Hungary was country number two (after Poland) on Alyssa and my 2017 European travels. Finally - warm weather! We explored Budapest for a few days, then head to Lake Balaton for some relaxation and wine before finding our way to Slovenia.
Logistics: We took an overnight bus from Krakow to Budapest which was slightly less comfortable but much cheaper (about 10€ each) than the train. The bus dropped us off at a metro stop which made it easy to get into down. When we were in Hungary, there still wasn't Uber, but a friend told me there's a similar cab-hailing app
Logistics: We took an overnight bus from Krakow to Budapest which was slightly less comfortable but much cheaper (about 10€ each) than the train. The bus dropped us off at a metro stop which made it easy to get into down. When we were in Hungary, there still wasn't Uber, but a friend told me there's a similar cab-hailing app
Budapest
Coming from Krakow, we were immediately struck by the Budapest's big-city feel. It's a city that we knew we'd just barely scratch the surface of during the three days we spent exploring. Our impression was that it's an exciting but not overwhelming place that's livable if you learn some basic Hungarian to help you get by.
Budapest is known for its vibrant nightlife which attracts big groups of young backpackers and rowdy stag and bachelorette parties. Warm summer nights are perfect for all the outdoor patios and bars that Budapest has to offer. While Alyssa and I checked the ruin bars off our to-do/see list, our time in Budapest (and really, the rest of our trip) was defined more by food than anything else.
Budapest is known for its vibrant nightlife which attracts big groups of young backpackers and rowdy stag and bachelorette parties. Warm summer nights are perfect for all the outdoor patios and bars that Budapest has to offer. While Alyssa and I checked the ruin bars off our to-do/see list, our time in Budapest (and really, the rest of our trip) was defined more by food than anything else.
Eat: While doing some research prior to our trip, I was surprised to find that Budapest boasts four restaurants with one Michelin star, and a few others on the Bib Gourmand list. If you're a big foodie, check out the up-to-date Michelin guide before you travel to lock in a few reservations. While the word count below is heavily biased towards our fancier meals, don't let that stop you from exploring more casual places, especially in the Seventh District (former Jewish Quarter).
- Costes - this was our splurge. Costes earned Hungary's first Michelin star and now has a second location which recently earned it's first Michelin star in 2016. We chose to order the 4-course menu (you can choose between 4, 5, and 7). We thought about doing the 5-course menu (their most popular), but we didn't think we needed the extra course which was a second dessert. With the amuse bouche and insane butter course (with bread), we were stuffed by the end of the meal. Oh and of course, the wine! We chose to do the wine pairing which did not disappoint - the sommelier (a woman!) was great and spent time explaining the pairings to us in detail. The only thing I didn't like was that even with the 4-course menu, you had to pick your own courses (decisions!?) and they had to be exactly the same as everyone else at your table. We asked our waiter for suggestions and ultimately went with everything he recommended! Make a reservation well ahead of time.
- Tanti - many restaurants (both casual and upscale) have really reasonable fixed menus for lunch. So, we decided to head over to Tanti, which used to have a Michelin star, for lunch one day. It was an easy bus ride from the downtown area, but is a bit out of the way, so if you don't have a lot of time it may not be worth the extra mileage. You may need a reservation for dinner, but can probably walk in for lunch. Food should run you less than $20pp, so enjoy a glass or two of wine as well! We really enjoyed our food here - some reviews said the lunch portions were small but we felt like they were the perfect size. The highlight of our meal was our waiter. We learned that he was from the countryside, near Lake Balaton. Since we were trying to be #spontaneous and had some flexibility coming up in our schedule, we took his recommendation to go enjoy some white wines and the lake instead of heading to Eger (see below for more on our trip).
- Fricska Gastropub - don't let "gastropub" fool you, this felt more like eating in a homey wine cellar and was probably my favorite meal in Hungary. Their menu changes daily so it's not on their website. Most of their entrees (I got the pheasant) come with some sort of homemade pasta, but it's more of an accent than the main affair. We didn't formally ask for a wine pairing but their sommelier is like a wise, stubborn grandfather, so when he brought wine over, we drank. He took more of the "I know what's good for you, don't ask questions" approach than some of the other sommeliers we encountered, which we found amusing but might rub some people the wrong way. We even got scolded for not drinking our sparkling apéritif fast enough, "it's only good cold, drink it now or it will not be good." Warning: the bread here is amazing and you will eat too much of it. Pace yourself, they'll bring you bread throughout the entire meal! After tip, our meal (app, entree, and a shared dessert) and all the wine came out to just under $60pp. Make a reservation ahead of time by calling or emailing.
