What’s up in Gerbeaud?

Onyx recently received the news that the Via Michelin star they received last year, still remains at Vörösmarty Square in 2012. Congratulations! But, for someone it has been a hard nut to understand how a great restaurant as Onyx could share building with something as average as Gerbeaud. This question troubled visitors, locals and tourists, for many years until some quite major changes took place some years ago. Gerbeaud received new owners who made some heavy changes to the confectionery. The interior and the classic design is still the same, but the menu has changed. The cakes have changed, the prices have changed and most important, the quality has changed!

Delicious cake in Gerbeaud

Some years ago you could eat a mixture of three cakes in Gerbeaud, named the Gerbeaud Variete costing something like 1100 HUF. This was also the average price for the different cakes available at the confectionery. If you visit Gerbeaud today the cheapest you will find on the list of cakes costs 1850 HUF. A cup of coffee costs more than 1000 HUF as well, and they automatically add 15% service to the bill, so it is simply impossible to leave Gerbeaud after eating a cake and drinking some coffee paying less than 3000 HUF. But, the quality is so much better than earlier, that visitors probably pay twice as much, just to get the quality. Or maybe not?

Chestnut in Gerbeaud

Gerbeaud was long time known to be the best place in Budapest for cakes. New York Confectionery, Ruzswurm and other confectioneries also fight for the status as the best confectionery in Budapest, but what is the reality? Which one is the best? What we know for sure is that Gerbeaud just took a big step in the right direction, and the current quality and the amazing look on the cakes and the plates as they serve them (just as on the pictures), makes you want to grab som cake, even if you are not really a cake person!

 

Ferihegy 1 to close down

Ferihegy 1, not long ago renamed to Liszt Ferenc International Airport Terminal 1, will close down probably by the end of April. Since the Hungarian Airline Malév turned bankrupt in the start of February 2012 there has been lots of empty space on Terminal 2, and due to this all traffic currently running on Liszt Ferenc International Airport Terminal 1 will be moved over to Terminal 2 by the end of April 2012.

Just some days after Malév turned bankrupt RyanAir launched flights to more than 30 destinations from Budapest, and since then WizzAir has also increased their amount of flights from Budapest. Besides this Volotea will also launch a new direct flight between Budapest and Venice, so things are happening. But, still, the drastic change in amount of flights and passengers still force the managament at Liszt Ferenc International Airport to close down terminal 1 and move all traffic to terminal 2.

Considering the fact that the new Sky Court opened in the autumn of 2011, which was a big investment, improving the shopping, restaurant and all facilities at the Terminal 2, this will also serve as a great bonus for all the people who have been using Terminal 1 so far, which is utterly small and incredibly boring with nothing to do between the time of check-in and take-off. Therefore for people coming with no-frills airlines, this is a bonus. For those coming with RyanAir arrivals has anyway been to Terminal 2, but for the rest coming with WizzAir, EasyJet, AirBerlin, Norwegian and so on, this is a good stuff.

Still for the sake of tourism in Hungary we hope that the amount of passengers and travellers coming to Budapest and Hungary will increase rapidly, and that the management of Budapest Airport will be forced to open Terminal 1 again within shortly due to the large amounts of people interested in our beautiful nation. RyanAir proudly claim that they will bring 2 million passengers to and from Hungary already in their first year, and if it should turn out that way, it might be that terminal 1 will have be opened up again already in 2013!

Ferihegy 1 behind bars
Ferihegy 1 will be closed down by the end of April

Useful Budapest casino information

Poker Casino BudapestWhen coming to Budapest most people tend to avoid the casinos, while others are looking for the very best places to visit. There are two big categories of casinos in Budapest; the ones named Electronic Casinos and the more standard casinos. The biggest Casino brand in Budapest is the Admiral Electronic Casino chain.

One of these is located at the Grand Boulevard (Erzsébet Krt. 48-50), and here you can find more than 34 modern gaming machines and a roulette table with space for 8 persons.

If you are looking for a more typical Casino then you might want to look for Las Vegas casino by the Chain Bridge, which in its time was opened by Sylvester Stallone himself in 1992. According to themselves this is where Hungarian hospitality meets American gambling. In Las Vegas Casino they have 26 gaming tables, for example American Roulette, Blackjack, Punto Banco, Caribbean Stud and Drew Poker. Inside the casino you can also find 53 slot machines. As you come to Las Vegas Casino for the first time you will need to bring a valid Photo ID and a 10 Euro entrance fee needs to be paid which you will receive back in the form of gaming chips.

If you are looking for a 100% poker club the newest place in Budapest is the Doyle Brunson Pokerklub. This is a bit outside the city center of Budapest, but with a taxi you can get here within 10 minutes. The address is Nándorfejérvári út 40. But, these pokes clubs are not based on International guests, so you would probably to better joining in on a game of poker in one of the larger casinos for both native and international guests in the center of Budapest.

Madonna Budapest 2012

Madonna Budapest
Madonna will not come to Budapest in 2012

This could have been an article about the happy news that Madonna will come to Budapest in 2012 on her big Europe tour this year. But, unfortunately it is not, because Madonna will visit a whole lot of places, but not Budapest (at least we do not anything about it yet).

The closest destination to Budapest is the Madonna concert in Vienna. In addition to Vienna, Madonna will also perform in London, Paris, Barcelona, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Oslo and several other important cities in Europe.

