Travel Guide | Budapest

Oooh I can't lie to you, I'm so excited to write this post. Budapest was part of a road trip that I did this year. This was the first time I ever did a proper road trip, and quite frankly, it was bloody amazing. Starting off in Budapest and travelling all the way down to Split in Croatia, there was a lot of fun, laughter, mishaps and memories with some great people. We saw some amazing places and ate in some interesting places, honestly there is so much to say. And because I have a lot to say including reviews and recommendations, I am going to split this into a 2 part series. The link to The Croatia Travel Guide will be at the end of this post. For those of you interested in checking out what Budapest has to offer, keep on scrolling...

So Budapest was our first destination, a very cute city with some pretty views. I can't lie, parts of it reminded me of London,as you will see further down this post. But its still much nicer and worth the visit. I would say you only really need to spend a max of 2/3 days here and still be able to visit all the iconic places and get the most out of your experience.

Quick one, Accommodation.

We decided to use AirBnb for our entire trip seeing as it worked out significantly cheaper than hotels since we were only staying for a few days in each destination. We had our own little apartments for some amazing prices, you just have to put in a little work when researching. Our travel and accommodation for a week in 5 different areas came to only £280! That's mad! I always look at AirBnb when booking accommodations, whether that's in the UK or abroad, as you can get some great deals. Have a look for yourself here if you have any upcoming plans.

The apartment that we stayed in Budapest was called Basilica Friends Apartment and the location was so central, it was perfect.The host was very helpful and made us feel welcome before leaving us to it. For a 2 night stay it was only £40 each which was a bargain. I couldn't recommend this place enough. So definitely go check out AirBnB if you are interested.

Strolling around Budapest by foot was very easy and safe. The local park even has their own Budapest Eye. Everything is pretty much within walking distance or a little bus ride away, although you also have the option of hiring a bike like we have in London (Boris bikes) for fairly cheap. Budapest has some history but also some scenic views. We walked across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge which reminded me of Tower Bridge in London overlooking the river.

There's some great places where you can actually take panoramic views of the city, something that is very beautiful both day and night. Buda Castle Hill was the best place to do that. You have the option of walking up the hill but seeing as there were cable cars that take you uphill, it would be rude not to... right? And it only costs about 1800 HUF (around £5) for a return ticket so you don't need to break the budget for some views. One top tip though - make sure you sit in the bottom cable car to actually see the views otherwise the cable cars are not really worth it. You can check out what its like on my IG #TahmiTravels story. Below is one of the main views you get from the top of the Buda Castle.

At the top of the castle there was so much yet to explore. You could see the city from other views and also explore the entire castle. There's a national gallery and history museum but we didn't visit as we just wanted a stroll around the entire palace grounds.

Exploring the top of Buda Castle

Taking pics with a bunch of strangers looking at you at the top of Buda Castle

We decided to take the Hop on Hop off Budapest Sightseeing Bus for an easy method of exploring the city. We found a tour company stand near the food/souvenir stalls and the local famous park. The ticket cost around 8400 HUF (around £22). Usually I'm not a big fan of the city tour buses as I think they are extortionately priced, but this one actually gives you access to a little boat trip to a small island in the middle of Danube River, called Margaret Island which definitely spices up your 'typical tour bus'.

The tour bus took us around to see pretty much everything that you would want to see in Budapest. Here are most of the places we covered:

- St Stephen's Basilica

- Széchenyi Chain Bridge

- Budapest Synagogue (extra costs to visit inside)

- Rode through the District VI and past the House of Terror museum (did't go here but was told its worth the visit)

- Buda Castle where we took the Castle Hill Funicular Cable Cars to the top of the castle

- Heroes Square (Trafalgar Square lookalike)

- City Park Boating Lake (and ice rink) featuring the Vajdahunyad Castle.

I was surprised at how many similarities Budapest had to my home sweet home in London. Heroe's Square (as pictured below) was a historical landmark that reminded me of Trafalgar Square but with the special edition of a very popular Budapest sign for those typical tourist photos (I'll admit, I was one of those typical tourists).

We had some fun on the boat rides at the City Park boating lake which was super cheap (9 EUR for all of us basically came to nothing).

Chilling at the City Park boating lake near Heroes Square

Look back at it LOL

Now onto a very important topic: FOOD. Food in Budapest is roughly around the same price as London. Croatia was significantly cheaper, but you can check out those antics in a future post.

Budapest has quite a few street food stalls and although I am a lover of street food vendors I didn't actually try it out this time. Majority of the food in Budapest contains pork and meat hence it was a little difficult for us to try local food. But we did go to a few different places in the 2 days we were there, and here's what I thought of them:

Anna Cafe - this is a cute little cafe for breakfast/brunch. The food itself was surprisingly decent for a vegetarian option. One thing that really disappointed me though was the terrible customer service. As soon as we were seated, we waited ages to even try and order our food then double the time to even receive our food. Granted it was fairly busy but regardless they couldn't care less. So although the food was decent, for me personally it was not worth the time we waited to get our food hence I wouldn't really recommend this place. (4/10)

Budapest Bistro - this restaurant served some amazing Italian food. It advertises itself as a Hungarian restaurant, and although there were some traditional food dishes on the menu, a lot of the menu consisted of Italian food. But I'm not complaining. The service was great, the food was so simple but tasty, as the 2 bottom pictures show. Prices were also good for how much we ate especially as we shared some extra dishes together. (8.5/10)

Nobu Budapest - we wanted to dress up a little on our last day in Budapest hence went a bit all out for dinner. Nobu is a well known worldwide restaurant but this was the first time I have ever been. I tried one of the fish dishes which I actually enjoyed, and the service was obviously exemplary seeing as we were fine dining. I wouldn't say this is a must place to visit as it is fairly pricey but if you are in Budapest and want a bit of 'fancy smancy' dining experience and dress up, then check it out. (8/10)

We also bought some takeaway from a Donor Kebab place - NO. The food was greasy and oily and made us feel sick so I wouldn't advise going to the small little takeaway shops for a quick munch.

Click on the images below to see a full picture of it.

Anna Cafe

Nobu Budapest

Bistro Budapest

Bistro Budapest

Fashion tip: same dress during the day and dressed it up from casual to dressy for a night out - smart or disgusting? Let me know down below lol

Budapest was a very nice city trip that allowed us to explore a number of places in a small space of time. I do think 2 days was the perfect amount of time to visit the city without feeling rushed. Anything longer than 2 days would have actually been a bore in my opinion, so I would definitely recommend this for a little weekend trip!

Key highlights to explore:

- Buda Castle

- Castle Hill Funicular Cable Cards taking you to the top of the castle

- City Park Boating Lake

Good destination for friends and couples wanting a 2 day short little city break.

Budapest was part of a road trip to Croatia, so if you are interested in seeing a travel guide to Croatia, then let me know in the comments below!