We are headed to Budapest April 1-4 (three nights only) in 2026 and would love some thoughts/advice.
I've been browsing this forum and have read Rick's book, but am still in the early phases of planning.
Key things I'd love to have some feedback on:
- places to stay (have several AirBnBs selected, but the ones I like aren't in the top recommended areas, unfortunately)... and
- teen-friendly things to do
For context, we will be coming off six days/nights in Vienna, where we will be visiting our 22 yo who's living/working there. We'll be towing along our reluctant son over his spring break and he will actually be turning 16 on our trip. (He's a huge car aficionado and still won't forgive us for not taking him to Germany and the Porsche musuem. He's also obsessed with ice hockey.)
We know we won't hit all the major sights, and my son will have limited patience with tons of museums/churches. The things that sound interesting are of course the Castle, Parliament, Baths, and general wandering around and soaking in all the architecture and ambiance... We also are foodies and enjoy great meals, as well as cooking classes. Ruin bars sound interesting, so any recs of ones we can visit in the daytime and bring our son to would be appreciated. (Not into the party scene but they sound really cool to check out.) We are also HUGE cat lovers and enjoy visiting cat cafes whenever we can. I've read Budapest's is one of the oldest/first and looks pretty cool from what I see online.
As for apartments, I know everyone recommends Andrassy Ut, but I can't find rentals that I like there. So many are uber modern, and one of my great joys in visiting Europe is staying in a beautiful, old, traditional building. We also generally find we are happier away from crowds when it comes to where we stay. We are all fit (family of runners) and able to walk everywhere (or take public transportation) so we don't mind not being on the very doorstep of all the biggest attractions. We'd rather stay in a lovely quiet spot. We found a gorgeous art deco apartment in the Palace district a five minute walk from Lörinc Pap Square, and an entire cottage right beside the castle.
I haven't been able to find too much info on the Palace district, so I'd love some advice there... if you were us and set on one of these two neighborhoods, which would you give the edge?