Budapest | FindPenguins

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Trip start
April 27, 2026
Budapest Traveler
Nearly time for our next trip!
April 27 in England ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
As we while away the waiting at Birmingham airport, we’re all looking forward to our next destination: the city of Budapest.

This is somewhere none of us have visited previously but everyone who has seems to have lots of stories to tell.Read more
TravelerHope you all have a brilliant time!
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TravelerNice photo....happy people
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Budapest Traveler
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Budapest Ferenc Liszt International
April 27 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
We’ve safely arrived at Budapest Liszt Ferenc Nemzetközi Repülőtér (the International Airport) as dusk fell. We’re now on the 100E Airport Express bus into the centre of Budapest.

Liszt Ferenc is the Hungarian name of someone better known to non-Hungarians as Franz Liszt, the famous composer and contemporary of Richard Wagner. Even if you don’t recognise the name, you’ll probably recognise some of his Hungarian Rhapsodies, 19 piano works based on Hungarian folk songs.

Rhapsody No. 2 is most well known, featuring often in 20th century animated cartoons like Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Simpsons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZBkGRzw-vURead more
Traveler Were you the only people on the plane?!
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TravelerNo it was almost full but we took our time to deplane, rather join the scrum.
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Traveler😊
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Budapest Traveler
Wandering around Pest
April 28 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
We spent the morning in the fascinating company of our Hungarian-Canadian guide Robert, following his walking tour for about 2 1/2 hours (https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/40132-all-in-one…).

We learnt about the history and culture of the city, and a number of its key sites in the warm sunshine.

Particular highlights included:

- the controversial Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation, which suddenly appeared overnight in Szabadság tér (Liberty Square) in 2014, built by the Orban government. The memorial depicts a Germanic eagle about to seize the holy apple of Hungary from the archangel Gabriel, suggesting that the victims perished at the hands of the German occupation during WW2. The truth explained by the impromptu counter-installation just in front of the memorial is that almost all victims of the occupation were Hungarian Jews, in whose deaths the many Hungarians were complicit.

- Soviet War Memorial, also in Szabadság tér (Liberty Square) commemorating those who died in the Soviet liberation of Hungary in 1945.

- Hungarian Parliament building, the seat of the National Assembly

- views across the Danube to Buda Castle

- the Shoes on the Danube Bank, a moving memorial featuring 60 pairs of 1940s-style iron shoes commemorating victims shot into the river by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–1945. The victims were tied together at the ankles, and only the first was shot, causing the rest of the line of victims to also fall into the fast flowing river.

We enjoyed some Langos for lunch, a Hungarian street food - deep fried dough with different toppings.Read more
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Budapest Traveler
A bit of Buda Castle
April 28 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Once refuelled, we caught a bus up onto Castle Hill, to admire the views from Halászbástya (Fisherman's Bastion) back across to Pest.

The Fisherman’s Bastion was part of the 12th century fortifications, named for the fishermen who were up early and so likely to first spot approaching invaders. The current building however is a late 19th century embellishment. The views across the Danube were stunning.

Just behind the bastion, is the confusingly named Budavári Nagyboldogasszony-templom (Church of Our Lady of Buda Castle) also called Matyas Templom (Matthias Church) and the Coronation Church of Buda. The second largest medieval church in Buda, it was originally built in 1015 but mostly rebuilt in the 14th century and extensively renovated in the 19th century. The reference to Matthias is to King Matthias who was married here twice in 1463 and 1476. The last 2 kings of Hungary were also crowned here: Franz Joseph I and Charles IV in 1867 and 1916 respectively.

The church also served as a mosque during the Ottoman occupation from 1541 to 1686,

Inside, the walls are richly decorated in a Neo Gothic style, with frescos covering the walls and ceilings in contrast to the white exterior.

We then headed for a guided tour of the Hospital in the Rock and Sziklakórház Atombunker Múzeum (Nuclear Bunker Museum). This site was a closely guarded secret, only declassified in the early 2000s and the location of a hospital and bunker hidden inside caves under Buda Castle. Designed for 20-50 patients in the late 1930s but routinely dealing with 500+ during the Battle of Budapest in 1944-1945. As the city was devastated by Allied bombing and then the Red Army’s siege and ultimate liberation, patients included soldiers from both sides as well as civilians. Later the hospital served again during the 1956 uprising, before being upgraded to cope with the potential of nuclear war as part of the city’s civil defence infrastructure. Part of the exhibits focus on the terrible suffering and damage caused by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, with a message of peace.

