I took most of these photos of Budapest myself druing our weekend there – but a couple of them I nabbed from Unsplash. You can tell which ones because they’re actually good and I’m not in them.
Howdy, and a very warm welcome to the first blog post I’ve written whilst in my forties. I was planning to do one of those ’40 before 40′ bucket list style posts but I left it a bit too last minute – 40 is a LOT of things – and let the whole thing slip by fairly quietly.
Meanwhile, my lovely partner went all out and arranged a surprise weekend trip for us. I didn’t know where we were going until we were at the airport, at which point it became a bit difficult to avoid knowing that our destination was Budapest, which I’m sure you already know is Hungary’s capital city.
Flying to Budapest from Heathrow
We flew business class from Terminal 3 of Heathrow, spending our time at the airport in the Qantas lounge which is a definite cut above the BA lounge at Terminal 5. I should point out that the only reason I know about multiple airport lounges is because my partner travels very frequently for work, and not because I’m posh, although I do love to use up his airmiles flying at the front of the plane with free booze whenever possible. Anyway, the lounge offers table service and does very decent food and cocktails.
The flight time to Budapest is a very tolerable two and a half hours which is just about enough time to get into a book, eat (if you can manage it – I could not and am still disappointed in myself because the lamb on offer actually looked very decent for airline food) and drink, and short enough to avoid having to get up for a wee.
We flew in the evening. Hungary is an hour ahead of the UK so when we landed it was about midnight; we hopped into a yellow cab and went to our hotel.
The Corinthia Hotel, Budapest
The hotel we stayed in for three nights was The Corinthia on Erzsébet Körút, a very central location within walking distance to pretty much all of the tourist must-sees.
I singularly failed to get any pictures of the inside of our beautiful hotel room, but it was by far the nicest one I’ve ever stayed in. The boy did good. We had an Executive Suite which consisted of a bedroom with a massive bed, a lounge and two bathrooms. We probably didn’t need the lounge area as we didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the room itself but the extra bathroom is a bonus if you both like to poo at the same time.
The Executive rooms come with use of The Corinthia’s Executive Lounge, which is accessed by a separate lift. The Executive Lounge was much like an airport lounge, only with a view over the street rather than tarmac and fewer annoying people.
There was a good selection of complimentary sandwiches and snacks, sushi and sweets, soft drinks and alcohol (beer, wine, fizz, Unicum…) on offer between 12am and 10pm every day, and we ate there rather than going out for lunch. You wouldn’t want to do it every day for a week – mainly because it would probably be the same member of staff on duty and it would get awkward – but for a few days it was certainly welcome.
After ten, the Executive Lounge shuts, but if you want to get a drink without leaving the hotel or if you fancy a nightcap when you get in, ‘Le Bar’ is the hotel’s cocktail bar and the French Martinis are very decent indeed – and come with candyfloss on top.
The Executive Suite also came with use of The Royal Spa, so obviously we had to try it out. There is a good sized swimming pool, steam room, saunas, jacuzzi, fancy showers and a lot of treatment rooms should you want to treat yourself to a massage or a facial.
The hotel breakfast was immense. It’s available from 6.30 to 10.30am and although I don’t think my partner appreciated me waking him up so we could just scrape in, I have no regrets. There was everything from pastries to fried breakfast, fruit to a selection of smoked fish; and even champagne if you could stomach it (I, alas, could not).
The only downsides to staying at The Corinthia were the sounds of the trams – which didn’t keep me awake but you could definitely hear running until late because of the central location – and the lights on the façade of the building which shone obnoxiously through the sides of the curtains on the final night we were there.
Other than that, it was really lovely and without a doubt the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in.
What we did in Budapest
Because the whole trip was a surprise, I didn’t have time to look at an itinerary but that’s fine by me. My plan whenever I go away is to wander, look at the scenery, eat and drink and see where life takes me.
I knew nothing about Budapest, not even that it was made up of two regions which used to be different cities until the late 1800s: Buda and Pest, which are separated by the Danube River.
Buda is home to the historic Castle District (Budavár). This area is pretty historic with cobbled streets, mediaeval and baroque architecture, and the Buda Castle at the centre.
You can take the funicular up the hill, although there was a bit of a queue so we walked. It’s the place to go for sightseeing; from Fisherman’s Bastion you can see great picturesque views across the city although you have to pay for it, and it’s a very short walk.
Pest, on the eastern side of the Danube, features a much flatter landscape. The city’s major boulevards are located in Pest and it’s a great place to visit for shopping and dining etc. There are a lot of beautiful buildings although a lot of crumbling facades and ruins too.
