A Chill First Half Day in Budapest

Have lunch. Go on a walking tour to get your bearings, ready for focussed sightseeing the next day. Have drinks. Have dinner.

Budapest is a great city to recover in. Ha!

First, get your transportation pass. Then after you get settled, you could opt to mix walking and the M1 metro line all the way up Andrassy ut. to City Park. If the weather is nice, City Park and Heroes Square is a lovely wander. And not much beats the grandeur of the architecture on Andrassy.

Or you could head to the Danube and catch a 2 tram toward Parliament, get off anywhere and stroll - visiting the Shoes memorial.

You could also visit Margrit Island, which is lovely. Or do the first 2, finishing with dinner at Duna Corso on the river.

All very low key but worthwhile.

Really depends to some degree on where you are staying. Its a big city and the laid back time is more laid back if close to "home". Time of year will change things to.

If I were to assume you are coming in warm(er) weather and have chosen wisely and are stayed someplace along Andrassy ut (avenue) (the Paris Champs-Élysées was an attempt to copy Andrassy ut ... okay, not true, but you will see Budapest did it better), I would suggest you just walk up Andrassy ut and enjoy the architecture.

At the end of Andarssy ut Heroe's Square with some interesting iconography of the begining history of Hungary. Beyond that in City Park, still walking, you can find the Hungarian House of Music (just walk in and look around, most are not disapointed in the modern marvel), the Museum of Ethnography (just walk the roof top. again, most are not disapointed by the effort). Stop at the outside Zöld Küllő beer garden for a drink and maybe lunch? Walk thru the park to the Széchenyi Baths and take a long soak.

Heading back if the topic interests you there is the Zoo which besides being a pretty darn good zoo has some exceptional Art Nouveau architecture. Or the circuis which is now a really great performance theater.

Then if you are tired, the M1 metro runs directly under Andrassy ut right back to your hotel (if you chose wisely). But before bed time, be sure to walk past the Opera House to the opposite end of Andrassy ut and on to the Danube River and have a drink or dinner at DunaCorso and enjoy the lights of the castle. Few places more beautiful in the world. Again, the M1 will bring you home as it extends just short of all the way to the river.

Andrassy ut https://youtu.be/f6vc7KYPdEk?feature=shared
M1 Metro https://youtu.be/f2J5mKdbbf8?feature=shared
Heroe's Square https://youtu.be/VLrlnmL3_u4?feature=shared
House of Music https://youtu.be/yNzw6h3blQw?feature=shared
Museum of Ethnography https://youtu.be/Aey_g__dTrc?feature=shared
Zöld Küllő Beer Garden https://kep.cdn.indexvas.hu/welove-media/28/zold-kullo_hartyanyi-norbert_20170802.jpg
Széchenyi Baths https://youtu.be/a01uKNLK1eM?feature=shared
Opera House https://youtu.be/taoMYdBG5f8?feature=shared
DunaCorso https://www.dunacorso.hu/templ/gfx/content/galeria/3.jpg

Zoo https://youtu.be/D_hOsD0JSpw?feature=shared
Circus https://youtu.be/apz1izRgEZY?feature=shared

Now, if you arent staying along Andrassy ut or in warm(er) weather, there are other ideas.....

First, get your transportation pass.

You are young, so the BudapestGO App is probalby what you will want to use. Download it on your phone and since you are staying too long for the 72 hour pass (YEA!!!) buy a 15 day pass. Not much difference in price. https://bkk.hu/en/tickets-and-passes/prices/15-day-budapest-pass/

If for some reason you feel more comfortable with a paper ticket (like this old fart), and I would say about 2/3rds of the locals still use paper, then you can buy one from a vending machine. BUT, this could also be your first chance to meet a Hungarian,. So, at the train station (Keleti Pályaudvar = Kel - ee - tee Pie - ud - var more-or-less) you walk to the front of the main station hall, down the stairs and on the right is a service office for BKK the city transportation company. Go in, take a number and tell the nice lady what you want.

Here the locals have clear backs on their phone cases and put the ticket there. You only need to show it when asked, so wallet works too. With this you can hop on and hop off at will. Same with the phone App with a few more caviats so read the instructions.

From the BKK office you will see the signage to the metro lines. To get to your hotel on Andrassy ut you will take the M2 in the direction of "Déli pályaudvar" and get off at the first stop "Blaha Lujza tér" (named after a famous 19th century Hungarian actress). Go up to the street and you will see the 4/6 tram line. Get on either the 4 or the 6 heading towards Széll Kálmán tér and get off at the thrid stop "Oktogon" which is the intersection with Andrassy ut. Whole trip, maybe 15 minutes .... probalby less and you will get to see some of the city while on the tram.

Forgot, also in at the end of Andrassy, in the city park is the balloon ride: https://balloonfly.hu/en/home/

Thanks all for the great suggestions!

As others have suggested, have lunch, then walk down Andrassy toward the river to get your bearings - walk out onto the Chain Bridge. If you have a list of restaurants you'd like to try, stop by to check a few out and make a reservation, as the popular places do book up for dinner.

I usually arrive at mid-day and as soon as I check in at my hotel I am off to Margit sziget--beautiful car-free island park in the middle of the Danube, very pleasant and calming to stroll through and full of gardens, a spa, the ruins of a convent and my real reason is to visit the little zoo--in the spring there are 3 pairs of nesting storks and they are delightful to observe. After that I head back and usually have an early dinner at Belvarosi Lugas, a few stops from my hotel via the M1 and just across from Szent Istvan's--nice area to explore if you are so inclined after dinner.

Otherwise, you could spend a few hours exploring Castle Hill, with its stunning views of Pest--the Hungarian National Gallery is there and you could also tour the Hospital in the Rock if timing allows.