It’s official. I love Budapest.
Yes, the Airbnb we were staying in may very well have been a studio location for some European adult movies (Hungary is the European porn capital), but I’ve seen many of these where I’ve admired the standard, cleanliness and style of the premises. So as we didn’t have a black light to terrify ourselves, we got on with exploring Budapest, the best-known city of Hungary and a definite flagship of any visit.
A wonderful orchestra of great food, great drink, great music and a lush love of open aired restaurants with water-cooled air fans, beautiful people and as many different cultures and races and you’d find in central London (big difference, most of them were grinning).
Only there for a couple of days, we dined with some clients at the Rosenstein, a high standard, fine dining establishment with food dripping with flavour and strong alcohol. A Hungarian friend of mine used to work there and said that it was the place to go. Yes, it was definitely worth it.
Then on the same night, I was introduced for the first time to a Ruin Bar, of which there are a couple in Budapest. As I understand it, these are condemned, abandoned buildings where amongst the ruins and under the night sky (seen through large holes in the roof), top notch alcohol and cocktails are sold. It’s the sort of bohemian location seen in films where revellers in the form of locals, businessmen, foreigners, students, travellers and happy bloggers find themselves and it is a culture-defining experience. One of the best joints I’ve ever been to.
Love food, love drink, love midweek summer partying? Then this is the place to come to. I hear that during winter the same jolly love of partying continues but people do so on the ice. I would love to see this, but as I’m South African I have a natural aversion and distrust of anything icy.
They don’t have Uber so you’ll be using taxis, but they are reliable and they don’t work with Euros they work with Forint (£14 is about 5000ft) so make sure you get your money right.
Students love this place for good reason, it’s cheap for the British and Americans and they have a happy go lucky attitude and a deep love of alcohol and food that allows you to just get on with enjoying it. Business people here are shrewd and get to the point but you’ll have some of the best nights out ever.
Also- we discovered an old fashioned video game arcade which I may have totally geeked out for.