- Great Market Hall - we stayed right around the corner from the Great Market Hall so grabbed breakfast here a couple times. And by breakfast, I mean a delicious strudel...it's basically fruit right? This market is definitely worth exploring - locals tend to do their grocery shopping in the morning (join them to avoid the crowds later in the day). Pretty much all the fresh food (produce, fruit, meat, etc.) is downstairs. Head upstairs to explore the mouth watering variations of fried dough...you have to see it for yourself. There are also a bunch of souvenir shops upstairs so you can kill two birds with one stone. Note: closed on Sundays!
- Gozsdu Udvar - this is a street near the ruin pubs that's packed with restaurants and bars. It's just a few blocks, so you can wander and see what you're in the mood for.
- Street Food Karaván - home to a bunch of food trucks, this is the perfect stop to grab a bite before, during, or after visiting the ruin bars (it's on the same street).
- Ricsi's World's Jewish Street Food - we didn't eat here, but it came highly recommended by our local tour guide. It's located in a courtyard where vendors were selling other desserts and knick knacks.
- Taste Hungary - my good friend and trusted travel companion, Liz, highly recommends Taste Hungary's culinary walk (they have a bunch of other options too). She said it was a great way to explore the Great Market because they ended up trying a lot of food they would have overlooked. You end the tour with a wine tasting where they teach you all about the various Hungarian wine regions and ancient vines.
- Round pastry things
- There are a bunch of restaurants along Váci utca, the main square, and river walk, but everyone we talked to suggested avoiding those tourist traps. You end up paying a bunch for mediocre food. Instead, grab an afternoon coffee or dessert if you want to do some people watching rather than a full meal.
Drink: I'll always remember Budapest as the city where I discovered that I do actually like white wines. While the wine region closest to Budapest, Eger, is known for red wines, Hungary also produces some great not-too-sweet whites that seemed more fitting given the temperature. In most bars and cafes, you order wine by the deciliter - for reference, a typical wine glass in the states is about 1.5 deciliters.
- Head to Kazinczy utca (street) to check out Budapest's ruin bars. The main ones are all along a 3 block stretch that's worth exploring before you commit to a spot for the night.
- Szimpla Kert ("Simple Garden")- the most famous of the ruin bars. It reminded me just slightly of Container Bar in Austin, if each container had a different vibe.
- Kőleves Kert - great place to spend the afternoon and enjoy a few glasses of wine (their restaurant is supposed to be really good too). Seemed like it was popular for group gatherings. And, they have hammocks so what more could you want?
- Gozsdu Sky Terrace - this is located on Gozsdu Udvar. While Budapest really goes all out with courtyard / outdoor bars, we found ourselves wanting a rooftop! We didn't ended up going here, but our brief "research" said that this is the one to check out during the summer.
- Rombusz Terasz - if you're going to grab dinner along Ráday utca (street), this is a nice outdoor area to grab a quick drink. You can get an alcohol-free lemonade here which seems to be a mix of fresh (and not fresh) lemon juice, lemon and orange wedges, and sparkling water. We had versions of this drink all around Hungary.
See:
- The Great Synagogue - built by Catholic architects, so resembled a church
- Church
- Baths
- Evening boat tour
- Hike to leaf lady (we didn't do this)
Getting around: We purchased a 3-day public transportation pass which cost about $15. We took the metro and busses quite frequently around town so definitely got our money's worth. If you buy a single ride ticket, make sure to validate your ticket when boarding to avoid fines. Depending on what your plans are, you should also look into the Budapest Card which includes public transportation, free entrance into some museums, and discounts off other tourist activities. We were warned several times that taxis in Budapest are a huge scam, so we steered clear of those. Uber isn't active in Budapest, so if you plan on taking cabs, I'd recommend jotting down the numbers of a few reputable taxi companies or asking your hotel to hail one for you if you're staying in a hotel.
