Budapest +/- 3 days

I'd be inclined to stay in Budapest if you have only 3 or 4 full days there. It's a city with a lot of great architecture and many quirky sights (the baths, House of Terror, Memento Park, Hospital in the Rock, ruin pubs). Gorgeous interiors include Matthias Church on Castle Hill, the Liszt Ferenc Academy (some English-language tours), the Pesti Vigado concert hall and the Hungarian Parliament. The Parliament's English tours sell out early; it is expensive and I haven't been there.

The artsy town of Szentendre is a possible partial-day trip you can keep in your back pocket in case you have extra time. No need to pre-book anything there. Szentendre has lots of little art museums. I don't know what day(s) of the week they are closed.

There are many interesting towns in Hungary, but I think you'll have a hard time dragging yourself away from Budapest. You seriously need a guidebook.

If you’re traveling between Budapest and Vienna, consider stopping in Bratislava. Leave your bags at the station and walk to the old town and take RSs self-guided walk. Make sure you have a drink at the Sky Bar for spectacular views. To learn more buy RSs Budapest guidebook.
I slept at the Bellevue B&B in Buda. The views were grand and the hospitality was top rate.
If there’s one thing you want to do in Pest, is take an early morning bath at Szechenyi so you can see the old men play chess while wading on the ledge of the pool. Well worth a photo shoot. Another hip thing to do is visit the ruined bars in the Jewish Quarter. Good area to eat too.
If you see a langos stand (a savory fried donut topped with sour cream and shredded cheese. You can add other toppings too i.e. bacon) order one. You can also find these at the market.

Acraven and MaryPat - thank you!! We have RSs guide book, but it doesn’t always have the hidden gems and lodging we like. We do use it for the basics and major sites. And Bratislava was on our to do, good to hear it’s worth the trip!!

Figure out the major things you want to see and use that as a guide as to what side of the river your hotel should be on. I think Pest is better for most people. James E in particular has given tons of great advice about Budapest in earlier threads. Christa makes frequent trips to the city as well. It's definitely worth looking back through the Hungary forum to see what you can find.

I’ll look them up, thank you!

Food- the best thing was the pastries, poppy seed and apricot come to mind.
Goose- one place where we had dinner had many pages of goose ;dishes in it’s menu. Worth a try at least one time.
White wines were very good.

Everyone is different, but for me the minimums are

Budapest 4 nights
Vienna 3 nights
Prague 3 nights

In Budapest stay along the lower third of Andrassy ut or near Deak Ferenc ter in Districts VI or VII.

With 3 or 4 nights in May, the only side trip I would consider is Szentendre. Take the train up and the boat back. Great half day or more.

Hungary is known for its wine. I have two wine bars I like. The first is called Kadarka Wine Bar. It is between the Opera House and the Jewish Ghetto. Laid back very local place with a few tourists. Not fancy but the staff is great. The other, owned by the same people is called Barka Bor Bar. Its is closer to the New York Place. A little more upscale and larger. Both have a good food menu as well. I eat a Kadarka about every other night when I am in town.

Kadarka is on the corner of Vasvari Pal utca and Kiraly utca. Also on Vasvari Pal utca is a place called the Lions Locker. This was opened as a luggage storage business. They started out selling coffee too and it grew into one of the best breakfast places in Budapest. The food is good, but what makes it great is that it is a family owned place and mom, dad, son and daughter will take very good care of you …. Dad will talk your ear off.

Everyone goes to the Great Market Hall, but off the beaten path are some of the smaller old markets. Two worth looking up are Hunyadi ter Market and the Rákóczi ter Market. Here is some information: https://www.catchbudapest.com/budapest-markets/

Then the cemeteries. Amazing places. Christian: http://fiumeiutisirkert.nori.gov.hu/ and Jewish: https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/galleries/hungary-photo-galleries/kerepesisalgotarjani-utca-cemetery-budapest/

So some of these things are spread out. Half the fun and interest of a trip to Budapest is found in the points in between. You purchase a 3 or 7 day metro pass and you hop on and off the trams as you see things of interest, get hungry or need a drink or want to explore something you have seen. Everything listed above is a short walk or a tram ride.

