Video Budapest

We have uploaded a new video to YouTube. The video contains clips from Budapest; nature, buildings, people, transportation and much more! The video last for three minutes.

Blog now part of standard design

Today we updated the design of our blog, and from now it will be a part of the standard design of the "Guide to Budapest". We hope this will make it easier for you readers, and that you will find what you are looking for faster than before!

We daily receive emails from people wanting us to reserve tables for them at New Years eve. Some restaurants are starting to get full, so if you want us to reserve a table for you, we advice you to read our article about Budapest on new years eve, and send us an email as soon as you have decided where to go!

Picture of the Musem of Fine Arts (picture made 24 December, 2008)

Pictures Budapest by night

In addition to our slideshow called Budapest by night we here post some pictures from Budapest by night. If you want to see the pictures in bigger versions it is just to click at them. Some pictures have a feeling of christmas as they were taken in December.

Pictures Budapest


More pictures can also be seen in our Budapest MegaMix

Budapest Christmas Market pictures

Yet another we have been out with our camera making some pictures from the Christmas markets in Budapest. This time we not only visited the Vörösmarty Square, but also the Jokai Tér/Liszt Ferenc Tér by Oktogon. The weather forecasts tell us that there might be some snow later this week, and that it will be quite a lot colder than in the previous week, so be aware!

Christmas fair pictures:

Christmas fair Budapest (Jokai Tér)

Christmas fair Budapest (Liszt Ferenc Tér)

Christmas fair Budapest (Vörösmarty Tér)

Christmas fair Budapest (Vörösmarty Tér)

Two pictures from Flickr

More than 1000 people has seen our slideshow

On the 2 September we added a Budapest slideshow to Youtube, and since then more than 1000 people has seen the different pictures from Budapest to be found in the video. We are happy about that, and we are curious how long time that will pass by before the video will reach 2000 views.

If you have not seen the Budapest slideshow video yet, you can check it out here, or over at Youtube. Since then we have also added our Budapest Megamix, which currently contains 90 pictures.

Some other Budapest pictuers:

Which shopping center has the best christmas decorations?

The 20th of November I wrote an article called "Christmas in WestEnd citycenter" and I also added some pictures to it. Yesterday I visited Arena Plaza, and made some pictures there as well (see below). Though Arena Plaza is the newest, WestEnd Citycenter is probably far more popular than Arena, much because of its great location (compared to Arena). But, since I first was there I thought I would compare which of them has the best christmas decorations inside. As can be seen on the pictures from Arena Plaza, they only had these round, colored orbs, while WestEnd has those colored orbs, but in addition those rectangular, golden stars... which I really like! So, based on this, my winner is WestEnd Citycenter...

If you disagree, or prefer the christmas decorations in another shoppingcenter, feel free to write a comment!

Pictures from Arena Plaza (for WestEnd pictures, go here)

The Danube Bend, from on high

It is a great thing to travel by boat up along the Danube to visit Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom. But, not long ago as I was out flying I realized that our plane was flying along the Danube, passing over Szentendre, Visegrad and Esztergom. And I must admit, it was great. Unfortunately I could not really see Esztergom too well, but as I saw the Danube Bend by Visegrád, and the fortress on the hill of Visegrád my heart rejoiced. Of course, it is limited how well I could see them from the plane up in the air, but still... it was really great.

Some time ago I was thinking of how nice it would be once to rent a helicopter just to travel around making pictures of Budapest, and other similar cities, from the air... but that remains a nice dream as that would probably cost a fortune, much more than I have in my pockets! But, maybe sometime...

We earlier posted some pictures from the Danube Bend. To see them, go to Danube Bend pictures. The pictures from Ezstergom are not made by us, but the creator has written that they were free to use by anyone, so we did so!

The first day of the Christmas Market

Yesterday was the opening day, and we made some pictures. Unfortunately the weather wasnt the best, so people walked around with their umbrellas. Hopefully it will become a little bit better in the coming days.

Christmas market in Budapest, 21 november


Christmas Market in Budapest, 2 december

Pictures from Szechényi Thermal Bath Budapest

One of my favorite ways of celebrating in Budapest is going to the Szechényi Thermal Bath. If you are tired it is just wonderful to walk into the 38 degree water, and you immediately feel your muscles calm down and relaxation fills your body. Somehow though, I am always extremly tired as I leave the pools, and normally it is just to go home to sleep after some hours in the water. Well, sorry for writing so much... I was supposed to post pictures here. You can see them below. To see even more, visit our Szechényi Thermal Bath page.

The legendary chessplayers in the water

Warm water.. 38 degrees

Paris of the east = Budapest?

