17 Things You HAVE to Do in a Weekend in Budapest

If you’re planning a weekend in Budapest, let me help. I’ve been three times now, spent over two weeks there, and would be well up for going again. After Barcelona, Budapest is my second favourite European city.

Let me show you around a weekend in Budapest.

Actor Anthony Hopkins claimed it was the most beautiful place he’d ever been, Alice Cooper said people needed to visit and Angelina Jolie is even rumoured to have bought a house in the city she loved it so much. If Budapest is good enough for the celebs, it’s definitely good enough for us.

Going to Budapest for the weekend is the perfect opportunity for 48 hours of spas, goulash and amazing architecture.

Budapest has a long and colourful history; it was originally formed by bringing together three separate towns or areas. Pest, Buda and Óbuda were the original districts of the city. But as the city grew so did the number of districts, now totalling a grand old 23.

Here’s a look around just a few of them for your Budapest weekend.

What to do in 48 hours in Budapest

1. Visit the hot springs

Budapest is known for having almost 125 hot springs, and taking a dip is a tradition that dates back to Roman times. So making like Cesar in an art nouveau joint like the Gellert Baths or in Europe’s largest medicinal bath at Szechenyi Baths, is a must.

For those who prefer a good beat while they bathe, make sure to put a ‘sparty’ on the Saturday night agenda.

2. Walk around Budapest’s big sights

If you’re on a budget on your weekend in Budapest, spend your saturday taking in the best of the city’s sights with a walk. Go along the Danube river where views of the Buda Castle, Liberty Statue, Little Princess Statue and Fisherman’s Bastion are free.

Then cross the city into either the Buda side or Pest side of the city via the famous Elizabeth or Chain Bridge.

3. Pop to Margaret Island

Complete your afternoon by hopping over to Margaret Island in the middle of the river where you can see the music fountain, medieval ruins and fancy water tower, also for a sum total of zero. This is where the famous Sziget Festival takes place every August. 

You could get yourself a bike from the Zebra Bike Tours – it’s only 1500HUF for two hours. I cycled down to the island and round.

There’s a range of wheels you can hire out, lots of flowers and bushes, some animals to see, a pub, a café and lots of statues dotted around the park too.

Bring your swimmers and you could go to the Palatinus Water Park. I didn’t, but I definitely will do next time.

More things to do in Budapest

4. Visit Buda Castle

Delve a little deeper into Budapest’s culture on the Sunday, and head underground. Hospital in a Rock is a museum under the Buda Castle dedicated to the secret military hospital built back in the 1930s.

Keeping the clandestine theme going, the Szabo Ervin Library is a 19th century throwback located within another library within an aristocrat’s old mansion — talk about hidden.

5. Share the MJ love

A little less secret is the city’s love for Michael Jackson. In front of the Kempinski Hotel there’s a tree dedicated to the star and completely covered in his image. You can walk by on your way to the For Sale Pub. Not actually for sale, this cosy joint is full of floor to ceiling ads, postcards and notes pinned to the walls by the hundreds of patrons who’ve visited in years gone by.

If you still have time for more cool things to do in Budapest, check out my quick list of the 52 Budapest hotspots. 

6. Visit St Stephen’s Basilica

Now I have seen a LOT of churches and cathedrals and St Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest is without a doubt the most impressive. On the first day I said I didn’t want to go because I wasn’t interested, but I’m so glad I decided to make the trip towards the end of my holiday.

7. Go shopping in Budapest

There are some cool boutiquey clothes shops in the Jewish area if you want to get some spending in, and to pick up some great Budapest souvenirs too.

8. Visit the Hungarian Parliament

Next up, go to my most favourite building in the world – the Hungarian Parliament. If you’re lucky you might get to see the soldiers performing the Changing of the Guard outside like we did. The Parliament building in Budapest is actually best viewed from the other side of the river, on the Buda side so get those legs a moving.

9. Do the Alternative Budapest walk

Book onto the Alternative Budapest walk. My host Antonia pointed out some great bars to me, gave a much needed background on the current and past politics of Budapest and showed me around some cool streets. There were lots of places on the tour I came back to later in my own time. She was also really nice and fun and a cool person to hang around with for a few hours. I loved seeing the Budapest street art, the Ruin Bars and the Budapest Jewish synagogues and having someone to explain them in more detail to me. 

10. Go to the Szechenyi Spa Baths

Make your way to the Szechenyi Spa Baths in Budapest, in City Park. Along the way plan your route so you go via the awesome Heroes Square.

The Szechenyi Spa Baths are the most popular baths in Budapest, although there are actually lots more to choose from. From around £10 you can have access to the spa, and all the facilities – all day. There are also massages and treatments available on top. Can get pretty busy on weekends though, just so you know! 

Drinking in Budapest 

11. Visit the Ruin Bars

I can’t write a Budapest weekend guide without mentioning the Ruin Bars.

One of the most diverse and interesting of Budapest’s districts is number seven. The seventh district was for many generations the home to a mostly Jewish community.

After the end of the Second World War, which reigned destruction down on this part of the city. The seventh district became a near ghost town and suffered decades of total neglect by the city government. But as sometimes happens in these abandoned parts of cities new life began to emerge.

