Hello gallivanters! I am thrilled to tell you about my adventures in Budapest, Hungary.
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If you have come to this website for the first time today, let me just do the recap:
Budapest is part of my Central Europe tour. I have flown from London to Prague in June 2024 to start my 4- country journey. I have been to Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. You can read all about it on my Blog.
Order to Read. . .
- Exploring Prague on a £150 Budget: 2-Day Solo and Group Travel Itinerary
- Prague to Bratislava Full Day Itinerary: Exploring Top Attractions
- Explore Vienna in 24 Hours: Budget- Friendly Itinerary and Essential Guide
- Budapest 2-Day Itinerary: Travel Tips and Must- See Attractions
Budapest Itinerary
Here is my Itinerary for Budapest:
| Day 4 From 22:00 | Arrive at Budapest Nepliget Bus Station from Vienna Buy a 24- hours Budapest Travel Card- £ 5.5 approx Ride a Metro to the accommodation Budapest Apartment (2 nights)- £60 |
| Day 5 From 08:00 | Explore Budapest. – Ferris wheel of Budapest – St. Stephen’s Basilica -Hungarian Parliament Building -Liberty Square -Shoes on the Danube River -Cross the Szechenyi Chain Bridge – Budapest Castle – Trinity Square with the Fisherman’s Bastion |
| From 12:00 | Lunch- £ 12 |
| From 14:00 | Budapest Thermal Baths (Szechenyi Thermal Bath)- £ 26 approx Dinner- £ 12 |
| Day 6 | Flight from Budapest- London- £52 HOME Time! |
| Total Approximate Expenses (Disclaimer: The amount is only true at the time of travel and will be different at different times) | £ 170 (As I have always emphasised, this amount is only a guide and is highly dependent on your spending habit, the season you travel and when you book your tickets. |
Here I am, in another country again on my 4th day of travel. Budapest is the capital of Hungary. The official language is Hungarian but English is spoken widely by the population.
Currency
The official national currency is Hungarian Forint and is abbreviated as HUF and its symbol is Ft. At the time of my visit £1= 466 HUF.
Budapest is very digital in that almost all establishments that I’ve been to uses contactless payments and cards so I didn’t have to bring cash with me.
I used my Wise Debit Card (#ad) to pay for all my purchases. This is a cheaper option than having your cash money exchanged at the airport or use your usual credit card from your country. Why? Let me show you:
The Wise app is like your usual banking application but better. You can open up other currencies apart from your own currency which means that you can convert some of your own country’s currency to HUF. As you can see from the attached photo, I have converted some British pounds (GBP) to HUF and I only have to pay a small conversion fee. When I use it, it will automatically take up my HUF balance instead of my GBP balance which means I won’t be charged anymore conversion fee using my card in my transactions.
Wise usually has the best conversion rate and it also has an option to let you see which money transfer provider(e.g. Ofx, Western Union, Revolut, Monzo, etc) offers the best rate at the time of conversion. They also have a physical atm card that will be delivered to you in case you need to withdraw money in countries that is still using cash (e.g. Morocco, South East Asia). Now, what do I do with my remaining HUF balance when I get home? I can easily just transfer it back to GBP and close the HUF account if I don’t plan on visiting Budapest again.
Transportation
Public transportation is well integrated and very efficient. I used Citymapper to navigate where I needed to go (Disclaimer: This blog is not sponsored by citymapper in case you’re wondering. I just thought it would be helpful to include it here) For walking distances, I used google maps.
The picture on the left is the ticket machine located at bus and tram stops and inside the metro. You can choose English and German translations if you don’t speak Hungarian. I included the photo below just to highlight how orderly and tidy the subway in Budapest is.
I arrived at Budapest Nepliget Bus Station around 22:30. The streets were well lit and there were still a lot of people around. The Metro station is just in front of the bus drop-off point. Their Metro is the equivalent to London underground. Inside the station, you can easily locate the ticket machines. You have different ticket options depending on your need. I chose the 24-hours travelcard since I will be staying for a day and a half on Budapest which cost 2500 Ft/ £5.5. The 72- hour travelcard costs 5500 Ft/ £11.8. You can find more information on the ticket types and prices on their transport website here: BKK Transport in Budapest.
