Blog

Monopoli Bar Pizzeria

Posted on March 27, 2013November 27, 2013 by Budablogger

Two weeks ago I visited Pizza Hut in Arena Plaza and wrote an article about it. In my eyes they serve some of the best pizzas in Budapest restaurants, but not everyone agrees with me on that. A person commenting the article told me that Monopoli between Oktogon and Nyugati has much better pizza.

I love pizza so I took the challenge and a few days later I visited Monopoli Bar Pizzera together with a buddy of mine and my little son. We ordered two pizzas; one traditional with corn and ham and another with mozzarella cheese and parma ham. The service was great and while waiting I noticed how someone came complaining because of a pizza they had bought. The man in charge did his uttermost to satisfy his customers and even offered them a new pizza if they wanted… after all he did not want anyone to live Monopoli unsatisfied. That is great service!

How did we enjoy Monopoli?

It is important to understand that Monopoli is not a restaurant like Pizza Hut or other Italian restaurants in Budapest. This is a mix between a kebab place and a restaurant, so it doesn’t give you the ultimate restaurant feeling. But, to sit down a place with friends to grab a pizza this is great and ideal. It is especially nice to sit by the windows and enjoy the view of the trams, traffic and trespassers.

: Pizza toast in Monopoli

The pizzas were typical Italian, a bit too Italian for me. That is probably my problem, but I like the thicker bottom better, but I can absolutely bear over with a thin bottom, if it doesn’t taste to much tomatoes. Unfortunately the pizza in Monopoli was a bit to tomato like to me, so the ingredients didn’t help what I call the „foundational” problem.

In addition to the pizzas we ordered a pizza sandwich and a kind of calzone. They were both okay, but not a place I would return to for further eating and to taste the same pizzas again.

Final Monopoli conclusion

Pizza is a difficult subject, because there are so many ways to make them and we all like them prepared in different ways. If you like those typical Italian pizzas, go check out on Monopoli. We paid for the two pizzas, the pizza toast and the calzone kind of thing and two drinks about 6000 HUF. The service is great so you will be taken good care of and this is ideal if you want to eat Italian without visiting one of those expensive Italian restaurants in Budapest.

If you disagree with me, please write a comment and let me know. If you know about a place in Budapest where they serve fantastic pizzas, please write and I will visit those places and review them (as soon as possible).

Budapest in April

Posted on March 27, 2013May 7, 2024 by Budablogger

Coming to Budapest in March can be risky, because the weather can be great, but it can also be terrible. Coming to Budapest in April is much safer, because by then spring has arrived and you should be able to count on nicer temperatures and sunshine.

In April the life comes back to the streets of Budapest and one can easily see and feel that the tourists start to invade the city. More people walk along Vaci utca and restaurants get fully booked during weekends. The question is still what to do in Budapest in April?

This article is outdated. You can find a fresh and updated article about Budapest in April here.

Cool festivals

There are different events and festivals taking place in Budapest every year. One of the big festivities that often happens to be in April is Easter. In the weeks before Easter and until some days after Easter visitors can enjoy the Budapest Spring Festival. This is a festival packed with professional dancers, musicians and performances in some of the nicest venues in Budapest. During the entire Spring Festival a Spring Fair is set up on the Vorosmarty square (that is where the annual Christmas market can be found as well). The Spring Fair is very similar to the Christmas fair, except from the fact that the weather is better. The Spring Fair normally last for some more days after the Spring festival is finished, so make sure to check it out if you are in town in this period.
Spring Festival dates in 2013: March 22nd – April 7th

International Book Festival

If you like a good book, then you better check out the International Book Festival in Budapest. This is normally arranged in Budapest in April and the venue is the Millenaris Park on the Buda side. At the festival you can meet up with famous and not so famous authors, buy lots of books, During the festival you can in addition to reading and buying books also enjoy programs at stages, eat some good food and visit one of the nicest park areas in Budapest together with more than 50,000 other people.
Book festival dates in 2013: April 18th – 21st

Buda Soup Festival

The soup festival in Budapest will be arranged for the first time in 2013. The venue is the open air parking lot next to the Mammut Shopping Center and during the festival visitors will be able to taste soups, learn how to prepare soups and watch soup making competitions and other cool stuff!
Soup festival dates in 2013: April 26th-28th

Visit Margaret Island and Szentendre

If you are lucky and visit Budapest on a period with nice weather and sunshine in April, you should absolutely go visit the Margaret Island. Travel with tram number two along the Danube all the way to the Margaret Bridge (Jaszai Mari ter) and walk from there unto the bridge and down to the Margaret Island. On the island the most important thing is to relax, walk, borrow a bike and eat an ice cream. If the wind is blowing or if it is bad weather, skip this activity!

