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First Time to Budapest ~ Family of 5 w/teens/young adults

Posted by (Pittsburgh, PA) on

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:

  1. places to stay (have several AirBnBs selected, but the ones I like aren't in the top recommended areas, unfortunately)... and
  2. 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?

Posted by
805 posts

A bicycle tour of Budapest might appeal to your crew, as teens and young adults generally love bicycling. In 2015, when I made my first visit to Budapest, I took a bicycle tour in English with Yellow Zebra Budapest: https://www.yellowzebratours.com/. They gave me a discount because I showed them the Rick Steves guidebook, but I don't know if that's still available. They equip clients with helmets. There are other providers.

Next to the Szechenyi Baths -- itself strongly recommended -- is an amusement park with rides. Teens love amusement parks.

If you're interested in a side trip, a visit to Pecs, Hungary, is recommended. It's about three hours south by train and near the Croatian border.

Posted by
25229 posts

places to stay (have several AirBnBs selected, but the ones I like
aren't in the top recommended areas, unfortunately)

With just 3 nights sometimes the recommended places change a bit. Only because you have so little time you just eliminate part of the city and concentrate on what you do have time for. So look in District V along the 2 Tram route line. There is generally something in that location. This way you can do both sides of the river front well and maybe come back some day for the rest.

Teen-friendly things to do?

  • maybe a football match (soccer)
  • kayaking on the Danube,
  • fly a WWI Biplane (okay, not fly, ride in the back seat),
  • if planes are interesting here are some flight simulators he can get on. Some are russian planes which is sort of interesting.
  • Shoot an AK? Heck we did that in Texas so not a biggie,
  • how about trains. Great outdoor train museum. There might even be a steam engine running on the date, I will have to look.
  • Hot air balloons,
  • sky diving,
  • bob sledding (has wheels).

Any of this works, let me know and I will dig up the details and look for more similar.

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...

But museums are more interesting for a kid if they are military museums. Like the Hospital in the Rock or the House of Terror. Maybe a WWII Tour or a Cold War Tour.

I can post some cooking classes. Better yet I will PM them to you.

The ruin pubs are fine for kids earlier in the evening …. And interesting.

my great joys in visiting Europe is staying in a beautiful, old,
traditional building.

Well even the buildings on Andrassy ut and the entire city are old traditional buildings. Just the insides of the aprartments are updated. But as much as I love the area, they have voted to ban short term rentals in district VI (Andrassy ut), so nothing legal there after 1 January. Look in V, VIII, IX. Post what you find and maybe I can tell you about the location before you rent.

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?

You will do better with numbers and the Palace District is VIII. I would do VIII before I would do the Castle Area (Buda), especially with so little time in the city. You are doing a city the size of Chicago in 2.5 days.

EDIT
Watch for the 2026 date for this: https://vasuttortenetipark.hu/rendezvenyek/xx-oldtimer-show/
The steam engine is running on 29 March and 5 April, sorry. https://www.mavrailtours.hu/hu/travels/2026

Posted by
116 posts

HI Elizabeth,
I KNEW Mr. E would reply. We had a wonderful 3 days in Budapest in May 2023. I used his recommendations, and we had a great time. We originally were going to stay right near "fashion street" near the boats etc but that AirBnB fell through so we stayed right across from the Doheny Synagogue and LOVED it. With the trams and just walking, we were fine.
Here is my trip report. You will love Budapest...LMK if you have any questions after reading my report.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-3-days-in-budapest-may-2023-part-one

Joanne

Posted by
25229 posts

The one near the Basilica wins in my book. With the time you have, you can see a lot more and you wont have to worry quite as much geting 5 people on and off public transportation.

ON that subject, at times of the day when the trams and metro can be crowded. Getting 5 on and off together is an art so you will need a system of where to meet when you are seperated ... the next stop everyone gets off till everyone is together again usually works. Doors to trams, busses, metro cars stay open about 10 to 12 seconds on average. Thats 10 to 12 seconds for people to get off and to get on through the same door.

You will appreciate this location where you can walk and take the tram or the metro. Its near Deak Ferenc ter which is the central hub for a lot of the transportation that takes you to the sights.

Do get your metro passes. 72 hour should work for you guys. You can do paper or you can use the app. With 5 people trying to stay together I would think paper would be easier. You only need to show it when asked. With my kids I use to make them wear this inside their shirt: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/7114pPSyljL._AC_SX679_.jpg Yes, they hated them. I put the pass and the address of the flat in it and phone numbers for assistance.

Posted by
120 posts

I appreciate your expertise, Mr. E! Thanks so much!

The more I look into the city, the more I wish we had more time. So much to explore...

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