City break in Budapest

[JC03745]

Any must see things, things to avoid, areas to stay for a last minute, early Dec trip of about 5 days. Just DH and myself.

A boat trip on the dabube in the evening/when it's dark. A visit to Margaret Island. The Parliament across the river (and up close!) looks spectacular. All of it is wonderful 😀 I went in January once and it was -13 degrees at one point, but still such a great experience.

The Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial is a must see. Really moved me. It’s near the Budapest Parliament Building which is amazing too. Great city - enjoy

There are so many lovely cathedrals and how could I firget the Gellert Spa! Now called the Gellert Thermal Baths. There is also the Czechenyi Thermal Bath but I've never been. We also stayed on a boat called the Fortuna on the waterside. They were very stingy about providing milk pots for the room, but it was nice to stay on the water. We also went to Sziget Festival once and stayed in a posh hotel on Margaret Island. One night was meant to be £300 euros but we got it for about £70!

Also, try one of the little car things you can peddle about on on Margaret Island and the fountain light show is quite good. Obviously not Las Vegas standard but very cool.

The baths are amazing! Gellert are probably the more authentic set that I enjoyed more!

We're spending a day at the spa!

The ruin bar is fun too, graffiti walls in a cool way!

Danube evening cruise, Christmas markets, hop on hop off bus, a thermal spa, castle & fisherman’s bastion (close to each other), parliament, shoes on the Danube, a ruin bar (szimpla kert is good), a rooftop bar (bar Leo or high note sky bar were good), house of terror museum (not like a dungeon, it’s the history of Hungary), a walk round Margaret Island, street food at Karavan (next door to Szimpla Kert ruin bar), Food at Tom George Italian, coffee and cake at the New York cafe or Gerbeud, steak at Beersto 14, drinks in Gozsdu Udvar, brunch at Twentysix, chimney cake from a street vendor, langos from retro langos, visit one of the market halls. I’ve been a few times, just back from last visit in August. I hope this helps

We’ve just come back and found the thing we most enjoyed was the friendliness of the locals and the general vibe. Yes the spa and Danube trip were “nice”, but we enjoyed just wandering more. Loved the Karavan in the evenings to get food and drink - was much more chilled than the ruin bars. And we stayed in the Jewish Quarter which I would definitely recommend. Lots of lovely apartments on Airbnb

Try and stay centrally as city very walkable.you can group some attractions into areas to see each day eg -
Szechenyi baths - city park - heroes square
Parliament - shoes sculpture - Margaret's island, szechebyi bridge
Buda castle/gallery, fisherman's bastion
Definitely do a river cruise, the city is built with the river as the main feature and the most beautifullly lit buildings line the river.
Also highly recommend Karavan and Szimpla Kert. Probably my favourite city break destination.

You can do a tour of parliament which we found very interesting. Book now though.

The Gellert...every time. I have even managed to fit it in twice on some trips 😂

Christmas markets, hot chocolates, st Matthias church by the fisherman's bastion, the great synagogue and get on an English tour (they're done by volunteer members of the congregation who share their own family history of the area/ the holocaust etc very moving), the spa (if you go to szechneyi walk through heroes Square and the park). The little statues and sculptures dotted around the city centre.

My favorite city for a city break too - utterly beautiful.

Thank you for all the tips.
Does anyone recall what people wore in the swimming baths? I know a swimming cap is required, but wondering if swimming shorts are allowed on men and women? I think it was somewhere in France that men must wear speedos and I'd prefer to wear swimming shorts over a swim suit. I'm a woman and can't find anything in the FAQ's about swimwear.