Budapest

Let's see? Cheaper than London, cleaner than Rome, more sober than Dublin and four times more beautiful than those three put together. Did you know that they refer to Paris as the Budapest of the West? Okay, maybe it's the other way around. Other than that your trip to CENTRAL Europe is going to be fairly similar in custom to WESTERN Europe. The one big thing you are going to notice is this feeling of waste in that you didn't come years sooner. The customs are pretty similar to here. Actually, I get about the same comfort level in a Budapest coffee house that I do in Haby's Bakery. The language is stranger than Italian, and as hard as it is to believe still stranger than what they speak in London and Dublin; but most of the people you will come into contact with will speak some, or a lot, of understandable English which is more than you can say for a lot of places in Dublin. Seriously now what are you worried about? Anything in particular? This is really a wonderful sweet city. The days can get warm although June isn't a particularly hot month. But yes, do make sure your hotel has AC. They have a different idea of comfort over there. Shorts? Sure, you will look like a tourist, but that isn't always a bad thing. I will be there again in June and I am wearing fishing clothing. You know the super light weight stuff they sell at Basspro. It helps because I rarely ever check bags. They just get lost. Here is a link to a page with links to some entertainment venues, maps, transit maps, and odds and ends information. If you go to the tabs at the top you can find some photos too. http://budapestflat.shutterfly.com/fivedaysinbudapest
Let me know if I can help with anything. Just remember that Budapest is in Hungary and Hungary is in Central Europe. The Ukraine and Russia are in Eastern Europe (or so the locals like to be identified).

Thank you for your reply. I am even more excited about the trip now! I do have another question that I would like to ask. As I see you live in South Texas also, so you know how hot it gets here, what about shorts in Budapest?

Other than being hot and smoggy I enjoyed Budapest. Make sure you have ac in your hotel.

I edited / updated my first post

Budapest has the most stunning setting of any city I've seen. The Danube (Duna) is wide and grand, the bridges majestic; castle hill and the parliament (Orszaghaz) grace opposite sides of the river. Pest has several streets built for long walks. James mentioned the languageMagyarul. It's a bear! It, like Estonian and Finnish, is not a member of the Indo European language family. Every word is stressed hard on its first syllable. The food is just fine and grocery stores are convenient. If you buy a multi-day Metro ticket, it works on the Metro, bus, or tram. Some of the Metro cars are ancient, but they will get you where you need to go. Metro announcements are very clear (unlike Washington DC!). It's a comfortable town; I hope you enjoy it.

Beware of taxis. If you need to get somewhere by taxi, your hotel will call a reliable company for you. Any taxi you pick up in the street will gouge you - even if you insist on the meter, somehow the driver will adjust it and you end up paying 3 or 4 times the correct fare. Public transportation is efficient and reliable - buses, trams and metro. The only time you may be in a bind is if you are out really late - there are some buses that run into the wee hours but the trams and metro are sound asleep before midnight. The Hungarian wines are excellent and cheap. The museums are terrific and pretty much everything is labeled in English. You are going to love it.

Chani, I am not going to disagree with the intent only with some detail and maybe expression; please dont take offense. The problems with the taxi's tend to me a bit exaggerated. The taxi rules for safe and easy taxi service in Budapest are pretty easy. 1. Don't hail a cab on the street, always call for one. 2. Don't get in a taxi parked at the Train Station, always call for one. 3. The airport taxi company (Fotaxi) is very good; trust them at the airport.
4. If you let your hotel call for a taxi it will cost you more; always call for one yourself. The only problem with any taxi in Budapest is that the business is not regulated (except for the airport taxi company). That means anyone with a car and a sign that says "taxi" can provide service. That's why you don't hail them on the street or get in one at curb side; there is no correct fee. You pay what they charge and thats their fare rate, like it or not. Apparently even some of the best hotels get kickbacks from certain drivers or companies and so those cabs will cost more. Some of the companies even post on their fare sheets that they charge more when the Hotel calls them. A lot of the cabs that are called by hotels are not associated with any company. I prefer the established companies so you at least have someone to complain to. Just make sure you bring a working cell phone and call your own cab. Then there will nver be a problem. The higher rates of the private drivers (gouging) usually results in paying 5000 ft for what a good cab company would charge you 2500 ft for. But to keep in perspective, the same length of ride in most any US city would cost you 10000 ft or more. To the best of my knowledge no one has ever been assaulted, robbed or in any other way harmed by any cab driver in Budapest. This is an issue that is way over-worked.