You can easily walk from Pest to Buda and back again over the bridges. Árpád Bridge is where you can find the entrance to Margaret Island, which is worth a stroll around for the fountains, scenery and stop somewhere for a mojito if you’re so inclined.
If you want to know more, I suggest you check out Wikipedia or something. I’m not an expert here.
Lots of people suggested that we try the hot spring thermal baths which Budapest is famous for, but having made it to the spa in the hotel we thought we’d save that for the next time.
On the Saturday after a swim in the hotel, we took a wander to City Park, which is bloody massive.
There are various places to eat and drink, a bunch of museums which didn’t really pique my interest, and Vajdahunyad Castle which is pretty amazing to look at and if you’re an Instagram tosser and you don’t mind people staring and probably laughing, you could get some excellent aesthetic photos here.
It is however definitely worth a mooch, whatever your thoughts on Instagram.
A must visit: Budapest’s Ruin Bars
Another thing that people recommended we do is visit some Ruin Bars, which are unique to Budapest. These bars have transformed the city’s abandoned and decaying buildings into buzzy nightlife spots. Crumbling stone walls with ivy climbing up them are mixed with neon lights and unique décor; it’s like something you’d see done badly in the middle of London but in Budapest it is achingly cool, like it’s all been accidentally thrown together by someone who wears lots of floaty layers and wafts around looking effortlessly chic, drinks craft beers and rides a bicycle with a basket.
Szimpla Kert: The Iconic Ruin Bar
Szimpla Kert, the pioneer of the Ruin Bar, is the most famous and iconic of them all and this is the one we visited on our first evening in Budapest; I’d like to say on purpose but we stumbled upon it quite by accident.
Located right in the heart of Budapest’s Jewish Quarter, its labyrinthine interior features a maze of rooms and different bars with different types of drinks and street food available. It was a busy Friday evening but we managed to find some stools tucked away in the corner of the wine bar where we watched an aging German hen party do shots. It was quite the experience.
It wasn’t expensive – at least not compared to good old England. The wine bar charged around 2000 HUF for a good-sized glass of wine which is £4-5 (although I never really got the hang of the conversion rate to be honest with you).
Szimpla Kert’s success has inspired the creation of other ruin bars throughout Budapest. We went to another, Extra, which is a lot more ‘modern’ inside, as you might expect a large bar to look but with the addition of crumbling ruin walls. There’s a big central room with a huge bar in the middle serving a load of cocktails and food.
Where we ate in Budapest
[Insert your own bad pun here about being Hungary, if you wish].
You can of course find every cuisine you could ask for available in Budapest, but I’m a fan of sampling traditional food when I travel.
As well as helping ourselves to as much food as we could eat in the hotel, we went for two lovely ‘traditional’ Hungarian meals, both of which I’d happily recommend to other visitors.
On the first evening my partner had made a reservation at Hungarian bistro-restaurant Borbíróság, which has a really really big wine list. I had pork belly which was delicious – I often find pork to be a bit dry but this was spot on, with hard crackling on the skin and tender meat below.
It was also beautifully presented, although I admit I didn’t eat all my sprouts because I am a bad girl and sprouts are bad enough once a year. My partner had goulash soup followed by duck, which the restaurant’s website claims they are famous for.
Well, actually, this is what it says:
I wouldn’t protest about being strong in duck either, although I have to be honest, I don’t like eating it, sorry.
The only downside of the restaurant was the lighting which would make it impossible to take an Instagram-worthy photograph there. Tsk.
On our the second evening we didn’t have anything booked, but I looked up some local Hungarian restaurants and we ended up in Klauzál Café & Restaurant, which offers a warm atmosphere and traditional Hungarian food.
Between us we had chicken paprikash and beef goulash with noodles (which are not what we’d call noodles, but in fact some kind of potatoey-pasta).
We also had desserts, one of which they set on fire. Who doesn’t love a bit of theatre with their dinner?
My top takeaways from 48 hours in Budapest
Check the weather before you fly. Apparently mid-October is something of a mystery; a few weeks ago, the weather was forecasted to be 9 degrees. The day before we left, it had changed to 29, which was very confusing. In the end it was warm with some showers.
Take some good walking shoes. I’m sure the trams are easy to navigate, but it’s easy enough to get everywhere on foot.
Pack your swimming costume. Even if your hotel doesn’t have a spa like ours did, the local thermal baths come highly recommended.
Try some local food. You can get pizza and sushi anywhere in the world, but you really should try the local traditional Hungarian dishes while you’re there!
Do not drink Unicum. Good fucking lord I cannot express enough how vile this is.
