Jó nap dear readers,
This year I had the pleasure to travel to the capital city of Hungary – Budapest. It was an extended weekend trip with my best friend where we decided to discover a new place together and therefore agreed (shortly before our departure) to get tickets to Budapest. We during the first week of February, so a little cold but then again, I think the winter season has its charm – especially when going to a city like Budapest.
What can I say – it was spectacular.
I took the direct flight from Zurich Airport with Swiss to Budapest airport and it was not too bad – like 1h30. The airport in Budapest is small, so getting out and making it to the city center was fairly easy and quick. The Hotel I booked is called “Anantara Palace Budapest” located in the historic part of Budapest and it was fabulous.
We got a beautiful suite (or at least it felt like a Suite to me) for our 4 days we would stay there with a lovey view. We went after our check-in straight to get an afternoon chocolate in the favorite “New York Café” which is located in the Hotel. Hotel guests get quick seating while non-hotel customers have to wait in line outside. In case you didn’t know – the New York Café has been voted one of the most beautiful Cafés in the World (have a look at the pictures below and you will see for yourself). The Café has live music in the typical Hungarian classical style with polka and the food/drinks were marvellous.
In the evening, we went on a Danube river tour with unlimited Prosecco which we booked via Viator and we had a lovely evening sipping Prosecco while looking at the beautiful architectural monuments along the Danube River.
Highlights from our trip included the following:
- Walking around District VII – lots of fun places and streets to discover with hip Bars and Cafés
- Visiting the Hungarian State Opera
- Having a coffee break at Callas Café
- Dinner in Rézkakas Bistro – they had live music, fabulous staff, food and ambiance!
- Taking a ride on the Budapest ferris wheel
- Visiting Buda Castle
- Fine Dining at Fisherman’s Bastion
- Visiting the Dohany Street Synagogue
- Walking along the Danube Embankment to the Hungarian National Assembly
- A visit to the Matthias Church
We also ended up spending a lot of time in our Hotel because it just serviced all our needs after a long day discovering the city. So every late afternoon we went to the Spa and later at night had drinks at the Hotel Bar. We also had a few meals there and the breakfast buffet was just incredible. Set in parts of the New York Café it was beyond beautiful and tasty. One more recommendation I would give anyone visiting is to try the Hungarian Chicken Paprikash. It was such a fantastic classic dish which I am still craving to this day. We also enjoyed trying Hungarian wines, especially white wines – you will see there are some hidden gems there too. Click here for some more local food and wine recommendations, which I found to be very useful.
Overall, I can highly recommend visiting Budapest. The prices are not exorbitant and it is a safe city to walk around. I hope this article was helpful to you in case you plan to go to Budapest or are considering it. Happy to answer questions if you have any as well.
P.S. If you decide going to Budapest, don’t be surprised when people start talking to you – they are very chatty and friendly. At first we were confused because nowadays no-one ever talks to strangers anymore but there it seemed to be a normal thing.
Many kisses or should I rather say sok csók
Hanna Isabelle
