Guide to Budapest

Coldplay in Budapest 23. September

2008-07-14T09:32:00.002+02:00

A great news to all Coldplay fans coming to Budapest in September. The band has decided to drop by Hungary on their tour, and Coldplay will come to Budapest the 23. September for a concert here. The Coldplay concert will be held in the Budapest Sportarena, and the tickets are available online at www.ticketpro.hu.

Enjoy Budapest!

Pictures from the Danube Bend

2008-07-09T11:02:00.000+02:00

The Basilica of Esztergom
The Basilica of Esztergom
Several tourists vist Szentendre during their stay in Budapest, but only a few continue their trip further up along the Danube to Visegrad and Esztergom. To let you all see what you are missing we just publish these four pictures! In Esztergom you can find the third largest basilica in Europe, and the two pictures above is just a joy to see!

The Castle of Visegrad
The Danube is bending

Szechényi Termal Bath pictures

2008-07-04T10:44:00.000+02:00

One of the best places to be in Budapest is at the Szechényi Termal Bath. This is probably the most famous spa in Budapest, and you can combine inside and outside pools with different treatments. For example the price of a 30 minute massage is 3000 Forints, or approximately 12 Euro.

The other famous bath/spa is the Gellert Bath, in our eyes not as good as the Szechenyi, but it is still worth a visit.

What is also good is that the Szechenyi Bath recently added new lockers to the entire complex, which makes things easier, nicer and improves the entire feeling a lot.

The Szechenyi Thermal Bath

Hungry, Hungary or what? (funny video)

2008-06-24T13:31:00.002+02:00

Enjoy this video... hopefully if you have surfed through our Budapest guide you have better knowledge than this lady. Enjoy it!

Volt Festival in Sopron, 2-5th of July

2008-06-23T09:37:00.004+02:00

In only a few days the Volt Festival in Sopron will start. Sopron is a cute city, located very close to the border to Austria, and every year they arrange the popular Volt Festival. The main attractions this year is Cypress Hill, Manu Chao, the Offspring and several others.

The english webpage of the festival can be found at http://www.myspace.com/voltfestival. There you can read more about Cypress Hill, the Offspring and in general about the festival.

Other festivals in Hungary 2008:
Volt Festival
Balaton Sound
Sziget Festival 2008

Sziget Festival 2008

2008-06-23T09:20:00.003+02:00

In 49 days the Sziget Festival 2008 will start in Budapest. Every year several hundred thousand people come to Budapest to take part in this festival. You can live in tent at the island (Óbudai Island), or if you want more comfort you can stay in an apartment or hotel in Budapest somewhere.

The Sziget Festival 2008 starts 12th of August, and lasts until 18th of August. The price of the daily ticket is 32 Euro, a full festival non camping ticket is 120 Euro and with camping 150 Euro. These price are only valid if you buy the tickets in advance. Go to the webpage for more information.

Among the artists you can find: Danko Jones, Alanis Morisette, Che Sudaka, Carl Cox, Brisa Roché, Iron Maiden, Justice, Kraak & Smaak, R.E.M., Serj Tankian, Sex Pistols, Ziggi and more...

Iron Maiden

Alanis Morisette

Other festivals in Hungary 2008:
Volt Festival
Balaton Sound
Sziget Festival 2008

Balaton is getting warmer

2008-06-20T10:25:00.002+02:00

We do this more and more often, though our page is meant to be about Budapest only. Earlier we published some pictures from Balaton, earlier this week we wrote about Balaton Sound, and now we though we wanted to tell you that according to the Hungarian news we saw this morning the Lake Balaton already has a temperature of 21 degrees, which means it will be even warmer in some weeks, but still warm enough to swim in already.

So, it might be a good idea to jump on a train or a bus, and enjoy some days outside Budapest this summer as you come to Hungary!

Formula 1 Budapest - F1 Budapest

2008-06-18T13:40:00.004+02:00

We have earlier written about the Formula 1 in Budapest and now it is time to do it again. The annual Formula 1 competition will be in Budapest from Thursday, July 31st and it will last until Sunday, August 3rd when the big race will be.

This year will be the 20th time the Formula 1 (F1) race is being arranged in Budapest, and the most winning competor is Michael Schumacher, who has won the race four times. Now, as we all know, he is no longer driving, but it will for sure be exciting to see who will win.