I have often heard people speaking of Budapest as the Paris of the east. It sounds really nice, and I must admit, that Budapest is a really beautiful city, just as Paris. Having some seconds today I just typed in on google "Paris of the east", curious to see what it would show me. To my great surprise there are many "Parises" of the east. Tehran, Prague, Shanghai, Bucharest and Istanbul were some of the cities mentioned, and it seemd to me as if Bucharest was the most "popular" one with the title "Paris of the east."

There are probably many cities fighting for the title, but for many tourists coming to Eastern-Europe the question is not whether to go to Budapest or Shanghai, or Budapest or Istanbul, but rather if they should go to Budapest or Prague. As editor of this page, and as a person who loves Budapest, I would for sure recommend Budapest, but if you have time, I would visit both Budapest and Prague. After that you can make up your own oppinion what city has most right to the title "Paris of the East"; Budapest or Prague.

Some pictures from Budapest

A picture from the Vörösmarty Square

Gerbeaud by night, Originally uploaded by GuideToBudapest

At this square there will in not to many weeks be a christmas market. The Vörösmarty Square, the main square of Budapest, is the place where the traditional Christmas Market will be held this year for the tenth time.

At the picture you can see the Gerbeaud building, and totally in front a nice coffee place where you can get some hot drinks and cold drinks.

Just as a little nice thing; today it has been measured almost 20 Celsius in Budapest. Quite nice, ey? This Thursday we had a guided tour with some Norwegians, and during the tour one received a phonecall, because they needed him to remove the snow from some norwegian roads... I just though; man it is good, at least from the perspective of climate, to live in Hungary.

Lots of pictures from Budapest

Chain Bridge on the new 200 forint coin

LáncHíd, Originally uploaded by marcustg

The Hungarian National Bank arranged a competition not long ago where people could vote for what symbol they would like to see on the new 200 Forint coin. They received more than 200 000 votes, and more than half of them voted for the Chain Bridge in Budapest.

The new coin will earliest be used in the first quarter of 2009, while it is expected that people can use the 200 Forint paperversion (that we use now) until the end of 2009.

It is not the picture above that will be on the coin, but we can wait and see how it looks when it becomes available in 2009. If you want to read more about the oldest bridge in Budapest, we recommend you to click on the link above. There you can read more about the bridges history and events since it was first used in 1849.

Pictures from Saint Stephen's Basilica

Saint Stephens Basilica is the second largest church in Hungary, and it is a real beauty for those who like churches. As we visited the church today we made a few pictures, and we hope you will like them. If you like them, you might like the following pages:

Budapest Picturemix
Budapest Daytime
Budapest Nighttime

Pictures from the Critical Mass Demonstration and some more!

Yesterday was the Car Free Day in Budapest, and it was also the day for the Critical Mass Bicycle Demonstration, and on that occasion we just recommend you all to visit this page for some nice pictures from the bicycle demonstration.


We also read that a new airport is coming up in Hungary, the Alba Airport. The airport will be near Szekesfehérvár, a city between Budapest and Balaton. Read more about this at Budapestagent.

Budapest pictures - All gathered in a 4 minute slideshow

If you like Budapest and if you like beautiful buildings this is for sure going to please you. If you have not been to Budapest, this is going to give you a taste of what is waiting for you. In this slideshow you will find a mix of pictures taken during daytime and nighttime, and also pictures taken throughout the entire year.

For other pictures, check out the Budapest by day and the Budapest by night slideshow.

Shouty man on Castle Hill - with picture

At TripAdvisors forum one of the most popular threads has been the one discussing the so called „shouty man on Castle Hill.” Today we managed to make a photo of this „famous” person. The first post in the forum had the topic “Shouty man on Castle hill”, and it said:

“Has anyone else experienced this rather strange man offering tours outside the funicular? He goes on and on about offering you a guided tour and becomes very agitated if you try and interupt him, and when you do have enough and walk away he shouts after you "you know nothing, you know less than nothing!"”

Since then lots of people have commented on the story, and he has become quite a legend.

During a guided tour today we managed to make a picture of him, though he only let us if he could be taken picture of together with the 4 ladies we were guiding. So, that is why the four ladies can be seen in the picture. We hope in the future to be able to speak to this person, and maybe bring even more information to the public about this interesting, shouty, person at the Castle Hill.

The "Shouty man" with four norwegian girls on guided tour

Camel visiting the Opera in Budapest

During a guided tour today we got to see this funny sight. Enjoy it :)

"They are forcing me to go to the Opera"

"I would rather visit Belcanto and listen to the singing waiters'"

"You should visit Budapest as well!"

A beautiful firework picture

Enjoy this picture from the fireworks in Budapest.

Szechényi Termal Bath pictures

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

The Szechenyi Thermal Bath

Some pictures from Budapest

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