Another great activity in April if the weather is nice is to visit Szentendre, the idyllic city 30km north of Budapest. This little town is completely different from Budapest and you should consider spending some hours there. Ladies can easily spend even more, while men get bored after an hour. That is why many people combine a trip to Szentendre with a wine tasting which immediately makes the trip more interesting for the male members of the travel company as well.

Cultural programs

With more tourists arriving the traditional tourist programs are arranged on a more regular basis. This again means that you can watch traditional Hungarian folklore programs on quite a lot of evenings in April, listen to organ concerts in the St. Stephens Basilica and symphonic concerts in the Danube Palace.

If you want some more action you could also consider enjoying a traditional puszta program with horse show and authentic Hungarian cuisine. The latter horse and puszta program normally last for 5 hours in total, so a perfect half day program if you want to see something else than shopping windows in central Budapest.

Budapest basics in all months

There are some activities you should not miss out on when you come to Budapest, no matter what month you arrive. Such activities are:

Danube River cruise with stunning view (especially in the evening)
Take a swim in the hot springs of the Szechenyi furdo
Drink and taste lots of Hungarian wine
Eat the legendary Hungarian Goulash soup
Visit Szimpla kert or some other ruin pub in Budapest

These were some simple advises for everyone who come to Budapest in April. If Easter happens to be in April in the year you visit Budapest you can read more about Easter in Budapest in the linked article.

Weather in Budapest in April

Just in the end it is worth mentioning that the average temperature in Budapest in April is somewhere between 7 and 17 Celsius. This again means that during daytime we often enjoy temperatures far above 17 Celsius, so you should be prepared with a nice t-shirt when packing your suitcase. However, do not forget your jacket, because if you get the 7 Celsius weather with some wind, it isn’t to cozy to walk along the Danube.

If you have further thoughts about Budapest in April, make sure to write a comment with your experiences, comments or advises.

Dinner in Il Treno

Posted on March 27, 2013November 27, 2013 by Budablogger

Not long ago I had the chance to dine in Il Treno in Budapest. Until now I have only eaten pizza slices from Il Treno on the run, but this was the first time I actually sat down in an Il Treno restaurant to really eat. And I am glad I did!

There are quite some Il Treno’s located in Budapest, but I visited the Il Treno restaurant located in Bartok Bela ut. This is a bit outside the city centre of Budapest, but if you live in hotels such as Hotel Griff, Hotel Mediterrean, Danubius Hotel Flamenco or maybe even Hotel Gellert, it isn’t that far away.

What we ate in Il Treno?

I am a pizza fan so I ordered a pizza, but I made sure that everyone else ordered something else, making me able to taste lots of other main courses in Il Treno as well. My father in law ate a spaghetti carbonara, my mother in law a fajitas with chicken and my beautiful wife a pasta with tasty sauce made up of smoked cheese, broccoli and other snacks.

After a while the food was served. I tasted all four main courses and to my surprise they tasted great, all four of them, especially the two spaghetti/pasta courses. I can warmly recommend those to everyone. After the main courses success we ordered four desserts hope for same great success over again. We had different sorts of pancakes with sauce and cottage cheese and the traditional Hungarian sponge cake (somloi galuska). Unfortunately the main course success did not remain for the desserts. It was not big mistakes with them, but at the same time they were nothing special, so if I would return another time I would probably skip the dessert.

Even though we did not enjoy our dessert as much as the main course, we were still very satisfied with our dinner and also with the price level of the restaurant. We all ordered drinks and the total price of five main courses, four desserts and drinks for everyone was just beneath 12,000 HUF.

If you have been to Il Treno yourself we would love to have you share your thoughts and your experience as you write a comment!

Il Treno information

1116 Budapest, Bartók Béla út 105-113
Tlf: +36 20 953 7261

Will it cause any problems if I only bring big notes to Hungary?

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Budapest Guide

I will be travelling to Budapest this week and I exchanged some HUF in my country. The only banknotes the bank provided me were are of 10.000 HUF and 2.000 HUF. Will I be facing problems when paying with this money?

Thank you for your excellent question. It is well known that smaller shops and at stands in the Great Market Hall the sellers do not enjoy big notes. The biggest note in Hungary is the 20,000 HUF, then comes the 10,000 HUF note, followed by the 5,000 HUF, the 2000HUF, the 1000HUF and the 500HUF. If you got a mixture of 10,000HUF and 2000HUF notes you have been very lucky because both work very well at most places. Lots of other people only get 20,000HUF notes and those are too big for many smaller stores, taxi drivers and similar. But, in your case you should not need to worry at all!