If you have not done it already; book your hotel or apartment, grab your Formula 1 tickets, and prepare for a great weekend in Budapest.

Balaton Sound - Festival in Zamardi

2008-06-18T12:46:00.006+02:00

Would you like to combine nice weather, cheap food, beautiful Balaton and loud music, you might want to visit Balaton Sound. This year Fatboy Slim, Massive Attack, Goldfrapp and several other artists will make sure you cant fall asleep before midnight in Zamardi, on the southern side of Balaton. The festival starts July 10th and lasts until July 13th.

For some reason they havent managed to make a good English page for the festival, but the address of what they have is: http://www.myspace.com/balatonsound

For some nice Balaton pictures, go here!

Other festivals in Hungary 2008:
Volt Festival
Balaton Sound
Sziget Festival 2008

Bodies in Budapest

2008-06-17T12:19:00.003+02:00

Do you want to see people in a way you havent seen them before? Visit the Bodies Exhibition in Budapest, available from 24th of May to the 31st December 2008. At this exhibition you can see human bodies without clothes or skin... This is a thrill for those interested in anatomy, and finally it has arrived to Budapest (earlier the Bodies Exhibition has been in cities as New York, London, Washington, Mexico City, Amsterdam and Prague.

At the webpage of the Bodies Exhibition they describe it in this way:
"BODIES...The Exhibition showcases meticulously dissected real human body specimens that are preserved through an innovative process and respectfully presented, giving visitors the opportunity to view the beauty and complexity of their own organs and systems.

For visitors of all ages, BODIES...The Exhibition displays real human bodies and allows people to view themselves as never before. More than 200 organs and full body specimens are on display in 9 galleries showcasing the complexity of the body´s many bones, muscles, nerves, blood vessels and organs."

The site of the exhibition is: Király utca 26., 1061 Budapest, Hungary - just a few minutes walk from Deak Ferenc Square.

Where to watch Euro 2008 in Budapest?

2008-06-12T07:21:00.004+02:00

If you missed out on Switzerland and Austria and ended up in Hungary instead, you might be interested in finding out where you can see the football matches in Budapest. First of all, if you sleep in a hotel, you can probably see the match in your room. The Hungarian state channel M1 (MTV1) is broadcasting all matches, so just turn on your television when its match time, and hopefully you will find it.

If you want to see the matches with other people, we recommend these places.
Becketts Irish Bar - Near WestEnd Citycenter
Champs Sport Pub - One in Pest and one in Buda.

Press the links for the webpages of the places.

Budapest - With nice and clean streets

2008-06-09T16:51:00.002+02:00

During our guided tours we often get to hear that the visitors are surprised to see how clean the streets of Budapest are. It is not normal to see litter around in the streets, and in general it looks as if someone is always making sure that it looks perfect.

In fact it is quite true. If you come to the city you can often experience to see that people constantly walk around picking up garbage from the streets, and that the city use much energy to keep the city look nice and clean.

Last weekend we (editor and wife) visited Amsterdam, and we must admit that we realized how blessed and nice the city of Budapest is compared to that (at least when it comes to litter and garbage in the streets). Just check out the image below from the main shopping street of Amsterdam.

So come to Budapest, and enjoy the city... And if you want to take a trip with a private guide in Budapest, just send us an email.

Picture from Amsterdam

The Chain Bridge in Budapest (photo)

2008-05-28T09:49:00.003+02:00

Last week we had a guided tour with a group of five people in Budapest, and they were very satisfied. We also helped them book some tables at Belcanto, Gundel and Trofea Grill and they were extremely satisfied, though the waiters did not sing at Belcanto during their stay there. Safely home they sent us this beautiful picture of the Chain Bridge, for all of us to enjoy.

Photo made by Stein Berge Anderssen

If you want more pictures, see the following pages:
- Budapest Pictures (slideshow)
- Budapest by Night (slideshow)
- Balaton Pictures
- Eger Pictures
- Budapest Pictures (from blog)

We help you find the good restaurants!

2008-05-18T13:29:00.002+02:00

As a Budapestguide, one of our duties is to help you find the best during your stay in Budapest. That is why we help our visitors finding the best restaurants in town. At our restaurants page you can read about different restaurants, for example the famous Gundel Restaurant, that serves Hungarian dishes and which probably is the most famous Hungarian restaurant.

