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    Budapest (again)

    I know there are already a few threads dedicated to holidaying in the Pearl of the Danube, but I'm thinking of whisking m'lovely wife away there some time early-ish next year (maybe soon, maybe Valentines, maybe not till spring) for a long weekend, so... any updated information - new attractions, possibly even the presence there of other OTFers - would be gratefully appreciated.

    Köszönöm.

    #2
    Budapest (again)

    Baths. As I am sure the other threads say, you need to go to baths. The Veli Bej spa has recently reopened and is great, as are the Szechenyi baths. Gellert is also often recomennded but honestly I was disappointed.

    That aside, just wandering around the castle in Buda is fantastic on a cold but clear winter day, looking down over the Danube. The national gallery up there tends to have good things on too.

    The new hip thing to do in Pest is to hang out in "Ruin Bars" which have been set up in abandoned buildings or bits of wasteland. There are some which are still fine in winter, but they move around a lot, so you'll need to check out some local guide when you get there, either online or not

    Szívesen

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      #3
      Budapest (again)

      I've done the Segway tour a couple of times. It's a pleasant way to swiftly cover the city, and decide on areas you'd like to then explore more fully on foot.
      Eleszto Craft Beer Bar Is my favourite ruin bar. It's easily walkable from Josef Koruts.

      Heroes Square loses everything once the place is packed with tourists. So I'd recommend getting there early in the day.

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        #4
        Budapest (again)

        Belated thanks for these updates - been completely distracted by the Christmas thing. Looking forward to getting ruined in a ruin bar.

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          #5
          Budapest (again)

          Definitely go to the Szechenyi baths, as much for the metro ride out to them as anything else (Budapest's metro is wonderfully 1930s). Walk through the park south-west from the baths (back to the next metro stop) and you pass through Heroes square for some photos.

          On the walk out to the Parliament building stop to pause at the Shoes on the Danube monument. Very moving. Iron casts of the shoes the Hungarian fascists made the jews take off (men, women and children) before they lined them up along the edge of the river and shot them.

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            #6
            Budapest (again)

            According to a contestant on Pointless from a week or two ago, Budapest is where you might find the wondrous hanging gardens of the ancient world.

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              #7
              Budapest (again)

              Another vote for Szechenyi Baths - we also went to Lukacs Baths but were made to feel rather foolish for not speaking Hungarian by the fearsome matriarchs in charge of towels, lockers etc. Eventually we had to go upstairs and a find a younger woman to explain the baffling procedures we had to follow.

              My other recommendations are Margaret Island (hire a golf buggy to explore), and the Danube - walks along, and the river buses on. And Hungarikum Bizstro (near Parliament) was a nice restaurant.

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                #8
                Resurrecting this as I go back to Budapest next week to meet up with the eldest Roginette, who's been backpacking across central Europe. She's in Vienna at the moment, and we meet up on Tuesday. She's as keen as I am to go to some of the quirkiest ruin bars we can find - she's studying art so anything on that theme that would be interesting, if anyone knows of any, would be a great tip. We'll be staying south of the centre on Pest, on Kalvin Ter.

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                  #9
                  Can't give you a "best ruin bar" since there are many and so much depends on the week or your tastes. The majority are on or just off Kiraly utca, or in the large block bordered by Kiraly utca, Rakoczi utca, Erzebet Krt, and Karoly krt. From Kalvin ter walk up to Astoria and then just dive in. Much of that area was the Jewish ghetto in the second world war, and there's a lot to see there. I went to the synagogue for the first time last summer and i would highly recommend it - the Tree of Life sculpture/memorial to the victims of the holocaust is incredible.

                  I will email my daughter for a recommendation as she's been a student in the city for a year now
                  Last edited by ad hoc; 20-07-2019, 10:05.

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                    #10
                    Loved Budapest. The holy right hand of St Stephen. For a ruin bar we DID just do the obvious tourist thing and go to Szimpla Kert, but it is is a great place to visit for all its fame and I bought the T-shirt and had a drink sat next to a kangaroo and a graffitoed trabant. We were at the Kalvin Ter end so went to the Gellert baths, which the Roginette loved, and found a couple of lovely bars overlooking the Danube on the Pest side to sit in after sightseeing, in the evenings. One was a gay bar where we met an American guy called Clay from Louisiana who had lots of (possibly tall) tales and insisted on buying us (and everyone else in the place) bottles of wine. He took two drinks before taking the Roginette to one side and saying "I hope that guy isn't trying to hit on you" referring to me, which she found hilarious!

                    One downside, and hint for future OTFers: the queue for the funicular up to Buda castle took about an hour (despite only looking about 50 or so people long). Taxi up might have been a better option (although the funicular was fun in the end).
                    Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 28-07-2019, 12:44.

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