Two excellent taxi services are City Taxi and Fotaxi http://www.citytaxi.hu/
http://www.fotaxi.hu/?Language=en#main-menu

One thing to be aware of (Rick mentions it briefly in his books, but it's worth emphasizing): While we in the US think of Budapest, Prague, etc as "Eastern Europe" and are very focused on the Cold War period, people in Budapest consider it "Central Europe" and the end of the Cold War was over 20 years ago. Thus, there are far fewer differences between Budapest and the cities you mention (globally speaking, of course) than you are implying by asking the question. I was there in 2008 and never before, so I have no basis of comparison, but if there ever existed a time when Budapest was very "foreign" compared to London or Rome, it's definitely over. While the language is essentially impenetrable without special study, I did find it handy to have learned how to pronounce it (pronunciation is phonetic; it's just that the phonemes are completely different from English, or for that matter, any other language). For instance, szendvics looks incomprehensible, but if you know it's pronounced "sendvich," it's not hard to figure out that it means "sandwich." It is also comforting to know that almost all Budapest restaurants have English menus. One example of changes in this region: I had read that German was very useful in Hungary (after all, it was part of the same Empire as Austria). But that's not what I found. I speak a little German, but I only used it two or three times. Everyone either spoke English, or spoke Hungarian only. I loved Budapest. In addition to Rick's book, I recommend Fodor's Budapest. The latter had some great restaurant listings, and their recommended day trip to Vac was highly rewarding (I liked it better than Szentendre). I also preferred Pecs to Eger, and I'm glad to see Rick now includes Pecs in his book (when I went, he didn't).

Be prepared for a great travel experience! Budapest is tied with Madrid for the most underrated city in Europe. Also Lisbon, but most folks don't go there. (O.k., I admit, I have not been to every city.). In Budapest the sights are less fantastic than what you would see in major tourist hubs that you mentioned, so just relax and be there. We got a transit pass, and I could have spent a day just riding the tram up and down the riverside transit line. We have made a dozen trips to Europe in as many years, and have learned to just slow down and be in the place. Budapest is that place. I recommend Memento Park - take the guided tour. Also the Terror Museum. If you go to the baths, and you should, go early because at least at the Gellert Baths it was somewhat grungy at day's end. Oh, and one thing you should be aware of is fewer crowds vs. the major tourist hubs that you mentioned. We were there a year ago, beginning of May, and it might be busier in June. It cannot possibly be like London or Rome in June though. Going to Budapest lucky, lucky you! I should mention, I have traveled to some locations where the tap water is a health risk. I asked at the local travel health clinic about this for Hungary and Czech Republic, and they said it as o.k. to brush with the tap water. We bought bottled water here and there for drinking, but I also filled my water bottle from the tap without worrying and I am a worrier about such things.

We were just in Budapest several weeks ago. LOVED Budapest. Both Buda and Pest are beautiful and the people are very friendly and gracious. The only problem was that we did not have more time to spend there.

How long would you recommend for a first time visit in Budapest? We would be working our way north to Copenhagen for a cruise so would have as many as eight to ten days total.

In response to Dellinda -- I would recommend three full days in Budapest. That was what we had last year, and we could have used another day. As I posted earlier in the thread, Budapest is much underrated.

Yup, its all very subjective and I am incredibly biased. Three full days in my opinion is pretty much the minimum if you are going to enjoy the city. A full day is one in which you wake up in the morning in Budapest and then go to bed that evening also in Budapest. For my taste if i didn't have at least that much time i would suggest Prague instead.

Last year we found plenty of English spoken, certainly enough for functioning, and customer service was not a problem. I do agree in that this is quite a walkable city and with a good map, such as from the Borch series, navigation is no issue, and the city is quite well marked. As for not on the Euro, that should not be an issue whatsoever. The US, Canada, England, Czech Republic, Poland, all of Scandanvia, Switzerland (among others) are also not on the Euro. Their ATMs work just fine.

I would suggest that you hire guides if you have some burning interest like Jewish history or the Cold War and do self guided walks on your own. There are a couple of self guided walks at http://budapestflat.shutterfly.com/fivedaysinbudapest and Big Boy Travel website has some more. I also suggest that you get a metro pass for the duration of your stay. Budapest public transportation (the trams and the underground) are simple and inexpensive to use and the trams are like little tour busses that crisscross the town. Compared to Prague or Vienna the sights in Budapest are very, very spread out. A walk from the castle in Buda to Hero's Square for instance would be at least an hour (about 4.5 km); or by metro 15 minutes. I think Tier 1 tourist city means like Prague. If so, you need to see places like Budapest before (way before) they become like Prague as when they become "Tier 1" destinations a lot of what made them special becomes lost. This is one reason I love places like Romania and Bulgaria right now. If Prague is a Tier 1 and Budapest is a Tier 2, Romania and Bulgaria are full of unspoiled Tier 3 and Tier 4 locations. Go before they change.