My Top 10 places in Budapest

The places that I loved in Budapest:

Buda Castle: 

I had never been in a castle before, so this was my first time and it was lovely, romantic, and beautiful. You have the most amazing views from the Danube and the Parliament from here, and guess what is FREE!!!

The Chain Bridge: 

New Year's eve on the Chain Bridge

From the Buda Castle you have to walk a few steps to go to this awesome bridge which you can cross and admire the views while you walk to the next place in the list 

The parliament: 

You can find the parliament in almost every Budapest's souvenir, so you definitely have to go. If tickets are a little expensive for you (I mean me) you can still walk around and admire the architecture of this building.  

The Central Market Hall: 

Also FREE, it is a market and maybe you will find it normal but what can I say, I am a market lover!! I love to see different kind of food and compare prices, and there is plenty of delicious food in affordable prices.  The second floor is all dedicated to souvenirs, don't return home without buying some paprika! :)

Deak Ferenc Ter: 

This is one of the main squares Budapest, and the overall vibe of the area is great. A lot of restaurants and shops around

Basilica of Szent Istvan: 

If you are in Deak Ferenk Ter, you are very close to this church, you can enter here for a collaboration of 200 huf, if I can recall correctly. Close from here there is a lot of shops and these beautiful ice creams. 

Baths and More Baths: 

Budapest is super famous for their thermal baths. Close to The Buda Castle is the Rudas Bath, This Bath is open from monday to sunday, however it can only be used by women on Tuesday and in groups just Saturday and Sunday. It is cheaper if you go early from monday to friday. Also since you are around women don't get scandalized if you see people almost naked!

More info about Rudas Bath here

I didn't get in Szencheyi Bath, but I went there to at least see how it was. It was winter so I wouldn't have been very happy to be outside bathing :) but It looked  great anyway! and people seemed to enjoy the water.

More info here

Go to the Opera: 

Going to the Opera in Budapest is so cheap, and I didn't go and I regret it to this day!

I will let the official info here

Heroes' Square 

Totally free, you have to go to Heroe's square to take a picture, a very known landmark of the city, almost like the chain bridge. Close to Heroe's Square is the castle of the second picture. I cannot recall the name, but you can enter here as well for free. 

Fisherman Bastion 

The fisherman Bastion is the combination of a village with a castle, at least for me :) all the surrounded area is very beautiful, you have also great views from Budapest. Entering here is FREE

Bonus

• If you go in Christmas there is a lot of Christmas markets around the city, you can go ice skating also for a very cheap price.
• There is plenty of shopping center in case you want to buy something cheaper, bags or things like that  go to West End on the ground floor.
• Another shopping centers are: Allee in the Buda side, Arena Plaza in the Pest side. 

That time when I lived in Budapest: Tips for your travel to Budapest

Budapest's view

I lived 2 months in Budapest, from December 2015 until February 2016. My boyfriend is studying there so I went to visit him. I have, to be honest and say that Budapest was not on my wish list. However, it should definitely be on everyone list, especially for people like me who are always on budget!

So let me clarify this, Budapest in comparison with many cities in Europe is very cheap. No euros there! Their currency is the Hungarian forint, you can verify the currency exchange to Usd dollars here

So what you need to know to travel to Budapest! I've got you covered

• How to get there?
• Where to stay?
• How to move?
• What to eat?
• What to visit?

How to get there?

Ok, so maybe I should restate this question and say How do I get there? 

Well, I currently live in Melbourne, Australia. So if you live in Australia, the flight to Budapest will take around 22 hours! Yes! it's a long flight! 

I booked my flights on Google flights which I always use and I cannot recommend more! and I am sure there are plenty of airlines that travel to Budapest, but Qatar was the cheapest and safest at least I think so. This was my first time flying with Qatar and it was nice! so everything about the flight was good! 

My meal with Qatar on the flight

The arrival to the airport was normal and I didn't have any kind of issue. The language, Hungarian is very different luckily you can communicate in English or sign language although I got frustrated a couple of times, but is ok!   Additionally, airport has free Wifi.

Travelling from the airport to the city, if you are on budget well you can take a bus to the city or take Uber. I will talk more about the transportation in the "How to move" section

Where to stay?

I think that Budapest has a great transportation system, so you don't necessarily have to stay in the city center. But, let's start from the beginning Budapest is divided by Buda and Pest. I stay in Buda, and from what I heard Buda is cheaper and it's where more hungarians families live. I stay on the District XI and I loved it! Because I was going to stay 2 months there so I wanted to feel local, go to the little grocery stores and bakeries, and I was 20 minutes from Pest.
For travelling I consult a lot Airbnb, if you want to check the place where I stay, I am going to leave the link below.

Anyway, If you want to party I really recommend District 5 in Pest, close to Deak Ferenc Terc which is probably the main square in Budapest, the atmosphere is great there.

Another district that you may want to check is district 6 also in Pest close to Andrassy street, and district 9 close to the central market. I think this are the most central parts of the city. However I feel that these parts are also the most expensive.


How to move?

Well thank God! for Google, move around the city is the easiest thing as long as you have your phone. All routes in Budapest are mapped, so you just have to follow the options that google gives you.

About the tickets so in Budapest you are going to find a little machines like this one

So if you don't understand, don't panic it has an English, Spanish.. etc. options. You can buy one ticket for each time that you use a bus, tram or train  or a weekly pass that is what i would recommend. 

So please notice that every time you get on to a bus, you have to show your weekly or monthly ticket to the driver. Well, there is a little poster that states in which bus you have to show your ticket and in which no, but I just show it anyway :)

In trains and trams you don't have to do that, but there are supervisors that can randomly ask you for your ticket and if you don't have it you would have to pay a fee.  But I think the transportation is cheaper than many places in Europe, so it is good, 

Also if you are planning travelling around Europe you can book really cheap tickets by train in Budapest. Just be careful, if you are in Vienna for instance DO NOT BUY FROM THE PAGE OF BUDAPEST you will waste your money since you can only print those tickets in Hungary. I am talking from experience. So if you are in Budapest before leaving just be sure to print all your tickets in the train station. 

What to visit?

If you choose a time to go to Budapest, choose Christmas. There are so many things to do around Christmas, well it is very chilly, and I complain a loooot about the cold weather but it is worthy, even when I stay at the flat with a hot coffee seeing the snow falling.

The park close to the flat

In the following post you will find my top 10 places in Budapest.


Links you could be interested:

Place where I stay with excellent host in Airbnb!

You want a disccount in Airbnb: click here

Hungarian Railway tickets click here

More info on transport and official prices click here

Words that I learnt and I used: köszönöm (thanks!)  szia (hi!) and bocsi (sorry! sounds like bochi)