Hungary for a Holiday

One thing I’ve always found with travelling is that it is a great way of forgetting about the issues back home. It’s often been an escape from reality for me and a way of reminding myself on the beauty of the world we live in and not to get beat up on the small things. The past few months have been increasingly difficult and after overcoming a very tough situation, I felt like I needed to reward myself. I decided to head to Budapest with the person who knows me the best, my dad. We share a love for adventure and plus it was his birthday, bonus!

Budapest is one of those places that not everyone has been to, but nearly everyone has it on their bucket list! It’s cheap, cheerful and only a three-hour flight from the UK, an obvious choice.

We arrived in Budapest mid-afternoon and hopped onto one of the airport buses that take you directly to the city centre. You can buy the tickets at the bus stop and they only cost the equivalent of £5 which is the obvious option compared to the £20 you can sometimes have to pay for a private transfer. It didn’t take us long before we got off the bus in the centre of Budapest, only a five-minute walk from the hotel.

We had booked an apartment in the Gozsdu district which is the seventh district of Budapest and comprises of seven buildings which were built in 1901. It is well known for its abundance of bars and restaurants, I’d definitely recommend it as a place to stay in Budapest. We dumped our bags in the room and headed out for something to eat. Another bonus of travelling is that you get to try loads of new food and flavours! After demolishing some goulash and a burger, we went back to the apartment for a quick nap.

Budapest is one of those cities which looks just as amazing during the night time. We walked from the hotel to the iconic Syechenyi chain bridge. It is a large suspension bridge that spans the River Danube between the Buda side of the city and the Pest side. Budapest was originally several separate cities, Buda, Obuda and Pest, until 1686 when the region entered a new age of prosperity. Along with that came the unification of Buda, Obuda and Pest in 1873, which was when the new capital was given the name Budapest. The majority of the city’s attractions are in the Pest side of the city, which is famous for its nightlife. Whereas the Buda side is considered the calmer side of the city which has a more residential feel.

After walking across the 375m bridge, we walked along the side of the river to get a fantastic view of the Hungarian Parliament Building. The building is currently the largest building in Hungary at 268m long and 123m wide and is the tallest in Budapest, with a maximum height of 96m. The main façade of the parliament overlooks the River Danube which means you can get a great panoramic view of it from the other side of the river. We walked for miles admiring the city at night before crashing at the hotel ready for our first full day of exploring Budapest!

We started off the day by getting the metro system to the Szechenyi Baths which are one of the largest bath complexes in Europe. It was very easy to get to from the centre of Budapest as the metro’s Yellow Line took us directly to the entrance of the complex! The pools are like giant hot-tubs with their temperatures being often in the high 30s, Celsius that is! The baths water is supplied by two thermal springs below the area itself. They are considered the largest medicinal baths in Europe and many medical studies indicate that the baths have healing properties that can help to relieve pain from certain conditions.

The Szechenyi Baths were originally built in 1909 but became so popular that they had to be expanded in 1927 to accommodate for the increasing number of visitors. The original thermal well couldn’t supply the larger volume of water required, so a new well was drilled. A second spring was found in 1938 at a depth of 1,256m which supplies 6,000,000 litres of water daily to the baths.

We had booked our tickets in advance using the ‘Get Your Guide’ app which meant that we didn’t need to queue! One thing I would recommend is that you bring flip-flops or sandals with you, I made the rookie mistake of not bringing them and therefore had to pay £8 when I got there. The warm baths were a lovely contrast to the 7 degrees that it was outside when we arrived. It was initially quiet but the crowds soon came flooding in at about 11am so I would suggest that it’s best to go as early as possible to miss the crowds and have the pools to yourself for a while! It is usually busiest mid-afternoon so make sure to avoid that time if you are thinking about visiting as you can feel like you’re packed in like sardines…

We decided to walk back towards the city centre rather than taking the metro so we could see more of the city. Our first stop was Heroes’ Square which is only a couple of hundred meters from the baths themselves. It is home to many statues featuring the seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian National leaders, along with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Heroes Square is the largest square in Budapest and considered the most impressive square in the city.

A long walk and a few snacks later, we made it to St. Stephen’s Basilica which is the Roman Catholic basilica, named in honour of Stephen, the first King of Hungary. It took over 50 years to build and is an incredible sight to see! The Basilica is very important to the people of Hungary as it is home to their most sacred treasure, St. Stephen’s mummified right hand, known as the ‘Holy Right Hand’… I was as confused as you are! Admission to the Basilica is free but it is customary to pay 200 HUF, equivalent of 1 euro as a donation. There is an option to take the 302 stairs to the top of it but we had bigger fish to fry…

If you couldn’t tell from my previous blog posts, I am a keen fan of hiking and what better place to drag my poor dad up to other than the Citadella! The Citadella is the fortification located upon the top of Gellert Hill which is a place which held strategic importance in Budapest’s military history. The fortress was built in 1851 and is located on a 235m high plateau! It took my unwilling dad and I a good hour to get to the top but we rewarded ourselves with a beer before heading back down on the steep paths. Even if it did tire us out, the view from the top was well worth it! You are able to get a 360-degree view of the entire city and far off into the distance. Fortunately for us, the weather was on our side so it was incredibly clear and we could see for miles.

