Budapest Guide, Author at Budapest Guide

The Duchess, in Budapest cinemas now

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Budapest Guide

Keira Knightley always plays in strange and old fashioned films. Sometimes I like them a lot, and sometimes I dont. Some weeks ago I watched The Edge of Love in the cinema, and I did not like it at all. Before that I saw Atonoment, and I really enjoyed it. It was a brilliant film, and the music was fantastic (not strange that the film won an Oscar for its music).

I enjoy history, and somehow I like those old fashioned films showing what life may have looked like some hundred years ago. In this film we get to see how the life as a Duchess may have been, and we can see Ralph Fiennes play the Duke of Devonshire, a mighty man in his days.

Georgina (Keira Knightley) and Ralph Fiennes (Duke of Devonshire) gets married in the start of the film, and then comes the trouble. The Duke is in desperate need of a female heir, and his hope is that Georgina will give it to him, and if not, she is not of much use to him. Georgina is a popular lady, but she is not satisfied either with being married to the Duke. If you watch the film, you will find out what happens!

I enjoyed the film and my wife even more. For me it was to flat with no real “action” or highlight, while my wife found it to be a relaxing and nice film.

Based on all of this we give the film together 6 out of 10 smileys.

Cinemas in Budapest

Torkos csütörtök in Budapest

Posted on January 15, 2009December 8, 2022 by Budapest Guide

I first heard of this event some years ago, but for those who like to visit restaurants, it is a great thing! Torkos csütörtök (throaty Thursday) is the last day when you are allowed to eat meat before the big “fast” starts among the catholics, leading all the way to easter. Celebrating this restaurants around in Budapest give 50% discount on food and drinks on that day every year. The date may change, but it is always on a Thusday.

Torkos csütörtök 2009
February 26

There are lots of restaurants that join in on this great thing, and on the 26 February you can eat and drink for half price at for example: Belcanto, Ocean Bár & Grill, Alabárdos, Bagolyvár, Chez Daniel, Apetito, Apostolok, Chess, Gerbeaud, Corner, Károlyi, A38, Fridays, Sir Brian, Karpátia and several other restaurants.

So we encourage everyone to take advantage of the offer, and enjoy yourself on February 26.

List showing all restaurants (list is in Hungarian, but it should not cause to great problems)

Formula One Grand Prix Budapest

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Budapest Guide

Earlier this week we created a constant page that will be updated with all the information needed for those coming to Budapest to see the Formula One Grand Prix later this year. That means that that will be the same address for the coming years, and not just be a new blog entrance every single year.

We have not added to much information about the Formula One in 2009 yet, but it will come soon! Until then, enjoy the two pictures made from a Formula One race at Hungaroring in 2006.

Freezing rain (sleety rain) expected in Budapest today

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Budapest Guide

Yesterday some news channels reported that sleety rain is expceted to fall in Budapest. Sleety rain (ónós eső) is rain that turns into ice before it hits the ground, and makes the road very slippery and dangerous. Therefore they adviced car owners to stay at home, and rather use public transportation today, if possible.

It is quite interesting that now when they allow everyone to travel with their cars (a few days ago they limited it because of the pollution caused by several big companies using oil instead of gas) a new thing show up that makes the official warn people from using their cars. Maybe we should just sell our cars and start walking instead 🙂

Weak forint and strong Euro

Posted on January 13, 2009December 8, 2022 by Budapest Guide

The Forint is jumping up and down, and currently it is quite weak, at least compared to the Euro. Compared to ther currencies it is doing quite well, but the fact is that the Euro is strong at the moment. This morning as I checked out my desktop I saw that 1 Euro = 283,6 Forints, which is quite a lot. Half a year ago I always thought of 1 Euro as 250 forints, and it was a period when 1 Euro was worth 230 forints. These differences can mean quite a lot of money, even for small customers as you and I.

Euro – Forint
In McDonalds
If you want to buy a menu in McDonalds it will cost you appx. 1060 forints. On a day when the Forint was at its strongest that would cost you 4,6 Euro. Now, as the Euro is strong it would cost you 3,7!

In Sir Lancelot
Normally someone visiting Sir Lancelot uses around 6500 forints. On a strong Forint day that would mean around 28 Euro, but on a strong Euro day (as it is today) that would mean 23 Euro.

