Who Will be in Budapest, July thru December and Events in the City

Thank you for the calendar and helping to people to connect.

Conde Nast on Budapest.

An article about 8 spectacular rivers to cruise. The Danube through Budapest made the list. https://www.cntraveller.com/article/river-cruises
A list of the 6 best river cruises for the Summer of 2023 and Budapest to Bucharest made the list.
https://www.cntraveller.com/article/european-river-cruises
The 17 cheapest city breaks for 2024 and Budapest made the list. https://www.cntraveller.com/gallery/cheapest-city-breaks-in-europe
Top places to go in EUROPE in 2024 and Budapest made the list of 12. https://www.cntraveller.com/article/best-places-to-go-in-europe-2024
The best places to go in the WORLD in 2024 begins with Budapest. https://www.cntraveller.com/article/best-places-to-go-in-the-world-2024
Four best historic cities to visit in Winter, names Budapest. https://www.cntraveller.com/bc/article/marriott-winter-holidays-in-europe
The best hotels for 2024 has one in Budapest among the list of 29 European hotels. https://www.cntraveller.com/article/best-hotels-in-the-world-2024

Thank you!!

Was the Aug. 19-26 person me with my original dates - or someone else? That’s when I had first planned to be there…..

Ive already arranged for someone to use your dates.

When you come, I know you like unique dining. Try Goli
https://maps.app.goo.gl/6wN8EBcdEFpes9Ht6.

Sort of new age Isralie meets Iranian grandma. A tad pricy but that just means U.S. prices more or less. Nice street to explore too.

GOOD GRIEF! You gave away my dates!!!

Goli now saved. Smoke & olives sounds interesting. I may have to stay a month to even begin to catch up on restaurants.

What a great idea this is!

Me!! I will be in Budapest late July early August. I am in the early stages of planning a trip to Budapest and Prague. This will be a high school graduation gift trip for my son. We delayed our oldest son's trip because of covid and decided to wait until after a year of college this time, too. It's a nice way to reconnect after a year of him not living at home. He picked the cities on a whim, but I am super excited about them. None of us have traveled there before. I am open to any and all recommendations.

This is a good bunch of people, ask your questions and you will get lots of help.

A few comments, if you can push it to start in August it might be a tad cooler, but even at their worst Prague and Budapest are not horrible.
Starting in Prague or Budapest won't make any significant difference with the temps. I checked the tourist numbers in Prague for July and August and July was a tiny bit less crowded. Budapest it doesn't matter because the city tourist area is so large the numbers get absorbed pretty well.

If it's only 1 or 2 weeks and you are sticking to just the 2 cities then really consider flying between Prague and Budapest. It's fast and easy and not expensive.

Enjoy the planning.

I had not even thought about flying between Prague and Budapest. I have only ever used trains to get from one place to another within Europe. Are flights really cheaper than trains? And will I have to worry about our luggage size on those planes?

Here is my take on train vs plane. The plane costs more but i save 4 hours of travel time and I'm not trapped in a bread box for 7 hours.

Train gets you to your hotel at 3pm, a flight can have you in your hotel before noon.

The train can be as little as $30 with a seat assignment. Ryan flights range from $35 to $80 but with checking luggage figure $100. Then figure another $40 in taxi fare because airports aren't in the center of town. So the flight might cost you $110 more than the train if you check a bag. Maybe $45 more if you go carryon.

Prague Old town to the main station (by taxi) is about 10 minutes.
Me at least, especially in a new station, I arrive no less than 30 minutes early find the platform, validate the ticket, find the new platform when it changes, get my reserved seat before anyone else sits in it, etc…..
The average train is 7:10 hours
The time from the Nyugati or the Keleti Train Station to the Opera House by taxi or metro is 15 minutes but throw in another 10 to call and find your taxi. Same would be true about buying metro tickets.

So, door to door = 8:15 hours
Now for me personally, I will have my morning coffee and croissant first so add 30 minutes for an even 8:45 hours.