According to Wikipedia, FINA stands for "Fédération internationale de natation" aka international swimming federation.
Lake Balaton
At the recommendation of our waiter at Tanti, we decided to head west to Lake Balaton instead of going to Eger (more popular wine destination for the backpacking/American tourist crowd).
How we got there: This was an adventure, but we made it eventually! We used an app that's a like hitching meets Uber - people input where they're going, and how many open seats they have in their car. You can then request to join their car at a price they set themselves and you pay them in cash. We looked at two apps, Oszkar and Bla Bla Car. We were able to find someone on Oszkar that was heading towards Balaton (Balatonfüred) at a time that worked well for us. He didn't speak English, but our hostel helped us communicate with him, and when he showed up in a Mercedes with his 4 year old daughter, any concerns we had were alleviated. Our difficulties arose when we got to Balatonfüred - we thought it would be easier to continue west to Badacsonytomaj - probably ~2 hours further along the lake. There were no car rental agencies in Balatonfüred, so we found a bus schedule (through Google Maps) and hopped on a bus. Not bad but did take us longer than we had hoped. A few bigger towns nearby: Siófok (on the other side of the lake, closer to the highway) and Veszprém (we drove nearish this on our way to Balatonfüred). It would have been easier to go to one of those places to get a car and drive ourselves, but we wanted to continue directly to Slovenia so didn't think we wanted to have to reroute back towards Budapest to return a car. There are also ferries that run across the lake (we took one of these later on), so those are an option too depending on where you're coming from and your route. Basically, the easiest thing to do is just drive to/from Budapest or some other destination - just be careful of astronomical costs for returning a rental car in a different country.
Where we stayed: Since this was the spontaneous leg of our trip, we didn't have anything booked. But we found this lovely BnB to stay in on booking.com. We would have tried to stay another day, but there was only availability for one night. Our host met us when we arrived and welcomed us with a free glass of wine and soda water. For English speaking travelers, our host spoke great English (which wasn't as common in this town). He helped orient us to the neighborhood and suggested his favorite wineries. We were able to use the laundry on site and there was a kitchen in our apartment. The bedroom also had A/C. Our host had bikes that we used to explore the area.
How we got there: This was an adventure, but we made it eventually! We used an app that's a like hitching meets Uber - people input where they're going, and how many open seats they have in their car. You can then request to join their car at a price they set themselves and you pay them in cash. We looked at two apps, Oszkar and Bla Bla Car. We were able to find someone on Oszkar that was heading towards Balaton (Balatonfüred) at a time that worked well for us. He didn't speak English, but our hostel helped us communicate with him, and when he showed up in a Mercedes with his 4 year old daughter, any concerns we had were alleviated. Our difficulties arose when we got to Balatonfüred - we thought it would be easier to continue west to Badacsonytomaj - probably ~2 hours further along the lake. There were no car rental agencies in Balatonfüred, so we found a bus schedule (through Google Maps) and hopped on a bus. Not bad but did take us longer than we had hoped. A few bigger towns nearby: Siófok (on the other side of the lake, closer to the highway) and Veszprém (we drove nearish this on our way to Balatonfüred). It would have been easier to go to one of those places to get a car and drive ourselves, but we wanted to continue directly to Slovenia so didn't think we wanted to have to reroute back towards Budapest to return a car. There are also ferries that run across the lake (we took one of these later on), so those are an option too depending on where you're coming from and your route. Basically, the easiest thing to do is just drive to/from Budapest or some other destination - just be careful of astronomical costs for returning a rental car in a different country.
Where we stayed: Since this was the spontaneous leg of our trip, we didn't have anything booked. But we found this lovely BnB to stay in on booking.com. We would have tried to stay another day, but there was only availability for one night. Our host met us when we arrived and welcomed us with a free glass of wine and soda water. For English speaking travelers, our host spoke great English (which wasn't as common in this town). He helped orient us to the neighborhood and suggested his favorite wineries. We were able to use the laundry on site and there was a kitchen in our apartment. The bedroom also had A/C. Our host had bikes that we used to explore the area.