Often described as the "Little Paris of Middle Europe", Budapest is famous not only for the monuments reflecting its own 1,000-year-old culture, but also for the relics of others who settled here before that. The capital has two sides, Buda and Pest, stretching along the banks of the Danube, representing two different characters of the city.
Buda and its historic castle district offer medieval streets, houses, thermal baths, museums, even caves and Roman ruins. The dynamic Pest side boasts the largest parliament building in Europe, riverside promenades, flea markets, bookstores, café houses and the ruin-pubs. Budapest was recently listed within the top 6 cities in Europe, best suited for startups.
Andrássy Avenue is the new shopping street where you can find the Opera house, the old Balett Institute and many theaters. Have a coffee or breakfast at Book Cafe (Lotz Hall), at one of Budapest most beautiful cafe house. Take the first underground line in Mainland Europe (line 1 or "yellow" line) and go to Hősök tere (Heroes’ Square). Here you can visit museums like Kunsthalle Budapest or Museum of Fine Arts, and the Vajdahunyad Castle. Put your skates on and head to the City Park Ice Rink which is Europe’s largest ice rink. Finish your trip at Széchenyi thermal bath taking a hot tub and sauna.
Walk down to Basilica. Right next to it you can try some nice Hungarian wines at Divino. By crossing the Chain Bridge you may explore the Castle Hill on the Buda side (use one of the first funiculars in Europe to go up or to get down), then get back to Pest and see the Vörösmarty Square. Here you will also find Váci street, the old shopping street of Budapest.
Walk to the Parlament. (Can be hard to get in, you need to register in advance.) Take tram number 2 and get to the Great Market Hall. You will find lots of local food products there. Cross the Liberty Bridge and finish your day at Gellért thermal bath or Rudas.
We thank Medea Baccifava from Prezi for these trip guides
Our venue is in the heart of the city, near Astoria, the Great Synagogue at Dohány street, and the party quarters in Budapest. The following districts around are a relatively short distance away:
The Liszt Ferenc International Airport is at the outskirts of Budapest. There is a public transport line 100E to connect the Liszt Ferenc Airport with the Deak Square in the center of the city, from where you can reach any part of the city by public transport.
The "Airport shuttle bus single ticket" costs 900 HUF (around 2.9 EUR), and is accepted only on this bus.
Other buses and public transport to get to and from the airport
Or you can take a taxi, at the dedicated taxi stations at 2A and 2B terminals, operated by FoTaxi. You have to tell the operators your destination, they will call you a car, and give a good estimate on the fare, which is usually around 19 EUR to the city center.
The Budapest public transportation company (BKK) has several options to visitors who stay for a few days. You can buy a regular 7 day travel card which costs around 16 EUR, or there is the Budapest Card for 72 hours, which is 31 EUR, but gives several discounts on entry fees to baths, museums, and can be bought online.
Unfortunately Uber was banned from the city, there are alternatives by taxi companies, like FoTaxi and Taxify.
In Hungary there is three main mobile network operators, T-Mobile, (member of the Deutsche Telekom group), Telenor hungary, (member of the Norwegian Telenor group) and Vodafone.
We've created a map, with useful places like shops, ATMs, pharmacies and places for lunch/breakfast and pubs. This map will be constantly updated to be used for further events in Budapest.
Contact us, if you have any questions, or you feel we've missed something from this quick guide.