When in HungaryA bohemian Budapest getaway
- A little one in a stroller
- First timers like us
- Walkable from District V
We love Budapest. We loved everything from the bohemian vibes, the walkability, the beautiful buildings, the relative affordability of the city, to the chimney cakes that we just kept snacking on. I'd say our least favourite thing was the food, but we tried a few local dishes while we were there. Needless to say, this is on our list of destinations we would happily visit again.
Read this before you go
Things you need to know
Where to stay
Staying in District V is great for first timers like us even though it is more touristy. The biggest benefit is how walkable everything was from here. The downside was that we definitely paid a tourist tax for any food in the area and it wasn't always great. We loved being close to the Danube River and walking up and down the river during the day and night and meandering through all the little pockets on both sides of the river.
Just outside our Airbnb in District V, which was located in an old apartment building.Get yourself on GetYourGuide
I used this to pre-book several entry fees to museums, cathedrals, and even tours all across Europe. I highly recommend it for convenience as well as ease of use for securing tickets ahead of time.
Money and getting around
- Pay in forint, not euros Hungary's currency is the forint, about 363 to the euro. Cards and phone pay work almost everywhere; keep a little cash for markets and toilets.
- Tap your card on the metro Contactless works on every metro line since April 2026. For trams and buses, buy tickets in the BudapestGO app; a 72-hour pass is 5,750 forint.
- Uber is back It returned to Budapest in 2024 with licensed taxis, and Bolt works too.
Day 1: Check in and relax with chimney cakes
We walked around Pest a bit on the evening we arrived in Budapest. We had an extremely expensive chimney cake in District V after checking in and unloading all our luggage and walked along the river to enjoy the sunset. We ate dinner at La Prima Fashion Hotel and Restaurant. I ordered a cabbage roll but found it underwhelming.
Cabbage roll, much less interesting than I was hoping.Day 2: The Budapest castle walk
After a good night's sleep, we headed off to explore Buda on the west side of the Danube river. We grabbed some yummy egg sandwiches from Eggdrop Project and then headed across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge to cross over to Buda.
Eggdrop Project
The Chain Bridge
The Castle Bus
The weather was beautiful and if we didn't have a little one with us in a stroller, we might have attempted to walk the whole thing ourselves. With the little one, we opted to buy tickets for the Budapest Castle Bus Service. They cost about €18 (6,500 forint) per adult for one full loop of the hill: hop off at any stop and catch a later bus, until you're back where you started. Once you have crossed the Chain Bridge and you are near the Zero Kilometre Stone, you cannot miss the swarm of people wearing Budapest Castle Bus Service gear trying to recruit tourists to hop onto their trolley. These trolleys are much smaller than the red hop on hop off double deckers you see in every major city. In fact, the hop on hop off in Budapest does a different loop around the city while this one just covers the Budapest Castle loop.
The Castle Bus is small but feels much more casual and easy to just hop on and off quickly.We ended up getting off at every stop, but here's what we felt are worth getting off for: Buda Castle (Dísz Square), Fisherman's Bastion, and Matthias Church.
Check this out: Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church
Fisherman's Bastion is right behind Matthias Church, so this 2-4-1 stop is basically a no-brainer. Fisherman's Bastion has some of the best views across the river back to Pest. It looks like it can get busy here during peak season, but we saw quite a few people doing their own mini photoshoots on the stairs of the bastion at every opportune moment.
Fisherman's Bastion
Matthias Church
Inside Matthias Church
While we think it's worth stopping for both these sights, we don't think it's worth paying for entry to the church (3,400 forint per adult, about €9). I would say this is skippable unless you are desperately looking for escape from the heat or other weather elements, or you really love churches or history, or you haven't seen that many European churches in your travels yet. It is quite beautiful inside and almost every inch inside is painted with gorgeous patterns. As beautiful as it is, you will be able to see more breathtaking churches and cathedrals in Europe. The outside views alone are enough.
Tap to revealSince when is Matthias a lady's name?
It isn't. The church's official name is the Church of the Assumption of the Buda Castle, the Church of Our Lady, and Matthias is a nickname after King Matthias Corvinus, who held both of his weddings here. History has it that this church has fallen into the hands of different religious groups including Catholics and Muslims (it was Buda's main mosque under Ottoman rule, from 1541 to 1686), and it was also a coronation church for Hungary at one point. Like many large European cathedrals, its influences come from different time periods as the construction and maintenance fell under different rules and influences.
Skippable: Budatower
This stop is primarily for the Budatower in Old Town, the tower of the Church of St Mary Magdalene. You can climb the tower (1,700 forint), but otherwise the only reason to get off the trolley here is to enjoy a cup of coffee or a beer at the cafe right by the trolley stop or to walk along the Old Town walls.
Check this out: Buda Castle
This is the main attraction of this loop. The Royal Palace is here, and next door at Sándor Palace you can see the guards out front. It's also worth stopping behind the tram station to get that amazing view over Budapest I mentioned before without having to deal with the tram lines.