No photos were allowed inside but the pictures on this website will give the general idea: https://whichmuseum.com/museum/hospital-in-the-…Read more
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Budapest Traveler
Dinner followed by Ruin
April 28 in Hungary ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Taking up a recommendation from our walking tour guide, we had booked a table for dinner at Kiosk Budapest (https://www.kiosk-budapest.hu/en/a-la-carte), a trendy modern Hungarian bistro back in Pest. The food was delicious as you can see from the photos!

The restaurant is in the former building of the Piarist Gymnasium, the first secondary school in Budapest, founded by the Piarist Catholic order in the early 18th century at the dawn of the Enlightenment and which continues to operate today. The building is just behind the Március 15. tér (15 March Square) which commemorates the location where the leaders of the 1848 Hungarian Revolution announced their list of 12 demands on 15 March 1848.

The square was also the site of the Roman Legion II’s outpost Contra Aquincum in the 40s and 50s (AD), who fought the Hungarian pagan tribes nearby, hence the sculpture “Barbarians Fight with Romans” in the square.

After dinner, we caught a bus back to Erzsébetváros (Elizabeth district) or the Jewish quarter, in order to find Lampas, a “ruin bar” once again recommended by our guide this morning.

Ruin Bars (or romkocsma) are bars, located in old, abandoned buildings filled with eclectic furniture. Much of the Jewish quarter had become dilapidated and abandoned after the ravages of the WW2 and the Cold War. In the early 2000s some young entrepreneurs began to acquire some of the so-called ruined buildings and courtyards, where rents were v cheap, in order to open a series of quirky, hip establishments filled with furniture from a flea market, where you can buy a drink at a reasonable price and enjoy live music and culture.Read more
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Budapest Traveler
Országház (Hungarian Parliament)
April 29 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
We had an early start to join the queue for the day’s release of tickets for the parliament tours, arriving just after the ticket office opened at 8am. Once we’d secured tickets for an audio guided tour in English at 11am, we hopped back on the metro to the hotel for breakfast.

Once ready to (re)start the day, we took the metro back to the Parliament building. After the usual security checks, we joined the English tour which was mostly pre-recorded talks with occasional instructions to follow our guide.

The Országház (literally, House of the Nation) had been the seat of the Hungarian National Assembly since 1902, including through the Communist era. The parliament originally had 2 houses, each using opposite wings of the symmetrical building (much like the Westminster Houses of Parliament) but has been unicameral since WW2.

Our tour took us into the wing formerly used by the House of Peers, including the Grand Staircase which leads to the central Dome Hall under which sits the Holy Crown of King St Stephen, and the Orb, Sceptre and Sword of Hungary. These constitute Hungary’s sacred Crown Jewels, and were guarded by 2 incredibly tall Crown Guards with swords unsheathed and held in salute. No photos are allowed in the Dome Hall but here’s a link to someone else’s photo (https://www.flickr.com/photos/189420050@N03/519…).

The House of Peers chamber is virtually identical to the chamber used by the National Assembly, and occasionally stands in for the main chamber but is otherwise used for other ceremonies and conferences.

We found a convenient coffee stop (Elysée Kávé & Bistro: https://elysee.hu/en/) overlooking the Parliament building and ended up staying here for a tasty lunch.Read more
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Budapest Traveler
Szent István Bazilika
April 29 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Next we headed to Szent István Bazilika (St Stephen’s Basilica), the largest Catholic Church in Budapest and home to the Holy Right Hand and the Holy Left Foot.

The Holy Right Hand is the miraculously mummified right hand of King St Stephen, first king of Hungary, crowned in 1000 AD.

The Holy Left Foot belongs to Ferenc Puskás, Hungary’s greatest ever footballer, who was buried here in 2006 after a state funeral.

The church was built over 50 years from 1851 to 1905, including the rebuilding of the dome which collapsed in 1858, causing much of the then completed building to be knocked down and re-built. It is said there was a long running Hungarian joke at the time that any jobs stalled by procrastination would be finished only when the church was finished.

After exploring the church we took the lift to the level of the roof and then climbed to the stairs to the viewing level some way above the internal dome but below the outer dome. The top of the dome is the same height as the Parliament dome, 96m tall, as a reference to the founding of Hungary in 896.

As you can see, the views were pretty good.