We also help our visitors reserve a table at the restaurants. If you come just some people, or if you come with a bigger group we help you reserve a table, and we also help you if you would like to have the same food prepared for the entire group for a set price.

We have much experience helping tourists finding good restaurants, and we do offer this help for no charge (you only pay for what you eat in the restaurant). Sounds great? Send us an email today, and let us help you!

Guide de Budapest - Budapestguide in French

2008-05-13T17:41:00.004+02:00

We are happy to announce that our Budapestguide now also exists in french. The address of the guide is http://fr.hungarybudapestguide.com/. So for the french people information can now be found about the different hotels of Budapest, the attractions and the activities of Budapest in french.

We celebrate this with a picture of the Eiffel Tower, located in Paris. By the way; yesterday I saw a text where they wrote that the original plan was to build the Eiffel Tower next to the Castle of Budapest, where the Funicular reaches the Castle Hill. This never came to be, and that is why it ended up in Paris.

Probably this is just a nice story with no proof in history, but if you come to Budapest it can be a nice thing to imagine as you look towards the castle area from the Pest side.

If you would like more interesting information about Budapest, join us at a guided tour!

Guide de Budapest - The guide in French.

Some pictures from Budapest

2008-05-08T08:22:00.007+02:00

In addition to the slideshows we already have about Budapest, we just wanted to add some pictures from Budapest to our forum as well. These pictures were taken yesterday, and as you all can see; the city is as beautiful as ever.

If you like these pictures, maybe you will like some of these pages with pictures as well.
- Pictures Balaton
- Pictures Eger
- Hungary slideshow
- Budapest slideshow
- Budapest By Night Slideshow

Gerbeaud

Saint Stephen's Basilica

Square in front of Saint Stephen's Basilica

The Castle and the Chain Bridge

Museum of Ethnography

Gellert Hill and the Elisabeth Bridge

The Castle

Pictures from Eger

2008-05-07T12:35:00.004+02:00

Eger is a popular city for oneday excursions from Budapest. It can be reached within 2 hours by car, bus and train, and in the city there are plenty of things to see and experience. They have several wellness hotels, they are famous for the Szepasszonyvölgy, where you can find lots of winecellars. There are of course possible to taste as well.

If you read about the Hungarian history, you have also read about the invasion by the Turks in the middle of the 16th century. They came to Eger as well, and you can still see tha castle in the city today, where they protected the city from the Turks. History tells us that the women threw hot Goulash soup at the troops attacking the castle.

Enjoy the pictures, and enjoy your day, if you ever travel to Eger. If you liked these pictures, you should also check out:
- Pictures from Balaton
- Pictures from Budapest

Pictures from Balaton

2008-05-07T11:47:00.008+02:00

Lake Balaton, maybe the biggest tourist attraction in Hungary outside Budapest. This lake draws several hundred thousand tourists to Budapest every year, and now the season for swimming and enjoying Balaton is approaching again.

The southern side, known for its very low water (you can walk for several hundred meters, and still the water reaches your belly), is very popular among families with small children. The northern side has deeper water, and the people who are used to that, prefers the northern side.

We just added some pictures from Balaton for your enjoyment, though it has not so much to do with our subject, Budapest, it still belongs to Hungary, and it is absolutely a place worth visiting. If you like these pictures, you should check out the pictures from Eger and our pictures from Budapest.

Finding what you are looking for!

2008-05-06T16:22:00.002+02:00

As our page is continually growing, we found out that its about time that we add a search function to our page. At the new search page you can find a google search engine, which will not only search through our page, but the entire web. Still, it will favorize sites from our page, so if we have information about the subject you are looking for, it will for sure come high up on the search list.

If you still feel like you do not really know if we can help you or not, check out the "What we offer you" page. There you can see a description of the services we provide our visitors.

If that doesnt help you either, just contact us, and we will willingly help you.

Concerts in Budapest

2008-05-05T11:20:00.002+02:00

Budapest is slowly becoming a worldcity, a place all famous people come, and a place where all the big stars drop by on their world tours. This summer several famous artists will come to Budapest, and below we will provide you with a list with some of the most important ones. If you would like to order tickets for these concerts, you can visit TicketPro.