We were pretty exhausted after the hike and a filling dinner the night before, so what better way to ease that other than going up yet another hill to get to the Buda Castle! Dad if you’re reading this, I totally get if you never want to come on holiday with me again…

Despite the complaining, we headed up and it didn’t take us too long before we were yet again, above overlooking the city. We opted to walk rather than take the ‘Funicular Railway’, it may have been a lot quicker but the sun was shining and it would have been a shame to miss out on it! The Buda Castle is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian Kings in Budapest. It was first completed in 1265 but the main building nowadays, the Baroque Palace, was built between 1749 and 1769. The complex is also home to the National Gallery, St. Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion.

St. Matthias Church is absolutely gorgeous and has an incredibly colourful tiled roof which makes it a very unique building in Budapest. It was built in the 14th century and was named after King Matthias who was married at the church upon completion. The church is beautiful both inside and out with its bright colours which makes it different to other typical neo-gothic buildings of its time.

Only a matter of feet from the St. Matthias Church was our next stop, the Fisherman’s Bastion, which is a terrace situated on the Buda bank of the Danube. The views from the Fisherman’s Bastion are considered some of the best in the city. We arrived here mid-afternoon and it was fairly busy with tourists so we had to squeeze our way through to get the best views but it did make taking photos very hard to do. I’d recommend coming as early as possible to avoid the crowds! The terrace has plenty of picturesque archways and ledges for the perfect Instagram photos, if you’re that kind of tourist. As if it couldn’t get any better, it is free entry!

After a quick afternoon of sight-seeing, we headed back to the Gozsdu district for tea and another evening exploring the nightlife of Budapest. Another famous part of the city are the iconic ruin bars with the area housing some of the best bars, pubs and clubs in Europe! People from all over the world come to Budapest every year to experience the unique drinking venues, and it does not disappoint! The fact that they are called ‘Ruin bars’ is quite ironic as they were quite a good fortune for their founders. Their history only goes back to 2001 where the story is that a group of young men were looking for cheap places to drink and from their thirst for alcohol and shallow pockets, some of Budapest’s best bars were born. They started from derelict buildings and unused outdoor spaces which were then transformed into friendly yet chaotic bars where you can still get alcohol insanely cheaply!

It was our final full day in Budapest and what better way of ending such a relaxing holiday and celebrating dad’s birthday other than climbing to the top of Budapest’s highest mountain! Sorry Dad, again… To compromise we decided to take the Zugliget Chairlift to the top of Janos Hill and walk down afterwards, which seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, so we bought a single ticket instead of a return. The chairlift was quite a pleasant ride and despite being quite high above the ground, it didn’t seem as daunting as it looked. At the top of Janos Hill is the Erzsebet Lookout Tower which had some incredible panoramic views of the Buda surrounds. After an hour of soaking up the sunshine and the views from the tower, we began our never-ending trek down to the bottom…

The initial walk was like a lovely walk in the countryside but it soon changed for the worst. As we got further into the wooded areas, the path turned from a normal bridle path, to an icy slope, and eventually to a muddy bog. Needless to say, we refused to go back up and pay for another ticket so we powered on! We tried to follow the signs as best as possible but I think we got slightly lost when we ended up walking down, nearly vertically below the chairlift. Along with trying to concentrate on not falling flat on our faces and rolling down the hillside, we had the people who were on the chairlift laughing at us too! Dad at this point was regretting every decision that had led up to him coming on this holiday. We finally reached the bottom where we ended up having to run to the bus as I was not prepared to waste an hour stood around waiting for the next one. I got on the bus fine but of course Dad had managed to lose his ticket in the disaster that was our trek down the mountain. Fortunately, he managed to bribe the bus driver and gave him a handful of cash before he gave in and let us on, lesson learnt, don’t lose your bus ticket!

Do you even visit one of Europe’s capitals if you don’t visit their Hard Rock Café? Nope. And Budapest’s did not disappoint! We ate burgers, chicken wings and nachos to make up for the ungodly amount of walking we had done these past few days but our Hungarian adventure wasn’t over yet!

Aching legs and blistered feet from the hiking the day before had put us off the idea of anything that involved walking. Instead, we opted to do our sightseeing via the city’s trams. The trams are an excellent way of exploring the city as you can pretty much hop on and off as many times as you want if you get a daily pass, known as the ‘Budapest Card’. The number two tram is said to be one of the best and cheapest ways of sightseeing in Budapest. It goes right along the riverside, passing by famous structures such as the Chain Bridge, Elizabeth Bridge, Buda Castle and even the Hungarian Parliament Building. We took the tram from the chain bridge to the end of the line and then back through the city centre before getting off at the Parliament building. It feels like cheating as you get two hours’ worth of views from walking, in about 15 minutes on the tram!

We stopped off at the parliament building for a proper look around as we had only seen it previously during the evening in the dark. It is a massively impressive building and is the third largest parliament building in the world, although it is actually only 2 meters longer than the English one, talk about competitive… Most of the building was destroyed by bombs in World War II but it was recovered and rebuild six years after! There is an option to go inside an have a tour but we were quite rushed as we had a flight to catch so we had to leave it by only seeing the outside. On a positive note, it does give me the reason to come back!

Budapest, you’ve been the BudaBEST!