We then took the left back to the roof level and descended the stairs in order to also visit the Treasury halfway down.

It was then time for a Kürtőskalács (Chimney Cake), the official dessert of Hungary. H & S had theirs with ice cream.Read more
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Budapest Traveler
Terror Háza
April 29 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
After our pitstop, we took a ride on Metro line 1, the oldest of Budapest’s metros and the second oldest in Europe (after London’s Metropolitan line).

Our next stop was Terror Háza (the House of Terror) at 60 Andrássy út, the site of the headquarters of the Nazi-allied Arrow Cross Party and the Soviet-backed secret police.

This was a sobering museum about the horrors of the successive totalitarian regimes, first during the fascist German occupation and then the communist Soviet occupation. The thugs of the Arrow Cross party (allied to the German Nazi party, and only in power for the last 6 months of the war) and then the various iterations of the AVO and AVH secret police, many of whom were exactly the same individuals, dealt out terror and horrific punishments, including executions. "Don't just guard them; hate them too" was the motto of the AVO.

It was then time for something much more uplifting and pleasant… first a tram with a smile on its face!Read more
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Budapest Traveler
An appointment with Gróf Széchenyi
April 29 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
We jumped on a bus to head back to the southern bank of the Danube in order to meet up with Gróf Széchenyi.

We weren’t actually meeting Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék, regarded by many as the Greatest Hungarian and an influential 19th century politician, but rather a cruise on the boat named in his honour.

We were first furnished with a welcome glass of Prosecco and shown to a table overlooking the bow.

The cruise took us past the Parliament building before turning around just before Margit híd (the Margaret Bridge). We then headed downstream under 4 bridges to turn again just before Rákóczi híd (Rákóczi Bridge) and then return to the berth just before the Parliament building.

As dusk fell, the views of the city’s lights got better and better.

We took the metro under the Danube to properly see the splendour of the Parliament building lit up from directly across the river.

It was then time to return to Pest and our hotel, although I took a short diversion to visit the first ever ruin bar, Szimpla Kert, which was an experience!Read more
TravelerLooks like you're having an amazing time!
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Budapest Traveler
A tale of 3 cities
April 30 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
We spent most of today outside both Buda and Pest. For a change, we went to Óbuda, the third city which joined together in 1873 to form Budapest.

Óbuda means “old Buda”, although civilisation here significantly predates what is now Buda. First settled in the Stone Age, the Romans later built the city of Aquincum here in the AD 40s. The Hungarians arrived 850 years later, before King Béla IV built a new capital (Buda) further south in the 1240s, after a catastrophic invasion by the Mongols.

Our initial destination in Óbuda was to take a bath with some new Hungarian friends at Szt. Lukács gyógyfürdő, the St Luke’s Thermal Baths. Budapest’s thermal baths owe much to their Roman and Ottoman predecessors. Thermal baths using the natural hot spring water have been located here since the 12th century, and the Ottomans had a powder mill here that was powered by the hot spring. In 1880, Budapest’s first spa hotel was opened here and is now the oldest continually operating thermal bath in the city. Part of a wall inside the complex dates back to the Ottoman powder mill. Other thermal baths in the city are particularly touristy but the Lukács baths are mostly frequented by locals plus of course some visitors like us.

It was a little odd to take a bath in public but, after getting changed, we headed to the thermal baths. As well as other pools for swimming, there are 3 thermal pools, respectively maintained at 32 °C, 36 °C and 40 °C plus a steam room (at 50°C) and a cooling pool at 24 °C. We tried all of the above, taking careful note of the recommended maximum times to stay in each pool before getting out. After the warmer pools and steam room, the cooler pool felt freezing and we quickly retreated to one of the warmer pools!

You’ll be relieved to hear there are no photos beyond the entrance and gardens, although you can see pictures of the various thermal baths on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lukács_Baths#Faci…

Once dry and suitably relaxed, we found sandwiches at a bakery, and then went in search of a further dose of Ottoman culture in the form of the nearby Tomb of Gül Baba, a warrior Muslim monk, who arrived in Buda with the invading Turkish army in 1541.

According to legend, he died during a service to celebrate the capture of the city in what is now the Matthias Church (on Castle Hill, Buda) which had then been converted into a mosque. His funeral was said to be attended by no less than Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman ruler.

