river Donau. Budapest is divided in two parts, Buda and Pest. Pest is the “modern” part of town where most of the shopping streets are and also the restaurants and nightlife. One popular activity when in Budapest is to take a boat tour on the river. There are many different tours, and you can take tours either in the day or night. We chose to take a night tour just after dinner. The tour took one hour. We all had headphones listening to a guide while looking outside on all the buildings. We also got a glass of champagne to enjoy on the tour. On the tour you get to know more abut the history of Budapest and information about all the buildings by the river, like the Hungarian Parliament building.

3. Free walking tour in Buda’s castle district

We took a free walking tour on the historical site located on the Buda side of the river. On this tour we walked around in the area looking at the Matthias church, the Fisherman’s bastion and the Buda castle. The tour took about an hour and it started just outside the church. It was interesting walking around even though I didn’t listen to every word, I had to take photos! From this area you have a nice view over the Pest side with the Hungarian Parliament, the river and the bridges. I wish I had brought my camera and didn’t have to settle with mobile photos…

The Buda castle, here seen from the Pest side.

4. Nagycsarnok food market

The Nagycsarnok is a big food market located in the center of the city. You can find really good sausages, meat, vegetables, spices, fruit, honey, fish, wine and much more. There’s also a floor with souvenir shops and a restaurant area. It was really hard to pick a place to have lunch. I really liked this food hall!

5. Eat good food

You have to eat langos when in Budapest. On many places in town there a food wagons selling langos with all kinds of toppings. Very good!

We also found a cool bar street called Gozsdu Udvar with nice restaurants in the middle of town. I don’t have any photos of it but it’s a street with around 20 restaurants and bars both inside and outside. I recommend you going there, we had a great time and had some good food.

Really sorry about the poor quality photos…

6. Walk around the city

And of course, like everywhere, we walked a lot around the city. There are lots of monuments, buildings, bridges and other stuff to see. But there is a subway as well that can be used when your legs are tired.

A great weekend destination that we all felt we definitely could come back too. Next time I want to try more of the hot baths. 🙂