More about the currency in Hungary.

Ask your Budapest question!

Roman lapidary – Hungarian National Museum

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Budapest Guide

When somebody wants to spend some days in Hungary, usually the firs destination is the capital, the wonderful Budapest. There are lauds of museums, galleries and other interesting attractions here. It is a must see program visit to the Buda Castle, the Parliament, the Heroes Square and some museums, like the Hungarian National Museum.

The National Museum is always waiting for the visitors with interesting exhibitions. Those, who visit here, could learn a lot about the Hungarian history, because there are several permanent exhibitions which show the whole story of this country from the prehistory Hungary trough the Conquest until the Regime with lots of interesting relics, treasures and other wonderful things.

One worldwide famous exhibition in the National Museum is the Lapidarium or Roman Lapidary. The exhibition shows the most typical stone monuments, for example urn keeper stoneware, tombstones, sarcophaguses, little, church shaped tomb’s (aediculas) elements, votive altars offered to gods and epigraphs which tell constructions. Because there are just few useful relics from the age of the Roman Empire, historians could know more about this era, when Hungary was a part of the Roman Empire and it called Pannonia, after these stone monuments.

If you are interested in the history, do not miss the National Museum’s amazing exhibition of the Roman relics while you are in Budapest, because it would be an unforgettable experience! Have a great time!

Lapidarium – Roman lapidary
Permanent exhibition
Hungarian National Museum

“The Way we are” – Cartoons and Prints of József Faragó in the National Gallery

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Budapest Guide

Maybe not everybody interests about the typical exhibitions, where the exhibited painting, sculptures and other objects could be incomprehensible, or the exhibited objects from the different historical ages are boring. Well, we have a good news for those, who come to the capital of Hungary, Budapest, because in the most famous gallery of the city, in the National Gallery, a wonderful and funny exhibition waits for the visitors from the work of the Hungarian caricaturist, József Faragó.

József Farago lived between 1866 and 1906. József Faragó was an influential, known and respected caricaturist of his age, who renovated the art of the Hungarian political cartoon. As an employee of the Borsszem Jankó, and after the Kakas Márton, he became famous in the whole country. His biting, but always direct hit parodies showed the daily political life in a funny but hard way through his cartoons, which were cannot waited to subscribers in every week.

The exhibition in the National Gallery waits for the visitors from 12 October 2012 until 2 June 2013. Mainly we offer this funny exhibition for those, who like this type of humor, the caricatures and jokes. It isn’t a problem, if you don’t know much about the Hungarian political life of this age, because the drawings are understandable and funny for everyone.

Do not miss this side-splitting exhibition. Make the museum trips more enjoyable and with it, know more about the Hungarian history through a curved mirror! Have a great time!

“The Way we are” – Cartoons and Prints of József Faragó
Hungarian National Gallery
October 12th, 2012 – June 2nd, 2013

Budapest museums

Coronation Mantle – Exhibition in the National Museum

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Budapest Guide

Those who travel to Hungary, could have amazing experience in the whole year. The required programs are to see the Parliament, the Buda Castle, the River Danube with all of the bridges, especially the most famous, the Chain Bridge and naturally any of the museums, particularly the National Museum.

There are several amazing exhibition in the Hungarian National Museum, which show the whole Hungarian History from the Prehistory, trough the Conquest, until the end of the regime in 1990. There is a very special historical relic here, the Coronation mantle, which was the property of the first king of the Hungarians, Saint Steve I. The beautifully designed robe was presented by Saint Steve I.’s wife, who was the first queen of Hungarians, Queen Giselle to the St. Mary’s Church in Székesfehérvár in 1031. The robe was made from a bell shaped, closed vestment, and it represents Jesus Christ, King Steve, Queen Giselle and Prince Imre in beautiful way. It is a beautiful and very old treasure, what is the pride of the Hungarian nation, so when somebody visit to this small but very nice country and especially to the capital, Budapest, it worth to go to the National Museum and see the Coronation robe.

The National Museum located in a very beautiful place, in the Museum Garden, so it gives a great opportunity to those, who want to eat their lunch under the sky before or after the exhibition. Have fun!