 We know that large groups of Hungarians are planing to travel to Vienna to be at the Madonna concert there, so if you are looking for someone to travel with, you will for sure find someone on Facebook or you can check whether some Hungarian agency arrange with trips to the Madonna concert in Vienna. If you come to Budapest as a tourist, you might need to visit another city as well this year, at least if you want to see Madonna live on stage in 2012.

Danube opened for boat traffic again

Two days ago we wrote that the Danube has been closed for boat traffic for some days. Now it has been opened again, so if you are ready for a Danube Cruise on the Danube with live music, lunch/dinner and beautiful view – the chance is hereby given. If you are planing to visit London, you can read more about cruises on the River Thames here.

Enjoy Budapest and in these days it seems as if the very cold weather is leaving the Hungarian capital again, so hopefully the spring is waiting for us just around the corner!

No Danube Cruises because of the ice

It is cold in Budapest currently, and because of the cold there is lots of ice on the Danube. And because of the ice there is no boat traffic on the Danube at the moment. It has been so for almost a week, and we expect it to stay the same way for some more days. If you would like to go on a Danube Cruise still, you can do so, only the boat will not move, but stand at the same place. For booking of such a Danube Cruise, go here.

We will come back with an update as soon as the Danube is free of ice and boats are allowed to travel again.

Danube Cruise
Danube Cruise

London DungeonLondon musicals

10 new WizzAir routes from Budapest

Wizz Air routes from Budapest
New Wizz Air routes from Budapest

Not long ago Ryanair announced 31 new routes from Budapest, and now Wizz Air launch 10 new routes from Budapest. Wizz Air had originally announced a new flight to Bucharest, but in addition to this they now add nine more flights. The new Wizz Air destinations are Malaga, Cluj Napoca, Bucharest, Warsaw, Sofia, Larnaca, Heraklion, Zakynthos, Rhodes and Thessaloniki. In addition Wizz Air hopes for permission to open new routes to Kiev, Tel Aviv and Moscow within shortly.

For more information about these routes and booking, visit Wizzair.com

Earlier Wizz Air already had quite a large amount of direct flights from Budapest and with these new routes they have a total of 35 routes departing from Budapest.

31 new Ryanair routes from Budapest

As we wrote earlier this week Malev turned bankrupt, and all their flights have been cancelled. Who knows better than anyone to use such a situation for their own advantage than Ryanair? Just a few hours later they announced their plans to launch 31 new routes from Budapest within the coming months. Crazy good news for Hungarians who like to fly cheap to a whole lot of destinations. They also try with this to get former Malev workers join their forces expanding their work in Hungary.

Here comes the full list of destinations and when they are planing to launch the new routes (and estimated prices):

Routes
Starts
From €
Routes
Starts
From €
Alicante
APR
49.99
Manchester
FEB
9.99
Baden Baden
FEB
9.99
Munich West
FEB
9.99
Barcelona
FEB
9.99
Milan (BGY)
FEB
9.99
Birmingham
MAR
29.99
Warsaw (Modlin)
JUL
29.99
Bologna
MAR
9.99
FEB
9.99
Bristol
MAR
29.99
Palma
APR
49.99
Brussels (CRL)
FEB
9.99
Paphos
APR
49.99
Chania
APR
49.99
FEB
9.99
Dublin
FEB
9.99
Pisa
APR
49.99
Eindhoven
APR
29.99
Rhodes
APR
49.99
Gottenburg
FEB
9.99
Rome (CIA)
FEB
9.99
Hamburg (LBC)
FEB
9.99
Stockholm (NYO)
FEB
9.99
FEB
9.99
Thessaloniki
FEB
9.99
London(STN)
FEB
9.99
Trapani
APR
49.99
FEB
9.99
Venice( TSF)
APR
29.99
Malaga
APR
49.99

It is time to fly again, though we do not really like Ryanair, this will for sure make it easier to travel from Budapest other nations, and of course to fly to Budapest from other destinations!

Malev cancel all flights

February 8 update:
Malev is history, and no flights are departing/arriving. So if you have a Malev flight booked, find out what is on with your ticket and prepare for changes to happen. Due to this, Ryanair has recently launched 31 new flights from Budapest.

——–
Have we arrived to the point were the Hungarian Airline Malev is turning history? They have been frequently in the media lately due to financial problems, and today they have cancelled all flights. So, passengers left in Budapest might have problems returning back home with the planned Malev flight, and tourists arriving might be in danger of not coming to Budapest at all.

So far all information is that all Malev flights are cancelled today (February 3rd), but we will follow the case and come with more information as soon as we have more information and know more what will happen in the future!

Malev cancelling all flights today
Malev cancelling all flights today

-9 degrees and snow on the way

As we are writing this article (February 1st, 2012 – 8:15) it is -9 degrees in Budapest. Until now we have had a very mild winter, but now the real winter cold seems to have arrived. And according to the weather forecasts heavy snow is expected this upcoming weekend, so if you are on your way, prepare with some nice warm clothes and shoes that enjoy snow! And make sure to book a nice hotel in the center of Budapest (see: recommendations), so you will not have to walk to far to get around.

Winter in Budapest
Winter in Budapest - Illustration only

Weather in Budapest