After a quick look around the cultural centre and museum to discover something of Budapest during the Ottoman occupation, and a chance to admire the panoramic views from the terrace outside, we returned to a nearby tram stop, ready for our next adventure…Read more
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Budapest Traveler
A smorgasbord of transport modes
April 30 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
We took the tram from Óbuda to Széll Kálmán tér in Buda, where we changed trams to start heading towards the Buda Hills.

Our second tram took us to Városmajor, where we switched to the Budapest Cog-wheel Railway, which runs steeply uphill for some 3.7km.

A few hundred metres from the upper terminus of the cog railway at Széchenyihegy is the lowest station on Gyermekvasút (the Children’s Railway). As odd as this sounds, this 11km narrow gauge railway is operated mostly by children aged 10-14, with adult supervision and in particular, the train drivers are all adults.

Initially conceived in the late 1940s the Children’s Railway was part of the Soviet Pioneers children’s education programme, as a way to instil teamwork and leadership skills. These elements continue in today’s operation of the Children’s Railway as part of MÁV (the Hungarian State Railway company), with children fulfilling the duty of ticket inspectors/conductors, announcers and platform guards for periods of roughly 2 weeks at a time.

We got off the Children’s Railway roughly halfway, at Jánoshegy, in order to join the forest trail leading to the summit of János-hegy (John’s Hill), the highest point within the city of Budapest at 527m.

After drinks and ice creams, we took the 1km long Budapesti libegő (Chairlift) down to Zugliget. As the chairlift descended almost silently, we enjoyed the wonderful views down to central Budapest and across the Buda Hills.

Near the lower chairlift station, we caught a bus heading back down to Óbuda, where we took a suburban railway alongside the northern bank of the Danube into the centre of Óbuda to look for somewhere for dinner.

Our plan to eat in Óbuda was unsuccessful, although we did find some Roman remains.

We therefore took another tram and then the metro back into the centre of Pest, where I’m pleased to say we found the delights of the Anna Cafe & Bistro (https://www.annacafe.hu/en/basilica/).Read more
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Budapest Traveler
A bit more Buda Castle
May 1 in Hungary ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
We had plenty of time today before our flight home this evening and so we set off back to Castle Hill in Buda in order to see what we’d missed the other day.

We walked the length of the plateau across the top of Castle Hill, and found the ruins of Mária Magdolna Torony (Church of Saint Mary Magdalene). Only the tower still stands more than a couple of feet high, after the rest of the church’s destruction by the Communist government in the 1950s (following significant damage by Allied Volvo in 1944/5). The ruins hold a bronze relief of the Hungarian coronation robe used from medieval times onwards.

Today’s been a bank holiday (Labour Day) and Castle Hill seemed much busier this morning, compared to Tuesday afternoon. We followed the crowds past the Matthias Church and on towards the former Royal Palace and Castle complex at the southern end of the hill.

Just in front of the main palace buildings on Szent György tér (St George’s square) is the Hungarian President's office and official residence in the Sándor Palace (Sándor-palota).

The Buda Castle/Palace complex has evolved over the centuries, starting with the medieval castle built by Bela IV in the 13th century, which was mostly demolished in the Ottoman invasion in the 16th century and anything left above the level of the plateau was cleared before the Baroque palace was built in the mid 18th century. This palace was severely damaged in turn during the Siege of Budapest in 1944/5. The Communist government then rebuilt part of the Baroque palace in a much simpler style.

After various rebuilding and excavation research projects, the Hungarian government is presently engaged in a huge project to restore and rebuild the full splendour of the Baroque palace, which started in 2016 and is due to finish in 2030.

We visited the Vármúzeum (Castle Museum, part of the Budapest History Museum) one of 3 major institutions currently housed in the main palace buildings. The others are the Hungarian National Gallery and the National Széchényi Library.

The Castle Museum is huge, and we explored a couple of fascinating galleries covering Budapest from the Stone Age until the Magyar tribes arrived in 896, and then a 1000 Years of the Capital, tracing the turbulent history of Óbuda, Buda and Pest, which became Pest-Buda and finally Budapest.Read more
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Budapest Traveler
Farewell to Budapest
May 1 in Hungary ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
After leaving the Castle Museum. we descended via a long staircase leading from the Castle towards the Danube embankment. In the terraced gardens below the castle we found a restaurant for our final Hungarian meal (https://varjuvar.vakvarju.com/).

We then returned to Pest to do a little souvenir shopping, and a final round of Chimney Cakes, before we collected our bags from the hotel.