This new injection of life blood came in the form of ‘ruin pubs’. These are bars that have seemingly appeared out of nowhere to brighten up this derelict area on the “Pest” side of the mighty river Danube. This area is still very much rundown, but the ‘romkocsma’ or ruin pubs are attracting not only locals but also large numbers of tourists to the slightly unusual backstreet areas to the rear of The Great Synagogue. 

One of the great charms of the area is that each of these ruin pubs is very unique although there are common similarities that link the bars together.

The basic recipe seems to be located in an abandoned building. Hopefully with an adjoining cleared demolition site, which will become home to an outdoor seating area. Here you will find picnic tables and a makeshift bar and a great vibe. The decor at all the bars all seems to have been collected from the same charity shop. This perhaps does not sound very inviting, but is all part of the very cool scene in this area.

Budapest’s ruin bars are famous the world over. Once derelict and condemned buildings, entrepreneurial souls took them over by putting up bars to welcome in the local artists. Fast forward to today and they’re now one of the main draws to Budapest on a weekend. 

Check out Szimpla Kert and Doboz for the best experience. But have a little look around to find some more underground offerings. 

Another popular ruin pub is Fogas haz, this bar opened its doors in 2010. There’d been several failed attempts to keep the doors open previously, but now it seems the new proprietors have the formula just right. This pub is also a cultural and community centre heavily involved in the gentrification of the area.

For a more traditional experience in the evenings, visit the 117 year-old Kerek Tavern in the Obuda neighborhood or Pozsonyi Tavern in District XIII. With warm dumplings, cosy cave-like settings and checkered tablecloths, you’ll feel as if you’ve travelled back in time.

12. Enjoy some Hungarian wines

Visit the Buda Castle Faust Wine Cellar, where you can sample over 20 wines from across the country. Instant, Kuplung and Fogas Haz also serve up a buzzing atmosphere and great tunes.

Where to eat in Budapest

Start each day of your Budapest weekend with a Hungarian breakfast at a hip cafe like Zoska or take an extra shot of history with your coffee in Hadik as you sit where legendary writers are said to have once mused.

13. Brunch at Boscolo New York Cafe

If you really want a breakfast in Budapest with a difference, check out the New York Cafe – it’s amazing! I nearly walked into a few tables I was too busy staring at the hand painted ceiling and the gold plated walls.

The New York Cafe, or Boscolo New York Cafe as it’s called now, is still decorated as it was when it opened. The ceiling frescoes were created by Gusztav Mannheimer and Ferenc Eisenhut at the time and the Venetian chandeliers are exactly the same ones as they were then.

After much deliberation our table ended up with poached eggs, French toast, American pancakes, Hungarian sausages and wursts. All served up with a healthy dose of cappuccinos, power smoothies and freshly squeezed orange juice. And seeing as it was such an occasion, of course we had to have Champagne too, hand selected by the sommelier our waitress told us. Get me!

14. Visit the Central Market Hall

Come lunch time, head to Central Market Hall on day one for a cheap and cheery experience where you can grab some goulash on the go and pick up a kolbice, aka a Hungarian hotdog, on day two.

TOP TIP: Grab a kebab from a street vendor for a tasty quick meal, and cheap too!

15. Don’t leave Budapest with trying a Langos

Langos is just water and flour, crafted by proficient hands into dough. Apparently a lot can go wrong in the conception and it’s not as easy to make as it sounds.

I ordered mine from the stall in the main square at the end of Vaci Utca. I watched the Langos lady with great admiration – it took her about 20 seconds to do the following 5 steps, from the moment her sous chef slapped it in front of her out of the dee fat fryer, to passing it over and grabbing my 600ft (£1.50).

• Step 1: Cook the fluffy doughnutty base
• Step 2: Spoon some sour cream on
• Step 3: Spread it with a painting brush
• Step 4: grate cheese all over it
• Step 5: hand on over, ready for me to devour

You can get all kinds of toppings on the Langos. Unfortunately I can’t read Hungarian, or speak it, the lady was scary and I had a queue behind me. I just asked for what the person in front of me had. I liked that the person behind me did the same. We were in it together.

The Langos was a lot tastier than I thought it would be, and of course, I somehow managed to finish the lot. I imagined it to be a ball of grease, but it wasn’t. More like a delicious sweet sour cream and cheese sandwich – not a flavour I’ve ever tried.

Apparently this is the ultimate beach side snack. I can honestly say that after devouring that beast there’s no way I’d want to get in my swimmers!

Getting around Budapest

16. Hop on the cool trams and metro

Budapest was made for walking. You can see the sites, save the pennies and work those muscles all while enjoying the Hungarian capital. However, if the distance from St. Stephen’s Basilica to the historic Citadel is just a bit much, the metro, trams, buses, ferries and trolleys charge around £1 for a single ticket or charge less than a fiver for 24 hours of unlimited travel.

TOP BUDAPEST TIP: You can easily get the bus into the city centre – number 100E every 30 minutes.

17. Take to the Danube river

Alternatively, wrap up warm and take to city’s waterways. Boat parties, tours and river cruises show you the best of the city from the comfort of the Danube.

Where to stay in Budapest

Stay in the Jewish area if you want the best atmosphere. I stayed at four different accommodations in Budapest and this would be my recommendation for a long weekend with your mates. It was close to the fun of the river, the edginess of the Jewish district and was a cool square in its own right.