No more Zona Taxi at Ferihegy

For quite some years Zona Taxi has taken care of transporting tourists from Budapest airport, named Ferihegy, to their respective hotels and destinations all around Hungary.

Now the time when Zona Taxi ruled the airport is over and instead Fő Taxi is doing the job. The price level remains the same and I guess there will be no big changes. One thing is though that Zona Taxi had a style, a design and a certain quality on most of their cars and im not sure if Fő Taxi can compete with that… Time will show!

Picture taken at Ferihegy Airport Terminal 1 today!

Kristály confectionary: Best Confectionary

This article is a part in our “Best of Budapest“-series, currently searching for the “best confectionary in Budapest“.

Kristály confectionary

1082 Budapest, József körút. 53.

Kristály confectionary is a cosy confectionary along the Great Boulevard, located next to where the boulevard hits the Baross Utca. Here you can buy cakes from a quite rich selection, and the prices are not at all high. The interior is nice, though we did not get the very „confectionary” feeling during our visit. Anyway, this is still a confectionary where the cakes tastes good, the service is okay, and the atmosphere is just fine. Not a very touristic place, rather a place where a Hungarian would go to grab a cake and a cup of coffee.

The confectionary is open from 10:00 – 18:00 during wintertime and from 10:00 – 20:00 during summertime.

Kristály confectionary score

Cakequality: 8/10
Drinks: 7/10
Atmosphere: 5/10
Price vs. quality: 9/10
Total average: 29/40

Comments from the jury:
“The interior was just fine and it was easy to find a free table”
“I was very satisfied with the prices”
“During summertime they have a terrace for guests outside the confectionary”

Some Kristály confectionary pictures:

New Friday’s and Starbucks in Budapest

Last weekend a new Starbucks opened in Mammut Budapest, the nice shoppingcenter on the Buda side. That means Budapest now has two Starbucks‘ and as we all know the third will open within shortly in Király Utca.

Not long ago a new Friday’s restaurant opened as well, which means Budapest now has four Friday’s restaurant. The latest Friday’s is located at the Deak Ferenc Square, somewhere between McDonalds and Coffee heaven (former localities of Il Patio)!

Next time you long for a taste of America, you know where to go!

Living Folk Art 2010: Museum of Ethnography

Living Folk Art
Living Folk Art
The goal of this exhibition is to inspire you to make your home a bit more Hungarian, and to get ideas for how to use folk art in your own home. The title of the exhibition is: “Living Folk Art 2010”, telling us that at this exhibition you can see how Hungarian Folk art is used in homes around Hungary as of now, and as you see this, you might want to grab hold of some Hungarian handcrafts, to make your home a bit similar to this. Check out this maybe inspiring exhibition between October 29th and March 27th in the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest.

Living Folk Art 2010
Museum of Ethnography
October 29, 2010 – March 27, 2011

Museums Budapest

From Palace of Justice to Museum: Museum of Ethnography

Metamorphoses: From Palace of Justice to Museum
From Palace of Justice to Museum

Did you know that the Museum of Ethnography formerly gave home to the Palace of Justice? After that it gave home to the National Gallery, and then in 1974 the Museum of Ethnography moved into the building. In this exhibition named “Metamorphoses: From Palace of Justice to Museum” you can see the building and its development, changes and beautiful architecture.

From Palace of Justice to Museum
Museum of Ethnography
September 30, 2010 – June 30th, 2011

Museums in Budapest

Brand new slideshow

We have just published our brand new Budapest slideshow. The pictures featured are not extraordinary, but by taking a look at it you will for sure get a feeling of what Budapest is like. The slideshow lasts for appx. seven minutes, and you will for sure recognize many famous Budapest attractions as you enjoy it. For more pictures, videos and slideshow, check out our multimedia-page.

The Worlds of Széchenyi: National Museum

István Széchenyi
István Széchenyi
Are you interested in a man who was loved by the most beautiful women of the century, who was not a scholar yet he founded an academy, who wrote the greatest Hungarian bestseller even though Hungarian wasn’t his native language, whose castle boasted the first English toilet in the Carpathian Basin, who established the new Hungarian capital by building Chain Bridge and who, despite being ill, fought successfully for the freedom of his oppressed nation? If so, come and see The Worlds of Széchenyi exhibition at the Hungarian National Museum.

The Worlds of Széchenyi
Hungarian National Museum
October 8, 2010 – March 6, 2011

Budapest Museums

Image and Self-Image: National Gallery

Image and Self-Image
Image and Self-Image
The exhibiton “XIX. Art and Nation: Image and Self-Image” presents paitings and works from the end of the 18th century and the First World War. The Exhibition provides a pictorial testimony to the relationship between art and the concept of the nation, and this was of course very influenced by the patriotism and the Hungarian Revolution in 1848-1849. This interesting temporary exhibition can be seen in the Hungarian National Gallery between November 5th and April 3rd,2011.

XIX. Art and Nation: Image and Self-Image
Hungarian National Gallery
November 5th, 2010 – April 3rd, 2011

Budapest museums

Cool Cafe: Best Confectionary

This article is a part in our “Best of Budapest“-series, currently searching for the “best confectionary in Budapest“.

Cool Cafe

1052 Budapest, Petőfi Sándor utca 12

Cool Fagylalt & Kávé (Cool icecream & coffee) is a quite new cafe in the centre of Budapest, in Petöfi Sandor utca. It was opened August 2010, and here you can get good ice cream, and of course nice cakes at quite okay prices. The interior is very modern, so this is not the „old-fashioned confectionary” style, like for example Gerbeaud or Alexandra Bookcafe. We found it quite enjoyable, though this place seems to be empty most of the day, meaning not enough guests. Some of us have been there several times, and the jam  in the Ischler is „fresher” than most other places, so that gives the Ischler a high score at Cool Cafe!

While most confectionaries in Budapest close around 18.00 or 19.00 Cool Cafe keeps open until 21.00 and 22.00, which gives this place a plus point in our books!

Cool Cafe score

Cakequality: 8/10
Drinks: 7/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Price vs. quality: 8/10
Total average: 30/40

Comments from the jury:
“Best Ischler in town”
“Easy to find a seat, always empty…”
“Very modern interior, and open until late in the evening”
“Delicious icecream in addition to the good cakes”

Some Cool Cafe pictures:

Relief exhibition – Red Sludge Catastrophe 2010: National Museum

Red Slugde exhibition
Red Slugde exhibition
On 4 October 2010, at 12.25 p. m., the northwestern corner of the dam of waste reservoir no. 10. collapsed at the Ajka Alumina Plant of the MAL Hungarian Aluminium Company, and the spill of toxic red sludge of about 600,000-700,000 cubic metres flooded the lower parts of nearby Kolontár, Devecser and Somlóvásárhely.

Pictures and videos from the disaster spread around the world within hours, and most people have heard of it, at least those watching news and reading newspapers.

Now visitors to the Hungarian National Museum can get more insight into the disaster by visiting the exhibition “Relief exhibition – Red Sludge Catastrophe 2010“. Here you can see photos, videos, childrens’s drawings of the catastrophe, and protective clothing and accessories of the volunteers. The entrance fee is 500 Ft, which goes directly to helping the victims in Devecser.

Relief exhibition – Red Sludge Catastrophe 2010
Hungarian National Museum
November 10 – December 12

Budapest museums