Coronation Mantle

Hungarian National Museum
Permanent exhibition

Breakfast in Fruccola

Posted on March 25, 2013November 27, 2013 by Budapest Guide

Before visiting Fruccola to eat breakfast there we had only heard of the place as a healthy place with good breakfasts and lunches. There are currently two Fruccola’s in Budapest, one located at Kristof tér (just by Vaci Utca) and the other one in Arany Janos utca 32. Fruccola also have a slogan saying: „Fruccola makes us happy. Happy is good”

: English breakfast in Fruccola at Kristof square

Based on this I had quite high expectations as I went together with my wife to Fruccola to eat breakfast there. It is useful to know that Fruccola at Kristof tér normally opens at 7.00 in the morning and it is open until 20.00 from Monday – Saturday. Fruccola in Arany Janos utca is open from 7.00-19.00 from Monday – Friday.

Fruccola has a nice feeling to it and once you walk inside and look at what they have to offer you might get hungry in a minute (if you weren’t hungry already). The cheapest you can get in Fruccola is a croissant costing 240. We decided to go for something a bit more expensive, so we ordered an omelette with salmon, cream cheese and chives and besides that an English breakfast with baked beans (we skipped those though), grilled mushroom, tomato, bacon, eggs and sausage. To drink we had some fruit juice which was really tasty.

To the breakfast we got an okay portion of bread, though not the typical white bread, but tasty, fresh and maybe we can even call it healthy bread. Once the omelette and the English breakfast arrived we soon understood that if we eat all of this, we will not be eager to eat a lunch at 12.00. It was a lot, and especially the omelette had an extreme size. As far as I noticed the others in Fruccola who asked for other kinds of omelettes got something in the same size, so be prepared for large portions if you decide to eat an omelette in Fruccola. Personally I did not enjoy the cream cheese in my omelette that much, but since I ordered an omelette with salmon and cream cheese, I do not really have the right to complain.

: Fruccola omelette with salmon and cream cheese

The fruit juice was delicious so if you ever visit Fruccola to eat a breakfast, you should try drink one or more of the fruit juices on the menu. Except from my little thing with the cream cheese everything was perfect, and we can warmly recommend locals and foreigners a breakfast in Frucciola. The price of our breakfast was about 3000 HUF, which is an average price for a breakfast in Budapest.

For more advices and thoughts, read our article named Breakfast in Budapest.

Watch Turkey – Hungary online for free on March 26th

Posted on March 25, 2013February 5, 2025 by Budapest Guide

If you are one of the many fans who want Hungary to be there in the World Cup in 2014, then you better cheer for the Hungarian players as they face a very difficult opponent in Turkey tomorrow. After a disappointing draw against Romania on Friday the Hungarians will aim for three points in this match. This is how you can see the match for free online!

If you live in Hungary you can simply watch it on M1, the national TV channel in the nation. If you live outside Hungary you can still watch it online, but you need to get a Hungarian IP address to do so. If you want to check your current IP address you can do so in the IP Address Guide.

Once you have gotten hold of your Hungarian IP address, you can just visit the homepage of MTV in Hungary, find the live stream and go ahead and watch the World Cup qualifier match between Turkey and Hungary live online, for free.

In the article about how to get a Hungarian IP address, you will read about a VPN tool named NordVPN. It works easily and is very easy and quick to install and setup. But, it can get quite busy at the Hungarian server, so if you are not satisfied with the result you get, you can always ask for a refund for the service (the offer 30-day payback guarantee if you are not satisfied).

The live stream from M1 in Hungary can normally be found here. Sometimes they use another stream during larger sports events, but if they do so, visit hirado.hu and you should be able to find the live stream there.

We just got rid of more than 500 broken links

Posted on March 18, 2013October 25, 2014 by Budapest Guide

For a long time we have known the fact that there are quite a lot of broken links (links not working) in our Budapest Guide. Unfortunately we did not know how to fix these in an easy way, until we recently got a good advice.

The result was that we installed a little plugin at our webpage which checked all links existing in the Budapest Guide. It had to check more than 4000 links (both internal and external links) and the result that showed up was more than 500 links that did not work. Those numbers are not as bad as they sound, because most links still worked, but back in the period before 2009 we used Blogger to post blog posts in the Budapest Guide. Then we changed everything and started to use WordPress instead, and all former Blogger posts and links and pictures went crazy during the export, and that left lots of broken links and images not working behind. Therefore most of the links which we had to fix were from this period.

The article with information about how to find broken links can be found here.

Now everything should be working
Now a few days later we have fixed all links and according to the statistics there should be no broken links at all in the Budapest Guide at the moment. That should make the site better to use for you as visitors and you will not have to experience high blood pressure as you believe you found what you have been looking for for a long time, only to find a broken link. That is so annoying!

Enjoy the Budapest Guide and all the information in the guide about attractions, museums, restaurants, hotels and other cool stuff in Budapest.

We have also updated the Budapest Guides in all the other languages using this plugin, so hopefully you should find all the other guides free from broken links as well!