I searched Budapest before starting this thread but couldn't find what I was searchin for.
Has anyone been or lived in Budapest? I ask b/c we are hoping to take a quick getaway for 4 or 5 nights in May. Just looking for cheap flight info or hotels if anyone has stayed in a nice one.
Basically, just any ole info on anything....I've got some sites bookmarked, but it's always nice to hear someones insight.

thanks guys

Hi,

I went to Budapest a couple of years ago, and I absolutely loved it. It's a great place. I spent hours just walking around.

You should definately go to one of the thermal baths - I went to Széchenyi baths which was really nice.

There is also a fantastic cake shop opposite Collegium Budapest on Szentharomsag utca up in castle district

Hope you have a great time,
Sam.

Hints on where to stay and what to do. You are going on a stag weekend, right?

a stag weekend? as in for dudes before they marry???

lol

no. is it stag capital of the world? what am I missing here?? haha

I'm from Budapest so feel free to ask. I dont know hotels though. Cheapest flight is Swiss. Public transport is very good (not the quality but the schedules) also at night, so hotel location doesnt matter much.
trams: http://www.bkv.hu/angol/home/index.html

Jennifer http://www.ebookers.ch do some really good deals. You can put the packet together yourself.

thanks guys!
was just playing around on the ebookers site...def.think I'll come home and see what I can put together.

teo - I may be PMing you with a few questions!
thanks muchly

Yup.

I don't know, I've never been. We're probably both missing drink, strippers, drink, dancing, drink, fight, vomit. Not necessarily in that order.

hi Jennifer,

I love Budapest, we go a few times a year. Here are a few helpful websites:
www.caboodle.hu (general stuff, event schedule, news)
www.chew.hu (I've found their restaurant guide to be reliable)
www.pestiside.hu (funny city blog)

Also, I'd second what SamC says: walk as much as you can manage because it is a great way to see the city. It will be great weather by then so make sure you take time out for the parks and islands. Public transport is indeed very good, but depending on how finicky you are, you might want to have a close look at what areas are better avoided at night - Zurich it ain't.
Last time we went, we stayed here http://www.starlighthotels.com/index_f.html for the location and because we got a good off-season deal on the price.

have fun,
Katharina

PM me what you really want. I will hook you with my co-worker Hungarian to give you a first class information. Let me know why you chose Budapest and we will take it from there.
If you have the dates you will like to visit, then I will advise go with Swiss. They have good fares. For CHF 99.00 from Basel - Budapest - Basel depending on the days you want to fly and availability.

Hello,

some tips for Budapest; my girlfriend is from Budapest and we travel there frequent.

Some of our favourite places in Budapest:
1) Andrassy Ut ("Budapest's Champs Elysées") with the beautiful Opera House, the nearby square Liszt Ferenc ter - great tree-lined place with lots of nice restaurants, cafés to enjoy fine food in a nice ambiance.
2) The nearby Hero's Square, and to have a stroll through the city park
3) The Széchenyi thermal baths located in the city park.
4) Buda-side...the Castle, the stunning view from Gellert hill, the ride with the funiculaire, the Fisherman's Bastion.
5) The WestEnd shopping centre...a huge modern shopping centre, always open (compared with Swiss opening hours) with global brands you cannot find anywhere in Switzerland.

In general; food, drinks, taxis are a lot less expensive than in Switzerland, although most goods cost about the same (clothing, electronics, etc)

Flights...Swiss often have last minute weekend-specials. In general Swiss have better deals than Malev, although definitely worth to check out as well. Normally a ticket for about CHF 250 is a good deal, with convenient flight times.
Swiss weekend-specials are published on their website (and you can subscribe to the newsletter) every Wed-morning 8am and bookable then for the coming weekend.

Stay...I can recommend the Hilton on the Buda side - beautiful historical location (within 10m of the Fisherman's Bastion), with excellent breakfast and relatively good value for money. Buda side in general gives you a nice high elevation to overview the city. Also recommendable: the Art Hotel Budapest (just read some tripadvisor comments).

Transport from airport to city. There is a good, frequent bus connection (about every 20 min) from Ferihegy airport to the end of the blue metro line, from where in about 20 min you're in the city centre. In addition to the regular bus, the Airport Minibus shuttles cost a bit more but go straight to the city.

