Curling Irons/Blowdriers in Budapest

. The problems with curling irons and blow dryers are several fold: First the standard electric outlet in most of Europe (if not all) is 230 volts as opposed to 110volts in the United States. If you plugged your standard U.S. curling iron into a 230 volt outlet it would do a job on curling your hair and toes. Fortunately the plug shapes are different so you can't make the mistake. Well you can buy an adapter plug at Radio Shack but those are intended for electronic devices that use those little plug-in transformers; thing like cell phone chargers and laptop chargers. But even then you need to read the fine print on the side of the transformer to make sure its compatible with 230v at 50 hz. Then there is the power converter you can also buy at Radio Shack. They are quite heavy and probably not rated for the kind of load that a curling iron or blow dryer will require. So what to do? Well you can travel with your own blower and curler, you just have to buy new ones before you leave. Look on Amazon.com for Dual Voltage Blow Dryers and Dual Voltage Curling Irons, they are not terribly expensive and there are compact models for traveling. But, here is another problem. A lot of accommodations are somewhat limited on the amount of electrical load you can put on the system without the room going dark so you might want to make sure you use one at a time and turn off as much of the other things in the room as you can. In the place that I rent we provide our guests with a hair blower we know will not pop the fuse and a lot of other places do the same. You will love Budapest. Happy Trails

I apologize in my lapse of judgement on how to spell blow dryers. I do understand the voltage and converting problems of curling irons/blow dryers, which is why I will not be taking mine over there. Are there any particular stores in Budapest where I will be able to buy them? Or...
I'll have a layover in the Amsterdam airport...would there be a store there where I could purchase them?

Stephanie, I have both a dual voltage curling iron and hairdryer that I bought at our Seattle drugstore chain (like a Walgreens) for about $10 each. I have several plug adapters that I have picked up over the years. I intend to take the curling iron with me to Budapest in 2 weeks. I have taken them before. (I am not taking the hairdryer because I am staying in apartments that have them and I want to save the space in my suitcase). Personally, I think it would be easier to buy inexpensive dual voltage ones here and use adapters. I am sure you can get the plug adapters here, too. I just bought one at Fry's electronics and I know luggage stores carry them. If you really want to buy them in Europe, I am quite sure that you will be able to find them, but they will probably be more expensive.

Some of the compact travel models i have seen on Amazon.com come with the plug adapters and maybe even some of the ones sold at places like Walgreens and Walmart do as well or you can buy the adapters at places like Radio Shack. If possible get one for grounded appliances as some of the new outlets are designed only to accept grounded plugs. As for buying the blow dryer in Budapest you can get them a lot of places. One place i know for sure is the large household appliance and electronics store in the West End Mall. I know because that is where we purchased a blow dryer for our guests use. Tell me where you ate staying and i might be able to give you directions.

The store is called Media Markt and its on the upper floor at the end. http://westend.hu/en/vasarlas/adatlap/?shop_id=2462/en/vasarlas/adatlap/?shop_id=42185 But as a tourist i would rather pack what i need and spend the time in Budapest in more interesting place. Although you will get a chance to see an interesting end of town and Eiffel's Train Station. Happy Trails