Time to talk about Budapest! Evan and I visited Budapest directly after Munich. We took a bus between the two cities which took around 9ish hours. We arrived in Budapest late at night to the Budapest Keleti station and headed straight to our Air BnB to get some rest.

I decided to format this leg of the journey as a Q & A, so if there’s any more questions about Budapest or our experience there feel free to comment on this post 🙂

Why did we choose Budapest?

Budapest had been loosely on our itinerary since the beginning of the trip, but truth be told, Munich’s expensive prices made us decide to spend the last month of the trip traveling to fewer, cheaper places and staying there longer. Budapest has a reputation for being an incredibly budget-friendly travel location and we were able to get accommodations incredibly cheaply. We chose to travel and stay here to make sure we didn’t exhaust all of our financial resources before our trip was over- and I’m glad we did!

That being said, we had other reasons for wanting to visit Budapest. We’d heard so much about Eastern Europe but never had a chance to visit before, so we wanted to venture into this new territory and see what we thought! Many people highly recommend Budapest and rave about its culture, beautiful buildings, and great food and entertainment scene.

The last reason we wanted to visit Budapest was because it was geographically en-route to Greece. At this point in the trip we had still somehow planned on traveling our way down to Greece (rookie mistake to think there was anyway to travel through the mountainous Greek mainland- also Greece is FAR from everything else) so this made logical sense.

Where did we stay in Budapest and was it a good idea?

So Budapest is actually divided into two different parts by the beautiful Danube river: Buda and Pest. These are linked by the beautiful chain bridge, which was unfortunately under construction when we visited. Buda is the more hilly, residential area of the city while Pest hosts the main square and more modern aspects of the city. We stayed on the Pest side in District VIII- and actually many people say this is a bad part of the city. Like I mentioned, the Air BnB was incredibly cheap. To be completely honest, this was probably the place I felt the most unsafe during the trip- and I still didn’t feel super unsafe. Evan and I still routinely walked around at all times of the day, including nighttime. There was a higher population of beggars and homeless people in the area surrounding our apartment, but it was only about a mile walk to the city center. I think it was worth the money, but Evan and I both agreed wholeheartedly that if/when we return we will stay on the quieter Buda side. So, if you are planning a trip to Budapest, I wouldn’t recommend staying in district VIII unless you are on a tight budget and don’t mind an interesting walk (which is us!). The Buda side boasts beautiful views, old city landscapes, and a more family friendly part of town.

We sure did make some memories though! And there was a McDonalds just .4 miles away that had an incredible McCafe. And the Aldi was so close to the apartment that you could hit it with a rock.

Free things to do in Budapest

If you’re like us, you’re always looking for some free attractions. Here are some of the things we loved!

1. Free Walking Tour. If you google search “Free Walking Tours Budapest” you can sign up for a time slot easily and enjoy a 2-3 hour walking tour of the city complete with recommendations and insider info from a local. At the end of the tour, you tip them usually anywhere from €10-20 (in Budapest they used Hungarian Francs) depending on how you enjoyed the tour. We did these pretty much everywhere- they’re also a great way to meet friends! I would recommend doing this on the first day so you can know how to schedule the rest of your time based on your new knowledge of the city!

2. Fisherman’s Bastion. This isn’t completely free, but it was about €3 total for both of us (that’s student pricing, I think adults are about €3 each) to go up into the Bastion. If you don’t want to spend money, you can opt not to pay to enter and it is still really cool. The Bastion has a cool history and there’s a gorgeous, famous church called the Matthias Church that is also really famous. They were having mass while we were there so we unfortunately couldn’t go inside 😦 but the views were great and even the walk there is gorgeous!

3. Parliament building. This is the typical, familiar building you see when you think of Budapest. The Parliament building is stunning from every angle; but it’s absolutely worth walking close up (if you take the walking tour you will actually end here). There is a lovely river trail where you will find runners, walkers, and bikers. Evan and I walked a huge loop over the bridge, to the Bastion, down the river, back over the bridge, and to the Parliament building- walking is free! 🙂

4. Walk. I know I just said this, but I cannot stress is enough! If you don’t want to walk, you can pay a few euros to take the adorable trams they have all over the city- but Budapest is such a great city for exploring! We spent many hours walking, admiring the sights, people, and beautiful architecture. Budapest is such a blend of so many different countries and influences (it’s history is super interesting) so walking in this city was truly one of our favorite pastimes.

5. Drink. This obviously isn’t free but it’s incredibly cheap so I had to add it in here. So if you like to drink alcoholic beverages, Budapest is the place for you. Here are some of our favorites:

– Blueberry beer from Mazel Tov (€4 equivalent in HF- not that cheap but incredible)

-mulled wine from Cafe De Paris (€1.50 equivalent in HF)

-wine in general. Budapest has incredible wine. We usually bought a bottle from Aldi for about €4 equivalent and they’re all amazing!

-beer in a pub/bar for €1.50 equivalent in HF

-€4 espresso martinis and cocktails during happy hour

-local pálinka (about €2 equivalent). This is a local brandy shot that comes in different fruity flavors.

Cheap things to do in Budapest

1. We didn’t do this due to rain, but I kind of wish we would have! You can take a daytime or nighttime river cruise for around €12 each (some include unlimited champagne!). It was pouring rain, but I would absolutely recommend this.

2. The House of Terror Museum. Tickets were about €8 equivalent for students, but this museum tells of the extreme fascist and socialist rule in Budapest and it’s so worth the money.

3. Street food!! Cafe de Paris and Karavan are some of our favorites.

4. Thermal baths! There are a number of different locations and price points but we paid about €12 each for tickets to the thermal baths and you can stay as long as you like. Don’t forget flip flops or open toed shoes and a towel- it’s totally a great experience!

5. The Ferris Wheel. The Ferris Wheel was a bit expensive (around €20 equivalent) but we knew we weren’t going to do the London Eye so we went for it! If it’s your thing, do it. You get incredible views of the city!

Must try foods?

We think these are must-try’s:

Langos (Hungarian flatbread), Langos burger from Karavan, Turkish eggs, Bors Gastrobar soup and sandwiches, pálinka, mulled wine, chimney cake, and the ruins pubs! These were our absolute favorites. I’ve heard the croissant story is incredible too but we didn’t make it 😦

Would we recommend?

Absolutely! After spending more time there, we really enjoyed Budapest. We would have loved to stay on the other side, but we will next time! If you love big cities, good food, and nightlife, this is the place for you.

Until next time 🙂