January in Budapest

Oh goodness.

Weather? Yes, probably cold. Short days.

But Budapest is full of culture.
Try the Hungarian State Opera House, the Operette, Eiffel Studios, The Hungarian House of Music, the Zeneakadémia, Opus Jazz Club, and so much more. (https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/obus-jazz-club-dessert-only) . Then there are the concerts in various churches, including St. Stephen’s.

You can try out the thermal baths; the 2 art museums in City Park; the House of Terror; the Great Market Hall; Doheny Synagogue; the Hungarian National Museum; Parliament; or the little Underground Railway Museum.

If you have a sunny day, there are many other options. Check out Mr. É travel notes PDF on his profile page for tons more info.

I dont think the river cruise trips get enough credit. It can be anything but one hour up and down the river to dinner to a musical performance. Few things more beautiful than the views from the river at night.

Depending on your age and interests there are the ruin pubs and / or the wine bars .... Hungary is very big into wine and there are some pretty excellent wines. You dont see them on the world market much in part because so many are small family owned and dont have the production capacity to ship 500,000 cases.

With 5 days you have time for a day trip to Szentendre or Eztergon or even Gyor and the archabbey at Pannonhalma.

If you are into architecture there are a few good tours and a few places you need to look inside of. The Parliament (buy your ticket today .. if it isnt already too late), The done of the Basilica (not terribly old but interesing to see how such things are built), The Opera House, Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library, Dohany, Rumbach and Frankel Leó Synagogues ... Speaking of which if WWII and the Holocaust interest you, its hard not to trip and fall over that history here.

A sort offbeat museum I like is the outdoor railway museum. I keep going back to climb on the old steam engines....

If you know your dates, how you arrive and depart and where you are staying we can get really detailed with suggestions.

As for the temperature, there are the averages and then there is the reality of the last few years.

The average temperature is here: https://weatherspark.com/m/84771/1/Average-Weather-in-January-in-Budapest-Hungary#Figures-Temperature ........... and .............. here is January this year (and any year you want to check) https://world-weather.info/forecast/hungary/budapest/january-2024/ A tad warmer. And January is a fairly dry month here.

January in Budapest is wonderful -- different than spring or summer, but wonderful in its own way.

As you say, those cold days and early nights mean that heading inside for cafe life and wonderful Hungarian meals is a smart thing to do. The baths indeed provide a warm respite from the cold. And cultural life is thriving.

I find the cold winter months a fantastic time to visit Budapest. I hope you will have a great time.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful replies. For those who asked where I am staying, I will be at the Corinthia. I see that it is not too far from the opera house.

I would be interested in attending a live musical performance, classical or jazz. Is there a good website that would have this info?

I'm guessing Bolt is the rideshare service in Budapest? Although I will be certain to buy a transit pass.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful replies. For those who asked where
I am staying, I will be at the Corinthia. I see that it is not too far
from the opera house.

The Cornithia is a very nice 5 Star hotel not terribly far from the Opera House by foot or tram + metro.

I'm guessing Bolt is the rideshare service in Budapest? Although I
will be certain to buy a transit pass.

Bolt and Uber operate in Budapest. But, they operate as a taxi service. That means yellow cars, licensed commercial drivers and a meter. For the cost of a Taxi ride to river front from your hotel you can travel on the public transportation for 3 or 4 days, and get to the riverfront faster than the taxi. You would be wise to get a 15 day travel pass. Works out to $3:15 a day over five days.

I would be interested in attending a live musical performance,
classical or jazz. Is there a good website that would have this info?

Buy your tickets today. Things sell out fast. A lot I suspect is already sold out.

A few mucic venues

https://operett.hu/en Budapest Operett Theater
https://www.opera.hu/en/ Opera House and Eiffel and Erkel Theater
https://uni.lisztacademy.hu/ Liszt Academy
https://opusjazzclub.hu/ Opus Jazz Club
https://www.bjc.hu/home/ Budapest Jazz Club
https://zenehaza.hu/en/house-of-music-hungary Hungarian House of Music

In your hotel

https://orfeum.hu/ Sort of a vegas night club show sort of thing

I find the cold winter months a fantastic time to visit Budapest. I
hope you will have a great time.