One of my favourite hotels ever: https://www.questenberk.cz

I visited Budapest in 1985 when there were hundreds of Soviet Troops there.
It was still a great visit. We stayed at the Hotel Gellert that was right next to the famous chain bridge. There were natural springs under the hotel.

Is the Gellert an expensive hotel these days? I am sure it was renovated since we visited in the dreary communists days.

The Gellert isnt an expensive hotel. Would be if they every brought it back to its former glory. And I guess they moved it since you were there ... its now 2 km or about a 30 minute walk from the Chain Bridge.

Sorry geovagriffith, that wasn't very nice of me. There are a number of beautiful bridges in Budapest and its an easy mistake to make.

So the Gellert Hotel. https://bbj.hu/images2/201906/15613179190346qkAaSvrsUCnJ_L.jpg The history is pretty amazing: https://www.danubiushotels.com/en/press-room/hotel-press-information/danubius-hotel-gellert-history#:~:text=Gell%C3%A9rt%20Hotel%20and%20Spa%20started,still%20a%20symbol%20of%20Budapest.

What the link leaves out is that (reportedly) Oscar Shindler stayed at the St. Gellert when he came in 1943 to warn the jews of Budapest. Among those he met with (reportedly) was Rezső Kasztner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rezs%C5%91_Kasztner.

The hotel was reportedly sold about a year ago and there were plans to renovate it in the following two years; but I sort of get the impression that the sale fell apart.

James,
Thanks for the information.
My wife hasn't been to Budapest and we have put it on our travel list to visit in the next few years. We might do a river cruise down to Romania as well.

geovagriffith; you know Budapest is my second home and some say, first love. Let me know when you are ready and I will share what ever resources I have.

James,
Thanks once more.
George

Hi James. I went on the RS Eastern Europe tour in 2019 and at the end of the tour came back to Budapest on my own for 6 days. I fell in love with Budapest and it is my favorite city in Europe. I have been to Europe 7 times since 2006 but last year was the first time in Budapest. When things open back up after the Covid thing I am definately going back to Budapest as part of every trip I will do. Just walking along the river at night on both sides is amazing. You probably know the restaurants much better than I and some interesting places to see that I have not yet seen so I hope to pick your brain in the future. I read your previous post on taxi from airport into town and that was awesome. I took the train back to Budapest from Lake Bled at the end of my tour for my on my own time and stayed at Bellevue B and B. They had a taxi pick me up there and set one up to take me to the airport at 4am when I left. The next trip though I will be arriving in Europe in Budapest so I appreciated the easy to follow directions of a taxi into town from the airport. Take care

Thankyou Terry. I cant wait to get back either. I have a business there and that would finagle me a way in, but I'm just not comfortable bending the rules.... so like many I wait. Something to keep in mind when things are better; Budapest is a hub for WizzAir which means you can go from Budapest to some pretty amazing places dirt cheap. It can open a lot of the world.

For visiting the city, visit, Buda Castle, Gellert Hill, the Parliament inside and out, visit Café Gerbeaud or the NY Cafe. Then walk up Andrassy Boulevard and go to Heroes Square. Visit the Opera house. Also visit the market, any of the castle hill museums, and/or the Hungarian National Museum. The sights I just mentioned where you can choose one depending on time and interest. I would recommend you visit Margaret Island it has many attractions. Also for a less touristy but gorgeous alternative to the Chain Bridge, visit the Margaret Bridge at night and consider taking a cruise down the Danube with audio headphones. There are many cheaper cafes. The ones I mentioned above are expensive. In terms of day trips I would recommend you do the touristy but amazing Danube Bend. It is a collection of 3 medieval towns which 2 were Hungarian Capitals. Esztergom was where St Stephen was crowned and was capital during that time. Visegrad was the castle where King Matthias and King Charles ruled. Szentendre is a souvenir town with a cool Marzipan Museum. Visit the town of Tihany on Lake Balaton and have a Fisherman's Soup for lunch and take a dip in the lake. Eger is a place I wanted to get to but couldn't. Eat the Goulash Soup (it is only a stew in Hungary's neighbors), Porkolt which is what you would think of as a goulash stew. Also like I mentioned have Fisherman's Soup. That's all I can think of.