Where to find search function?

It's at the very top of the forum pages, slightly to the left.

I want to avoid asking questions that have already been answered, but for the life of me I can’t find the search function on this site.

The search function isnt the best thing in the world. It is clumsy at best. Someone posted this that you can use with an internet search engine. I use it every day (replace "budapest" with your search): site:ricksteves.com/travel-forum budapest just paste it in the search engine address bar.

But I also think its best to go ahead and ask most of the time. Search if for other opinions. New members and old members with new experiences. Things change, sometimes they change quickly. If people dont like it, they can just skip your question.

On a handheld device you’ll find 5 horizontal lines in the upper left hand corner. Click on the lines. It brings up the menu including the search bar. But be aware that the search function is fairly basic.

Yep - search is hit or miss in the value of the results. It can dredge up some very old (and outdated) posts - and not just forum postings - so while I often do the search, I also will first just scan the main country page for more recent threads. France is a popular country forum, but scanning back from the current page (#1) and back about 10 or so pages is a fairly quick process. Your browser also has a "find" option, so you could use the find function for say "restaurant" or "Paris" or "hotel" and do a quick sweep on each page as you go back.

To me, most stuff pre-COVID is totally out-of-date regarding things like pricing, hotels, and restaurants. In an active forum like France, the most recent posts will be where I'd expect to find the most helpful bits of info.

It can dredge up some very old (and outdated) posts

Date of results is a filter. You can easily limited search results to those posted within the last 2 years, 1 year, or 6 months.

Tocard has pointed out a filter that is always good. Filter for "travel forum", then time span. I mostly do 1 year or less.