Prague Old Town to the airport by taxi is about 30 minutes.
Pre Arrival time 2:00 hours (to be honest I never arrive more than 1.5 hours early)
Flight time 1:10 hours
Deplane, luggage, passport control, walk to taxi stand: 30 minutes
Order taxi, wait for taxi: 5 minutes (really is that fast they way they have it set up)
Ride to Opera House part of town 30 minutes on average Metro will take you that long too.

So, door to door = 4:45 hours
Now for me personally, I will have my morning coffee and croissant first so add …. Well nothing … I get it in the airport. So, still 4:45.

Wow. Thank you so much for this excellent description. We will still probably take the train, though. The cost would add up with 3 of us on this trip, and we are Texan, so the novelty of train rides is part of the fun! And maybe a down day sitting and looking out the window will be a welcome rest between cities. Nothing is set in stone yet, so maybe I'll change my mind. Budapest is the anchor, so the other city might change. Prague is probably nice, but my heart isn't set on it. What other nearby-ish cities might we look into? It is a trip for our 19 year old son who wants to "see Europe". Mr E, you are a goldmine of information!

LAB, if you have 2 weeks I would 1 of 2 things. Either classical history or adventure. Which ever you think will have the most profound impact.

So, either Rome for classsis European history ... or the coast of Montenegro for adventure and a little nature. This is a one off trip so a 90 min discount Airline flight is 5 hours out of two weeks for a great payoff. Travel light and the ticket could be under $100. Budapest is well serviced by the discount airlines so this works.

If you have 3 weeks, Rome - Montenegro - Budapest the ultimate holiday adventure.

And I am a Texan too. For a train experience
https://texasstaterailroad.net/
Or
https://www.laev.hu/

August 12 thru 15. It doesn't look like there is any festivals. Maybe 3 days of spas.

Lifetime Travel, the city spends the second half of August trying to recover from the Sziget Festival which is 7-12 August this year. Imagine Woodstock on steroids. I think it is either the largest, or among the largest, outdoor festivals in Europe. I didnt list it because its not really a RS venue. But if I were young again ..............

But there is the Folk Art Festival that starts on the 17th and the Summer Festival usually runs in August, but I cant find a date for this year yet. I will post it when I get it.

And a rumor that the Budapest Klezmer Band will have a concert this summer. If you have plans to go to Paris and Rome and you find out that the Budapest Klezmer Band is playing in Budapest, cancel all you plans and come to Budapest. I could kill myself for missing this concert, Kátya Tompos and the Budapest Klezmer Band TOGETHER! ......... two of my absolute favorites. https://youtu.be/dO9gJKojEGs?feature=shared

But if you only have 3 days, I guarantee we can come up with suggestions beyond spas .............. just ask.

The Opera House has their new season posted now so I am starting to look and make decisions for early Oct.. Doesn’t look like tickets are available beyond August yet, though.

buy quickly. they sell fast and have been on sale since the third week in March.

I will be in Budapest in late May, ca. the third week, am certainly looking forward to this as my last visit , a day trip, was in May of 2015.

Don’t try to scare me. Tickets for October are not on sale yet. I could buy season tickets - or individual tickets through August…..

Fred, wave when yoi get here.

I could be up to 8 now, we'll see. :) This will be our first time for the Christmas markets and we're looking forward to it.

We were hoping to be there for the wine festival again, but that will have to wait until another year.

Hmmm, Christy, maybe I will have to meet you there for the wine festival next year. :)

Yay!

We attended the wine festival in 2022 and loved it. I know some of the locals on other boards have mixed feelings about it, but we had a blast. The multiple day ticket was so reasonably priced that I bought those and I'm so glad I did. We went several times, had a different experience each time, and really enjoyed it.

@ Mr E....I shall certainly contact you in BP, and meet a fellow Basic Economy (what ever it is called, ) ie the rock-bottom, cheapest , presumably, the least comfortable flying over option. I'll take it.

My husband and I hope to be in Budapest December 8-10.
Karen

Karen, added above. I have enjoyed meeting up with RS types while traveling, and it appears you and another will be in town at the same time. I will update the list of things going on from time to time, so if you see it bumped to the top, check in.