Mark Knopfler, 12. May - 20.00
Papp László Budapest Sportaréna

Anoushka Shankar, 13. May - 19.00
Zeneakadémia - Nagyterem

Kylie Minogue, 15. May - 20.00
Papp László Budapest Sportaréna

Santana Budapest, 28. June
Népstadion Budapest

Avril Lavigne, 7. July - 20.00
Petőfi Csarnok, Szabadtér

Lenny Kravitz, 22. July - 20.00
Papp László Budapest Sportaréna

To book a hotel or get your restaurant table reserved, visit our restaurant page or the hotel page.

Traditional Hungarian restaurants

2008-04-23T09:25:00.001+02:00

As you arrive to Budapest one of your first desires is often to taste real, authentic, Hungarian food. A good portion of Stuffed Cabbage, a Goulash Soup, some Hungarian Pörkölt, a fish soup or a filled Crepe will all give you a small taste of Hungary. But, where can you go to taste these things?

In our list of restaurants four are especially made for those who would like to taste some Hungarian Food. Karpatia, Matyas Pince, Arany Barany and Gundel all offer you traditional Hungarian food, accompanied by gipsy music (in the evenings). In Mátyás Pince they also offer you a small folklore show every Wednesday and Thursday evening.

Are you starting to feel hungry? You have a lot to look forward to as you will hopefully soon visit Budapest!

Great offer to our guests coming to Budapest

2008-04-19T13:10:00.004+02:00

As you arrive to a new city one of the best things you can do is to go an a guided tour as soon as possible. Why? If you do so, you will save lots of time that you in other situations would use trying to find out whats where, and how to get there. With a local guide you get all of time.

That is why we offer our visitors cheap prices on licenced local guides, which will give you the introduction to the city that you want, and they will also let you see important places as the Parlament, the Castle, the Heroes Square and so on.

Go to our Guided Tour page for more information.

Museum of Fine Arts - Year of Renaissance

2008-04-14T08:45:00.004+02:00

2008 is the year of Renaissance in Budapest, and several museums have special exhibitions because of that. Currently there are some temporary exhibitions in the Museum of Fine Arts, next to the Heroes Square. Below you can see the information:

The Splendour of the Medici
Art and Life in Renaissance Florence
24 January 2008 – 18 May 2008

Lines of Beauty
French Master Drawings from the Louvre
21 February 2008 – 12 May 2008

The museum in itself has free entrance, but you will have to pay for the temporary exhibitions. For more information on these exhibitions, go to the webpage for the Museum of Fine Arts.

Warm weather and upcoming strike in Budapest

2008-04-11T10:37:00.002+02:00

If you check out the weatherpage you can notice that the temperature in Budapest is increasing. As I am writing this it is currently telling me that it is 19 celsius, and it will probably get even warmer in a couple of hours.

Earlier this week (Monday) the public transportation company and the train company MAV arranged a strike at the same time. It started in the morning, and around lunchtime traffic went back to the normal. But, now the public transportation company, BKV, is threatening with hitting the city with a new strike, next Friday. This time they say it will be a full day strike, which means no metro, tram, bus or trolley for an entire day. If so, the city will be in chaos during the entire day, and prepare to walk a lot. The taxies are also overbooked on such strikedays, so that is not recommended either.

If anyway would like to enjoy a guided tour during the next week, just send us an email and we will arrange a nice "get-to-know" Budapest trip for you!

Lomtalanitás and strike

2008-04-06T19:12:00.002+02:00

Budapest has a very interesting phenomena going on in the different districts every year. It is called "Lomtalanitás" and the purpose is to get rid of all stuff you dont want to keep in your flat. So when a district is arranging this the people are allowed to throw all their unwanted furniture, electrical devices, magazines, books, records and whatever out on the street. At the street you can see different vultures (people) attacking the nice objects and placing them into big vans and taking them somewhere. Sometimes for use in their own houses, other times they repair them and use them at other places. Anyway, it is very interesting and currently you can see this happening in the seventh district of Budapest.

Also be aware all people. Tomorrow BKV, the public transport company of Budapest will probably strike, which means no trams, buses, metroes will run between 06.00 and 12.00! If the parts will not agree it might even last longer!