Budapest is truly a tale of two cities: once upon a time, there existed Buda and Pest, two towns on either side of the Danube River. In the late 17th century, Pest-Buda was formed, and later renamed into one of my favorite places I visited when abroad. Budapest was approachable, had a unique mix of Western and Eastern architecture, and was slightly warmer than Prague. My friend and I got there at night, checked into our hostel, and crashed. The real sightseeing began early in the morning the next day.
When researching what to do in Budapest, one thing is clear - you must go to a thermal bath. These baths were popularized centuries ago during Turkish rule. They use mineral water from springs that are prominent in the general geographical region. We chose to go to the Széchenyi Baths which were built more recently in the 20th century. The bath house itself is beautiful, built in a neo-baroque style; you feel as if you are in the pools of a palace. However, the Széchenyi Baths, in particular, are well known by tourists, so it is recommended that you come early in the morning to avoid crowded pools (pun not intended) of visitors. As a result, we started our day bright and early at 6:00 am to take the metro over. (nerhertip: There are schedules for when the pools are open for public, co-ed use, which you should definitely check beforehand. You should also bring a pair of flip-flips and a towel, or you will have to rent them.)
In contrast to the chilly morning air, the warmth of the pools felt wonderful. There were different jets and fountains in the pool and a sauna that added to the spa like feel. There really weren’t many other people there at the time - most seemed to be respectful frequenters. Although a bit painful to wake up that early, it ended up being well worth it.
After the swimming and lounging for a bit, we returned to the hostels, showered, and got ready for the day. We were starving when we left the hostel - why do pools always do that? We had reservations for a late brunch around noon at a Lebanese restaurant called Mozata, but our thermal bath-induced hunger was no joke, and since we had some time to spare, we first stopped at a cafe called Madal Cafe. There are a few locations around the city. The one we went to had a little area for outdoor seating, where we sat, chatted, and observed the city. The shining sun and our hot coffees made sitting outside pleasant, regardless of the cold. With our hunger temporarily at bay, we walked around for a bit, and then made our way to brunch.
Mozata was a gorgeous restaurant, and one of my favorite finds of all of Spring Break. For slightly over $10 USD each we ate so much food, that we weren’t sure how we would be able to eat dinner later that day. Our meal consisted of a complimentary appetizer, with soft breadsticks, olives, and a tangy dip; a “Lebanese platter” with olives, labneh, feta, and apricot jam; eggs and halloumi; enough falafel to feed 3; and a free side of pita (which was not really a side - there were 8 pieces of bread). We were clearly American tourists, who had no idea about how price correlated with portion size here. The restaurant was so pretty on the inside, we couldn’t possibly understand how such filling portions would come our way. I ended the meal with my second coffee of the day, and we headed out to get started on seeing some more sights.
Our next stop was Fisherman’s Bastion, a monument with a gorgeous viewpoint of the city near Budapest Castle’s entrance. Understandably, this area exists quite high up, but unfortunately for us, we didn’t really think about that. We embarked on our journey, full and energetic from our previous meal, but soon were panting as we climbed up a seemingly never-ending, upward slope and several flights of stairs.
Eventually though, after paying a few euros to enter the lookout, when we did reach the top, we were struck with a truly beautiful view of the city. You could Budapest for miles packed with domed and pointed rooftops and sturdy bridges, split by the winding river. Although a journey to get up to, Fisherman’s Bastion was definitely worth it.
We then began our decent and used the metro to return to the Pest side of the city for our free walking tour. Now, if you read my Prague post, you already know how wonderful of a concept I think these are, and this one definitely did not disappoint.. We learned the correct pronunciation of different Hungarian letters (sz is pronounced “s” while s is pronounced “sh” for example), saw St. Stephan’s Basilica from the outside, and listened to a lot of impressive and interesting history about Budapest.
We did have to leave a bit early to catch our sunset boat ride on the Danube River, but the tour was a great way to see more of the city. After we boarded our cruise, we watched the stunning sunset and saw incredible views of the city through the boat’s long glass windows. This indoor cruise allowed for a level of warmth that was quickly being lost outside. The Danube sparkled, and as the sky turned dark, and the large, intricate buildings that lined the river became even more impressive.
After the boat tour, we were starving - it had been quite a long day after all. We made our way over to a Thai place we had researched before called Qui. This was another food highlight over spring break. We did have to wait a bit to get seated (nerhertip: make a reservation ahead of time for this one), but it was worth it. The restaurant was beautiful on the inside, and the food was the best Thai food that I had in Europe. The Green Curry we ordered was aromatic, rich, and flavorful, and the Pad Thai was perfectly chewy, sour, sweet, and nutty.
We ended our evening at Noa Mixology, a bar in front of St. Stephan’s Basilica (that boasts incredible views, but has just okay ones), and headed back to our hostel for a well-deserved night of sleep. Budapest was one of my favorite places I visited over Spring Break, and was an exciting new place to see. Next and last on our Spring Break itinerary: Italy.
Nerhertips:
Check the Széchenyi Bath schedule before you go: there are schedules for when the pools are open for public, co-ed use, which you should definitely check beforehand. You should also bring a pair of flip-flips and a towel, or you will have to rent them
Make reservations for popular restaurants: we had to wait quite some time to be seated at Qui, for example, but did not have to wait for Mozata, since we went right when it opened
Plan out your trip on both sides of the river and think about transportation: the Buda side felt a lot more difficult to navigate, since it has quite a bit of an upward trek and less metro stops, but the Pest side was flatter and better connected
Links:
Buda and Pest (some history about Budapest)
Madal Cafe (coffee)
Mozata (lebanese restaurant)
Fisherman’s Bastion (viewpoint)
Qui (thai restaurant)
Noa Mixology (bar in front of st. stephan’s basilica)