The city becomes a wonderful new place.

Again, thanks for all the live music links Mr. E!
(In reading some of your posts, I gather you're a Texas A&M fan. Alas, I'm an OU fan suffering through our worst season in recent memory)

Greg, too funny, I am an OU grad and fan too. And you're right - what an awful year. Bring on women's basketball and of course softball !!

For classical, the two venues that you must find a way to go to are the Opera House and the Liszt Academy (Mr E's second and third in the list above). The Opera House is unequalled, and the Liszt Academy is more intimate. Both are centrally located and very easy to get to. So be sure to check those out !

Our seasons are always bad, you get used to it after a while.

From or to the airport, take a taxi from the taxi stand outside arrivals or the direct airport bus to/from Deak Fernec ter. Then the M1 3 stops and a short walk to the hotel.

From or to Keleti station, call for a taxi or take the M2 one stop, then the 4 or 6 tram 2 stops and you are pretty much in front of your hotel.

I already checked the programming at the Opera House while I'm there, not much appealed to me. However, I will definitely visit for a tour.

On the Liszt academy site, I'm not seeing anywhere a listing of upcoming concerts?

The only things posted for January are student presentations. There will be more later. You want something in the Grand Hall. https://uni.lisztacademy.hu/programmes

They do tours too, and it's worth it

The travel notes have a list of restaurants with music, some quite good.

So, a lot of questions (but that's what this forum is for I guess) - if I had to choose one of the thermal baths to visit, which one? I'm leaning towards Gellert or Szechenyi at this point, although if there was a less popular one closer to my hotel, I'd consider it.

I have only been to Rudas and Gellert, so can’t make a comparison. But the main outdoor pool at Gellert is closed so that might make a difference. Rudas is smaller.

Szechenyi, is the closest to your hotel. That and Gellert are sort of the icons of the activity. The best of the smaller ones Lukacs is a bit of a trip, and you need to visit Gellert and Szechenyi first.

If you are asking what is near what, then you maybe need spend some time with a map before you go. It is a very large city. The tourist part of the city is also very large; but the public transportation could not have been better designed for tourism if you can remember a few of the basic routes.

From where you will stay the M1 Metro line is about a 5 minute walk. It goes from Szechenyi to very near the riverfront where another tram will take you from Great Market Hall to Parliament. Along the way the M1 crosses another tram line that will take you from near the end of Andrassy ut to the Great Synagogue and on to the Great Market Hall and the Gellert Bath in Buda.

The trams all go through interesting parts of town and with your 15 day pass, when you see something of interest, you can hop on and hop off at will.

Also take the time to look at the travel video linked on my profile page. Its the best I have found and it will give you ideas. I also linked Anthony Bourdain's video of his impression of Budapest, but if you google you can find the full episode on YouTube that he references and it visits a few off the wall places that you might be interested in.

My favorite guide book is the DK Eyewitness Top 10 Budapest (Amazon). Its small enough to fit in a pocket, covers the basics really well from tourist sights to restaurants to day trips and museums.

Thanks for the detailed transit information. I'm guessing I can buy the 15-day pass at any metro station? Is there a photo ID component to the pass?

There is an ID requirement, for the 15 day pass. Any photo ID will work. You can buy the passes from the vending machines at metro stations and some tram stops (pretty sure), but a lot easier at a BKK office and there is one in the Airport arrivals hall and one at the lower level of Keleti.

The Liszt Ferenc Academy is very near your hotel. I took the tour of the gorgeous Art Nouveau interior in 2018. My tour included a short (15 minutes or so) performance by a solo cellist. I always struggle with the LFA website; I ended up just walking over there early in my trip to ask about the timing of English-language tours.

In addition to the info Mr. E has compiled, you'll find multiple threads on this forum with restaurant suggestions for Budapest. The restaurant scene is very good and prices are reasonable.