I wouldn't recommend the airport bus (Minibusz) shuttle. We used to take it but prices kept going up and you pay a per-person fare, so that ultimately a taxi from the fixed-price airport taxi stand run by Zona Taxi was cheaper at HuF4,500.- (which is around 30 Swiss Francs not including a tip) into most parts of the city. Also, the taxi takes you straight to where you want to go, where the Minibusz may take several passengers at a time and make several stops.

from the airport I prefer the public transport, although its not so comfortable (but costs only one ticket which is about 1.x CHF), but the good thing is that it goes on some crappy road between the houses while taxis and such use the airport "speedway" or what, a 1+1 lane road which if jammed then you cannot go anywhere (it has one in and one out).. maybe I'm not an optimist

Vince's recommendations are very good, I'd add a walk on the riverside, bridges and Margit island. Westend City is a must, its about 4 times bigger than Glatt...

Moved to off-topic, since this isn't englishforum.hu

hi i have a irish mate who is married to a buda girl and he has an appartment in the center of budapest. i could ask him if he will rent it out to you if it;s available.

Email me at billyf@ekit.com if interested

Billy

dunno if you have already been there but...cheapest flights from zürich provides by far not swiss. check airberlin or malev directly. i have paid 140sfr in june 2006 from zürich with airberlin.
my opinion on hotels has changed since i rented an city apartment, so i did in budapest. took 50sfr a night and was located in the jewish borough (?) near deak ference ter.

ive been there for nearly 15times, but before the iron wall came down.
so a lot has changed since 1988. of course they have renovated a lot of buildings, especially on vatci utca. some look still ed but that makes budapest charming and gives it a historical value.

places on pest side i like is the old inner city market hall. once it was burnt down, but rebuilt. finest and freshest food youll get there, the fresh fish is ace! the parliament is also nice. check the opera, especially when they play liszt! ;-) hero´s square is beautiful to watch. buda is a must!walk there over elisabeth bridge! citadelle, fisher bastion, mathias church (if you have time, go and see the castle, too) and a ride back by cable car for a visit at the gellert thermal bath (maybe the nicest indoor public bath/thermal bath ever seen)

whats also very special is the szobor park. every statue or monument with a socialist or communist meaning wasnt just removed and destroyed. they settled them all in one park www.szoborpark.hu
on the way to the park, youll get deep into budapests suburbs and outskirts. impressive! margareten insel, right in the middle of river donau with the palatinus open air thermal bath, the restaurants there... fantastic!

to go out for dinner...just avoid the central restaurants like they are on vaci utca. its touristy crap with cheap gipsy music played by someone else but true sinti and roma. its ripoff like it is in prague or cities like that (i mean...the price for a 2person menu, for that money you wont get the starter in zürich, thats for sure. im just talking about variety) try to go some other places youll notice on the sideroads.

to end your trip take a tram ride besides/parallel river donau and see the spotlighted places and buildings. margareten bridge, chain bridge...parliament etc. lovely!

awesome! these tips are great guys!

we leave the 15th of May til 19th, just a 4day getaway.
I'm def. printing this off and spending some time on all the links provided.

how do I thank multiple people?


*group hug?*

Hi Jennifer.

I have a mate mark who's married to a hungarian and has a nice flat that he rents out sometimes. it's right in the centre on the hill overlooking the city. email him on Kilduff, Mark<Mark.Kilduff@irishlife.ie> and he might rent it to you and he knows the city very well. hope this helps ya.

Billy

we stayed at the art hotel on the buda side of the city about 18months ago - it was fabulous, would highly recommend it. our room had a wonderful view over the danube, and it's a really central location.

literally 1min walk to 'carne de hall' restaurant where they do amazing steak and wines. would really recommend the 'spoon cafe' on the danube, just the other side of the chain bridge - i had a phenomonal salmon dish with pomegranate there and they have an extensive cocktail list!!

we had a nightmare wait for the taxibus from the airport - in my opinion it's worth springing for a cab if you can afford it.

i loved budapest and would go back any time - i'm sure you'll have a fabulous time

kate

Jennifer, how was your trip?? And tips to share (I'm going in July)?