The view near the Buda Castle stop
The palace guard
Tap to revealWhy there's a castle up here
Buda Castle was built after a Mongol invasion in the 13th century to protect the city, before it became a royal palace to serve as home to Hungarian kings, and it was built and rebuilt due to damage from multiple wars.
House of Houdini
Tap to revealHoudini's hometown
Houdini was born in Budapest, which is the reason Budapest was chosen as the location of House of Houdini, which holds authentic Houdini and magic memorabilia. Having said this, Houdini never actually performed his magic in his hometown.
Enjoying a chimney cake since we couldn't enter House of Houdini.Sad that this is as far as we could get into the House of Houdini because they don't allow little ones inside (no one under 4). If you make plans to check this out, book ahead, since they don't take same-day bookings. There is also a secret message printed on your ticket that you'll have to decode to gain entry.
Skippable: Castle Garden Bazaar
Worth noting is that this is a terraced garden, built into the side of the hill, and it is a pretty venue. It looks like it is often rented out for functions. I think this is skippable, but just across the street along the river side, if you find you have enough time, you can get off and take a moment to enjoy a drink or snack while people watching as you are basically at the end of the Castle Bus loop at this point.
Fountain in the middle of the Castle Garden Bazaar, where we almost crashed a party.This was my favourite meal of the 3 days here in the city. We had beef tartare with pickled vegetables. How could you go wrong with that? Chicken paprikash was the highlight of our meal but the pike perch was a close second. Both were cooked perfectly. This meal was a bit pricier, but I felt happier with this meal just with the quality of food and service here compared to some of the other places we ate at.
Chicken paprikash
Pike perch
Beef tartare
St Stephen's from Konyha
Tap to revealThe Policeman's shiny belly
The Policeman statue has a shiny round belly because of how many times tourists have rubbed it for good luck, but it really was just a sculpture made in the likeness of a jolly and warm policeman from the early 1900s. It stands on Zrínyi utca, between Konyha and St Stephen's, and went up in 2008. You'll pass this Policeman statue at least once if you're exploring the Pest side on foot.
Day 3: Exploring Pest
St Stephen's Basilica
Our next day started with a walk to St Stephen's Basilica. We arrived mid morning and paid €11 per adult for tickets on GetYourGuide, which was simpler than trying to follow the signs to purchase tickets somewhere nearby. St Stephen's is named after Hungary's first king and is quite breathtaking because of its architecture and dome, but I personally felt Matthias Church was more unique in its decor and design influences.
At the door, per adult:
- The church: 2,600 forint
- The panorama terrace and treasury: 5,000 forint
- Both: 6,800 forint
Front of St Stephen's Basilica.The Parliament
It was a short walk over to the Hungarian Parliament afterwards and we had ourselves another beautiful day to do all the walking.
Orange tonic coffee
The Parliament
After walking around the courtyard at the Parliament building, we took an Uber to Hősök tere, which means Heroes' Square.
Heroes' Square and City Park
There are actually four different Heroes' Squares in Budapest. We went to the one that most tourists go to with the Millennium Monument and City Park. We walked through the park and saw the House of Music Hungary, which is nestled into the greenery of the park. They were running a Freddie exhibit when we went, and it runs until February 2027.
BalloonFly is inside City Park and you can board it, weather permitting, for
views of the city. Riders must be 6 or older.Beautiful chaos: the ruin bars
We took the subway line M1 back towards where we came from to go check out the Ruin Bars. The subway was easy to find and fairly simple to navigate, but we didn't need to change lines for where we were headed. After we exited, we walked through a nice neighbourhood, which felt slightly less touristy than where we were staying this trip. The further we got from the subway station, the more we liked the vibe.
Quiet, calm streets of Budapest.We made a couple of quick stops for coffee and snacks on the way to Szimpla Kert, but this was the main attraction for us. Even in the late afternoon, you could feel the energy from this place. I'm glad we got to come here during the day with the baby because we wouldn't be able to do it with the little one at night for sure. I imagine it's much more crowded and loud. There isn't a lot in terms of food, but there are rooms upon rooms all in different styles and decor just waiting to be explored. There are multiple bars and wine bars scattered throughout this place. The original philosophy of "ruin bars" was to have a place where anyone could come and have an affordable drink and just relax.
Szimpla Kert
Street art nearby
We decided to skip the night river cruise this time, but that is definitely something we want to go back for. Instead, we walked along the river after dinner and enjoyed the view of Buda Castle.
View of Buda Castle at night.Day 4: Try a langos
For our last meal after we checked out on our last morning, we decided to try a place we kept walking past. Langos is a traditional deep fried flatbread. We tried a more modern version of this at Langos & Beer, which seems to make them more like pizza. It looks like a pizza, but the classic sour cream, cheese, and toppings give this snack a slightly different flavour profile. Great for sharing and trying, but it can get quite filling if you're ordering one by yourself!
Our langos at Langos & Beer, the branch on Bécsi utca.Tap to revealWhere the Rubik's Cube comes from
The Rubik's Cube was invented in Budapest, in 1974, by professor Ernő Rubik.
There's a Rubik's Cube exhibition and shop on Váci utca if you are a fan of the cube!
The Rubik's Cube exhibition and shop on Váci utca.