Tickets for Mamma Mia concert in Budapest
The most expensive tickets cost 16,900 Ft. On a strong Forint day that means around 73 Euro, but on a strong Euro-day it would be 60 Euro.

As you can see the differences are quite big, so for people visiting Hungary coming from Euro nations these are good news. For Hungarians going abroad these news are not so good, at least if they travel as the Euro is as strong as it is now!

Currency and changing money in Budapest

Smog restrictions removed

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Budapest Guide

The smog alert we wrote about yesterday has been removed, so from today all cars can drive freely in Budapest again. According to statistics not to many followed the restrictions telling that only cars with paired licenseplates could drive yesterday. 1/3 of the cars in Budapest yesterday were cars using impaired licenseplates, and 2/3 of the cars were using paired licenseplates, meaning that they were allowed to drive.

As they measured at several points in the city yesterday they saw that the quality of the air was more than good enough, and therefore they decided to allow everyone to use their cars again, starting today!

Budapest Transportation Guide

Increasing number of tourists coming to Hungary

Posted on January 13, 2009November 27, 2013 by Budapest Guide

I heard on the news this morning that an increasing number of tourists came to visit Hungary in 2008. Around 9,5 million tourists visited Hungary last year. That was an increase, but at the same time the amount of nights spent in Hungary in average has gone a little bit down. This might be due to the economical problems, but then, who knows?

Most tourists come to visit Budapest, but Balaton also draws a lot of tourists in the summer time. To find a good hotel in that area visit our hotelpage, and select Lake Balaton or Wellness hotels from the city-menu.

The picture on the top-right shows a picture from the inside of the Hungarian State Opera, a place loads of tourists and Hungarian visit every year.

Guided tour in smog heaven

Posted on January 12, 2009 by Budapest Guide

Budapestagent just wrote an article about the first smog alert ever in Budapest, and it started yesterday. I did not know about the rule concerning what cars could drive in the city, but I had heard about the smogproblem in television. Therefore I knew that it was a serious problem in Budapest caused by people (mostly big shopping centers, companies and so on) using oil for heating and as an energy source instead of gas.

Yesterday as I walked to my guided tour starting from a hotel near the Liberty Bridge I remembered that I heard someone recommend people to stay inside their flats, instead of going out! No problem I thought, and during the guided tour in Budapest it did not annoy me, nor my company, at all. Hopefully our longues did not suffer from it either.

I wrote several times last week about the cold weather in Hungary and Budapest, and it was cold yesterday as well, but on such occasions it is just to dress up with one more layer of clothes, and it is no problem at all! As I write this it is -6 Celsius in Budapest, and it seems to me as if the freezing cold is about to leave Budapest, and hopefully we will not see -10 Celsius again for a long time!

It’s winter in Hungary

Posted on January 10, 2009November 28, 2022 by Budapest Guide

The snow is lacking, but the temperature is there! Minus 11 degrees in Budapest when I woke up this morning, and in other big cities it was even colder. I noticed that it was -14 degrees in Györ, Miskolc, Debrecen and Szeged this morning at 08.00, which is cold, at least for those who are not used to temperatures as that. The average temperature in Budapest in January is supposed to be between -4 and +1 celsius, so we do not really like when it is getting below -10 celsius.

Below you can see a picture from www.met.hu showing what the weather should look like in the coming days! Click it for a bigger version!

Da Vinci – The Genius exhibition in Budapest

Posted on January 10, 2009 by Budapest Guide

31 December was the last day of the Bodies Exhibition in Budapest. From February a new great exhibition will come to the Vam Center in Budapest, and exhibition called: Da Vinci – The Genius.

The exhibition is said to be the most complete exhibition ever to be shown about the life of Leonardo da Vinci, and in the exhibition we get to meet Da Vinci as an inventor, musician, sculpturer, anathomist, artist, engineer and more. It is said that it took more than ten years to make this exhibition containing drafts of machines he later invented, remarks, notes, anathomical drawings and reproductions of some of his most famous works of art (The Last Supper and the Vitruvian Man) shown in 3D, and also other reproductions such as Mona Lisa, self-portrait, St. Jerome, Virgin of the Rocks, The Last Supper, Madonna Benois and some more.

Da Vinci – The Genius
Vam Design Center
2009. 02. 07. – 03.05.

Tickets can be bought on the spot, but we recommend everyone to buy them beforehand. This can be done from TicketPro.

Other events in Budapest