Living your Buda-Best Life

Long weekends away are the best, aren't they? But it's always a mad dash going to a new place and finding out all the things you want to do, and then trying to fit them all into three days!

Budapest is the gorgeous capital city of Hungary in the eastern side of Europe. Its name is actually a combination of two ancient cities; Buda, and Pest, formally merged together in 1873. With beautiful archietecture and stunning surroundings, it isn't called the 'jewel on the Danube' for nothing! As the name suggests, it sits on the River Danube with Buda on one side and Pest on the other.

Tim, my fella, and I were complete novices when we travelled to Budapest for a long weekend. We wanted to make the most of our time there but had no idea what to expect. Budapest is famous for its notable landmarks and nightlife, amongst other things, and we wanted a taste of it all. Have fun reading through our Budapest diaries. Hopefully it'll inspire you on your visit!

Day 1

Normally on these adventures, we would normally spend the first day getting to know the surrounding area; not this time! Instead we threw ourselves straight in and immediately sought out the Central Market Hall indoor food market. This might not be for everyone but if you're huge foodies like us, it should definitely be on your list! The market was neverending with all different kinds of stalls and venders, selling fruit, veg, all sorts of meat and fish, and more spices than my nose could take! We came away with heaps of classic Hungarian sweet paprika and breakfast of croissants and pastries.

Next, we walked north up the river towards Buda Castle. Once over the bridge, there is a flat way up for walkers but for a few forints (Ft) for a return we decided to ride the funicule up to the top. The castle is a perfect example of gothic archetecture and the courtyard gives stunning views of the city below.

Just up the way from the castle is Fisherman's Bastion and Mattias Church. Here, Tim and I were able to get more views of the city and have an ice cream too! It was one of our favourite moments as we sat and had lunch in a café under the trees opposite the church, able to get amazing views of both the bastion's magical-looking terraces and the unique patterns in the church's roof.

Round the corner, we headed through the little backstreets until we found the Labryinth of Buda Castle which is a huge network of catacombs and caves under the bastion. It that it was the place where King Mattias imprisoned and tortured Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula as he came to be known, after being captured in Transylvania. Apart from the odd sorry excuse for a fire escape light and the flash of my camera, the whole tour is submerged in cold darkness, making it a thrilling and terrifying experience, but a sobering one too. Having bought our tickets, we were able to go round the tunnels as often as we liked but we were able to get round it all in about 40 minutes. I wanted to film us going round the labryinth but quickly realised it was impossible due to the sheer pitch black! A must do!

After we'd wandered back to the hotel for a shower and a change of clothes, we headed out. As I said before, we're massive foodies so we were keen to try some of the local cuisine. We came across goulash everywhere, which Tim tried every chance he got! We thought it was best on the first night in a restaurant called The Blue Rose which served an array of classic Hungarian dishes, most of which we'd never heard of!

Day 2

After all of yesterday's excitement, we felt we could go a bit slower today and take some time to explore. Passing the market once again, we bought a shed load of pastries and yummies to eat as we wandered back up the river. Today was drinking day ... No regrets! This meant that, as well as taking our time to browse in and out of shops, we also stopped at most bars we passed for a pint of Borsodi - a lager local to Budapest which was delightful!

We headed back to the bridge opposite Buda Castle and took and immediate right straight down the main stretch towards St Stephen's Basilica. Named after the first king of Hungary, the basilisca is the sixth largest in Hungary and is known for both its interior and exterior beauty, and the curious relics it holds. Normally you have to pay to go in but on the day we were there, it was holding some kind of event and so people could at least go in and have a bit of a look around. If you wanted access to the treasurey you had to pay. After some exploring inside, we sat outside a bar opposite for a yet another beer.

After returning to the hotel to change, we went for dinner at an amazing little restaurant called Véndiák Étterem. The food was absolutely glorious and the cocktails were to die for! Following that, we went out exploring the famous ruin bars of Budapest. These wonderful bars were born when local authorities decided to gut out the empty shells of buildings around the city and turn them into shabby-chic drinking esatblishments - what an amazing idea! Can think of a few places like that in the UK that could do with a bit of that! We found ourselves in a fab bar named the Red Ruin which was so tiny, we were all sardined in around this metre by metre bar! I asked for two double vodka and cokes and was presented with two pint glasses, each FULL TO THE BRIM of vodka. I must remember that Europeans do alcohol right! I asked for a can of coke as well, to which the barmaid was most disappointed by! As the name suggests, the entire bar had a red theme going on, which was amplified by the red lightbulbs in all the lights. We wander downstairs where it was less crammed and joined in with the pool battles!

Day 3

We were determined to take our last day by the horns, despite our heavy heads, so we started by wandering back into town from the hotel just in time for lunch. We knew just the place! We headed straight for the New York Palace which is a vision of Downton Abbey glamour and glitz. Expensive, but we didn't care! I took a million photos and videos but none did the place justice; the ceiling and walls were paved with beautiful gold carvings and fine statues that echoed Buckingham Palace. We both had a beer and treated ourselves to a dessert each. Tim had a cheesecake with an apricot jam, and I had a (phenomenal) chocolate and cherry parfait. Both were amazing, and made better by the pianist playing the background.

From here, we decided to brave the hour long walk in the 30 degree heat to the Széchenyi thermal baths. This was the thing I most wanted to do and, after changing and putting our things away in the lockers, was the most amazing experience! The heat meant it was super busy but we didn't much mind because there was something for everyone. Besides the huge heated pool outside, inside there were countless pools of different styles and temperatures to suit everyone's tastes. We were able to grab ourselves a drink and some snacks here too which was amazing. We learned while we were there that throught the summer, the baths stay open late and hold huge pool parties with more booze and music. You had to pay for tickets in advance but had we known, we definitely would have stayed!

On the day we were there, there was a huge food festival in the grounds outside the baths, so we were able to waste many more hours eating street food and drinking home brewed spirits and beers from vendors. There was also a music stage and more than enough room for everyone to sit and eat and dance. By far the best way to end our long weekend on!

Top Tips to Live your Buda-Best Life

• Everyone speaks English but if you go off the beaten track, be prepared for locals who can't!
• Currency = Forint ... Appears cheap, and it is, but be careful that you're actually getting a good deal by their standards. We found a bar that gave Tim a "double" (more like an octuple) rum and coke for, with the exchange rate, was about £2. Bargain, we thought! Except the bar was actually quite expensive for Budapest so it was more equivalent to £5/6, which by British standards still isn't too bad but it meant we ran out of cash pretty quickly and had to get the cards out.
• Everywhere is walkable, we did it. But thinking back, we probably spent a few hours walking every day. Take advantage of public services, when we enquired on the last day, we were annoyed at how cheap tickets were and how much more we might have fitted into our weekend.
• There's no denying the ruin bars are amazing, but they can get pretty crazy too. We wanted to go to one of the biggest and well-known bars but it was so full and people were staggering out so incredibly drunk. There were even girls lying down in the road close to comatose. What made it a bit scary was how narrow the roads were and the taxis that were trying to dodge round the scattered bodies.

Bottom line is; Budapest is a tremendous city and one I feel everyone should visit at some point! Hopefully our adventure can help you to create yours!

Like what you read? Send me a gift below to help contribute to my next adventure! You'd also be helping me to pay for my masters, so any help would mean the world!