Shortbreak to Budapest

wibbly

wibbly

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Me and the Missus are thinking about a shortbreak to Budapest in Hungary sometime in January. To be honest, it's nice and cheap and somewhere a bit different.

Has anyone here been and what did they think. We have no real expectations or knowledge, so would be interested to find out a bit more about it, as it looks an interesting place to visit.
 
I went there on a conference in the mid 2000s. Seems like an interesting and historic city that's currently quite poor: they were using wooden scaffolding while repairing some of the grander buildings. The parliament buildings and spa/baths are quite ornate, and there's all sorts of interesting corners to photograph or just wander round. The city is divided by the river Danube that flows between, and IIRC has a slightly different feel according to which side you're on. The hotels we stayed in weren't bad (Mercure just outside the centre - and other delegates seemed to feel the same). If the river isn't frozen then you might want to take a short cruise (could be a bit cold though!) or even a longer trip up to Vienna if you're staying a bit longer.

The downside - it's a stag destination, and can be full of rowdy, lecherous, drunken and obnoxious Brits, and because of this residents can sometimes resent foreign travellers. Porn is everywhere, and it's the only city where I've been stopped in the street by a madam touting for business. Food can be a bit rustic, meaning you may well find the parts of animals in soups etc that are not usually included in British restaurants. Street names were written in Cyrillic, which could make them hard to read.

It's a fascinating place - should be really good.
 
We went in 2007. It's an interesting place with plenty to see and do. We went in the summer and I found it to be a bit too hot and humid but otherwise it was a very enjoyable holiday. Plenty of nice places to eat at too (having said that, one place did make my brother quite ill!).
 
I ran the Budapest Half Marathon in Sept 2008, we stayed in the Ibis on Heroes Square,
a stunning location, we found the food very good, a little rustic in places but always flavorsome and filling.

It is a wonderful place to visit, we visited St. Stephen's Basilica, went across the chain bridge to Pest and saw the Royal Palace and the
Fisherman's Bastion. We went to Memento Park, which is quite unique, it houses 42 communist statues removed from Budapest.

After the marathon I had a thermal bath in the Szechenyi baths, this was the highlight of the visit for me, something I had never done before.

I would recommend it, much better than Prague which is full of Stags, we didn't see a single group of them during our visit.

I would go back and visit again.
St. Stephen's Basilica
 
not been there ,but i did have a weeks break last year in wroclaw in southern poland ,superb city ,extremely cheap ,friendly people super cheap shopping and lots to see and photograph .the zoo is to die for it cost us in english equivalent £13 in total for 3 of us for a day at the zoo thats bigger than london zoo or chester .a big mac LARGE MEAL in the main city square (the rynek) cost the shocking price of £1.35 and better than ours here .your choice
 
Thanks guys, it sounds a really interesting place. Always great to get a real insight from those who've been (y)
 
I went with my wife last November and thoroughly enjoyed Budapest, it's definitely a city for walking around in to appreciate with plenty of photo opportunities, it's even got a photography museum which is interesting but a bit odd :p. We stayed on the Pest side which isn't where most of the hotels are but found a very nice pub/restuarant which was apparently Ferenc Puskas' favourite and did very nice food. As others have said the food is like other Eastern European countries I've visited heavily weighted to meat and can be a bit rustic, but in my experience always very tasty.

As for stag parties we never saw or heard any.
 
Great to hear. We've booked a long weekend for mid January, so really looking forward to it.

Something a little different... Must start looking for a couple more batteries and cards for the camera :D
 
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