Using online transport tickets
It is convenient to buy the tickets online. You have to scan the QR code at ticket validators to validate the ticket. You only have to validate once. I bought paper tickets (for 24h and 72h tickets) from the ticket machine. I validated it at the ticket validator machines found inside the Metro or on buses and tram entrances. The date and time is printed on the ticket when you purchase it so that’s when my 24-hours begin.
There is a direct Metro from Budapest Nepliget Bus station to my accommodation and takes only 7 minutes to get there.
Accommodation
I rented an apartment for two because I had a friend joining me there so it costs us £60 per night for both of us. I wasn’t expecting much from the apartment because I was able to book it at such a cheap price from booking website. Albeit it has superb reviews, I was skeptical. But then, when I finally got there, I felt very proud of myself for finding this hidden gem in the city for only a small fortune! Check out the apartment on this sponsored link: Central Apartment- Museum View.
The accommodation is very well located in that it is in front of the Hungarian National Museum.
The kitchen is fully equipped and I prefer just making my own breakfast so it was perfect for me. The toilet and separate bath were clean. The Astoria (Metro/ public transport) is just a 5-minute walk away. The Airport Shuttle Bus stop is also just a 5-minute walk away. The tram stops just a few meters in front. I needed to be close to the Airport Bus (100E) stop because I booked a flight back to London for 6am 😂. The airport shuttle bus runs about every 15 minutes by the way.
Because it was already night time when I arrived, I just went straight to the apartment and left my bags. I was also hungry at this point. Luckily, there are restaurants still open after 10 o’clock in the evening and there is also a 24-hour grocery store nearby so my friend and I decided to head out. I was able to buy all the essential things for the day. Tomorrow, we will start our walk.
Must Do Things in Budapest
This is my route for a day tour in Budapest. Most of them are within a walking distance from each other and I also made use of my 24- hour travelcard to get on and off buses, trams and Metro. I didn’t get to see inside the Hungarian National Museum because it opens at 9 o’clock and we didn’t really have the time to wait.
Ferris Wheel of Budapest
Our first stop was the Ferris Wheel of Budapest.
This is one of the iconic tourist attractions you can see online when you searched for places you need to see in Budapest. It is located in a public park and if you take a ride, you can get a panoramic view of the city. A standard ticket cost 4300 HUF/ £9.22.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral
Then, we visited St. Stephen’s Basilica which is just an 8-minute walk away from the Budapest Ferris Wheel. It is named after the first King of Hungary, King Stephen and is known to be the most sacred Catholic Church in all of Hungary. You can get inside the church at set times and there is an entrance fee which is 2300 HUF/ approx. £5. You can see the opening times here: St. Stephen’s Basilica, Budapest
Liberty Square
Just a few meters away from the church is the Liberty Square (Hungarian: Szabadságtér) which is for public access. It is a symbol of Hungarian freedom from the Nazi German occupation in World War II. Some famous personalities’ statues that you can see in the square are Ronald Reagan, Harry Hill Bandholtz and George W. Bush.
Hungarian Parliament Building and Shoes of the Danube River
A seven- minute walk to the north will take you to the Hungarian Parliament Building. This is the largest building in Hungary and is on the top lists of biggest parliament buildings in the World. There is a 45- minute guided tour option to get inside this magnificent structure.
Heading towards the Danube River, you can find the iconic sculpture, Shoes on the Danube River Bank. It is a memorial dedicated to the Jews who were massacred during the Second World War.
From this point of view of the Danube River, you can already see the Széchenyi Chain Bridge (Hungarian: Széchenyi lánchid) which connects Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of the city. When you cross the bridge from the Pest side, it will take you to Buda Castle and the Fisherman’s Bastion.