We also managed to tick off one final mode of transportation offered by the BKK, Budapest’ integrated public transport system: a trollybus!

Once we had our bags and said farewell to our hotel, the excellent Maverick Athenaeum (https://mavericklodges.com/hostel/budapest-athe…), it was time to retrace our steps to catch the 100E Airport Express bus back to the airport.

As you’ll see from the photos, we were seen off by no less than Ferenc Liszt himself!Read more
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Budapest Traveler
Recommendations
May 1 in Hungary ⋅ 🌙 11 °C
A C C O M M O D A T I O N

Maverick Athenaeum, Rakoczi ut 54, Pest

Great location, just off Blaha Lujza Square, with Metro, Bus and Tram connections. Excellent breakfast buffet (€11/person.day). Room spacious, clean and quiet. We booked a standard quadruple room with Expedia. (https://www.expedia.co.uk/Budapest-Hotels-Netiz…)

T R A N S P O R T A T I O N

We flew with Jet2, from/to Birmingham (BHX) and Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD) (again booked through Expedia).

We made extensive use of 72/24 Hour Transport Passes, purchased through BKK’s BudapestGO app (https://bkk.hu/en/tickets-and-passes/budapestgo/), which covered all buses, trams, metro and suburban railway in the city centre, plus the Cog Wheel Railway (Tram 60). We needed to buy separate tickets for the Airport Express 100E bus between the Airport and City Centre, and for the Zugliget Chairlift/Libegő (each of which could still be purchased through the BudapestGO app.

W A L K I N G T O U R

We took the free, tip-based ‘All in One’ tour with Robert with GuruWalk/Free Berlin Tour Company (https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/40132-all-in-one…)

A T T R A C T I O N S

Castle Museum / Vármúzeum (€) (https://varmuzeum.hu/en/)

Children’s Railway / Gyermekvasút (€) (https://gyermekvasut.hu/en/home/)
We combined taking the Cog Railway (Tram 60) to Széchenyihegy, from where we took the Children’s Railway as far as Jánoshegy, where we got off to walk the 800m-1,000m to the Zugliget Chairlift, and then the 291 Bus back to the Margaret Bridge / Margit hid.

Cruise on the Danube, Pest (€) (https://budapestxplore.com/en/cruise-on-the-dan…)
We took the Cruise Only option, but a number of other options are available including dinner, drinks etc.

Fisherman's Bastion / Halászbástya, Buda (FOC for the lower balconies and stairways, € for towers etc which we did not visit) (https://fishermansbastion.com/)

Hospital in the Rock and Nuclear Bunker Museum, Buda (€) (https://www.sziklakorhaz.eu/en)

House of Terror / Terror Háza (€) (https://www.terrorhaza.hu/en)
Worth a visit if interested in the subject matter but not the best presentation (unless you speak Hungarian).

Lukács Thermal Baths / Szent Lukács gyógyfürdő, Óbuda (€) (https://www.lukacsfurdo.hu/en)

Matthias Church (Church of Our Lady in Budavar), Buda (€) (https://matyas-templom.hu/en/)

Parliament / Országház, Pest (€) (https://www.parlament.hu/en/web/visitors)
Tickets can be purchased online in advance from www.jegymester.hu/parlament but we joined the queue at the Visitor Centre for same day tickets, a limited number of which are released daily at 8am.

St Stephen’s Basilica / Szent István Bazilika, Pest (€) (https://bazilikabudapest.hu/en/)

Tomb of Gül Baba, Óbuda (€) (https://gulbabaalapitvany.hu/en/home/)

F O O D & D R I N K

Anna Cafe & Bistro, Sas utca 11, Pest (https://www.annacafe.hu/en/basilica/)

Elysée Kávé & Bistro, Kossuth Lajos tér 13-15, Pest (https://elysee.hu/en/)

Kiosk, Március 15. tér 4, Pest (https://www.kiosk-budapest.hu/en)

Retro Lángos, Vécsey u. 3, Pest (https://retrolangos.hu/en/)

VarjúVár, Ybl Miklós tér 4, Buda (https://varjuvar.vakvarju.com/)

R U I N B A R S

Lámpás, Dob utca 15, Pest (https://www.facebook.com/lampaspub/)

Szimpla Kert, Kazinczy utca 14, Pest (https://szimpla.hu/)Read more
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Trip end
May 1, 2026