Széchenyi Chain Bridge
There is a bus stop near the Shoes on the Danube River monument called Szechenyi István tér (I use citymapper app on my phone to navigate) where bus numbers 105, 16, 178, 210, and 216 takes you directly to Buda Castle entrance road. However, I do recommend and it is customary (according to my friend, LOL) that you walk the bridge as a first time tourist in Budapest. It is just about a 10- minute walk to cross the bridge and there is a dedicated walking path on the side of the bridge for tourists. You can take in the wonderful sights of the Danube River and a view of the Buda Castle and Fisherman’s Bastion.
Buda Castle
The Buda Castle (Hungarian: Budavári Palota) is a massive Baroque palace and is part of the Budapest World Heritage Site. Although the castle complex was first built during 13th century, most of the buildings occupying the site today were built between 1749 to 1769. The castle sits at the southern tip of Castle Hill and can be accessed from the Széchenyi Chain Bridge by riding the Castle Hill Funicular (the queue was long so we didn’t wait to ride the funicular).
The bus stop going to the castle is just in front of the funicular ticket and entry site so we opted to ride the bus. Buda castle is a massive complex and there surroundings are free to explore. There are guided tour options and entrance fee to get inside the castle. We didn’t get inside the castle however, we walked to the castle terrace which gave us a magnificent view of the Danube River, Széchenyi Chain Bridge and the Pest side of the city.
Trinity Square with the Fisherman’s Bastion
The Fisherman’s Bastion is just a few minute walk downhill from the castle and is within the Trinity Square. There were a lot of tourists around so we just followed them to the tower. The Fisherman’s Bastion serves as a lookout tower for the best views of Budapest. It is named as such because it was protected by the guild of fishermen during the middle ages. It is free to explore the balconies but there is a 1200 HUF/ approx. £3 fee to see the top turrets. There are sometimes that it is free to enter the whole complex and you can find more information on their official website.
We finished visiting all these iconic places around lunch time so we headed to a Hungarian restaurant with high ratings and located strategically between the palace and the chain bridge called Lánchid Sörözo. The menu is similar to that of Czech and Slovak cuisines that we’ve been over the past days. I tried the pork medallions Lánchid style and I recommend you try it too. In terms of food, I feel like my palate belongs to Central Europe as all of the dishes I’ve tried so far are superb in terms of seasoning or spices.
Thermal Bath
In the afternoon, we decided to try the famous thermal baths in Budapest. To be pretty honest with you, I think I prefer to do this in winter or autumn as the summer weather makes it a bit of an overkill in temperature. I only tried this because you’ve not really visited Budapest if you’ve not seen the thermal baths. The warm, mineral rich waters is said to have medicinal properties and will leave your skin rejuvenated.
Choosing Thermal Baths
There are a number of Thermal Baths in Budapest and a lot of youtube reviews are available about them but I didn’t have enough time to visit all of them. I chose the Széchenyi Thermal Baths which is the most popular and the largest thermal bath. Some reviews about this place would be saying that this has become too saturated with tourist and yes there were a lot of tourists even in the summer. It was a massive complex with indoor and outdoor pools, sauna and steam rooms. You can buy the tickets online or at the entrance. I think a lot would choose to buy them online to avoid the queues but when we went there, there weren’t any queues so we had ample time.
The ticket cost is cheaper in the morning than in the afternoon and expensive at night. Since we entered around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, the ticket costs us 12,000 HUF/ approx £26. There is also an option for body massage for an additional fee. There are lockers provided which I think are safe storage for phones or wallets. We just had to choose an open locker. The lock/unlock is activated by the bracelet provided. Be sure to lock your things in as there were instances that the tourist didn’t lock their locker properly and so newcomers think that the lockers are available for them to use. We stayed there until 7 in the evening.
Ending the day . . .
Before going back to the apartment, we had some dinner near the National Museum. Our flight back to London is really early in the morning but it wasn’t a problem because the airport shuttle bus stop is just at the opposite side of the ride from us.
Thank you for reading! Safe travels ya’ll and subscribe to be the first to read my next travel Blog!
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