Dining in Prague and Budapest

Prague is very cheap, by european standards. A couple of examples from when I was there in May:

At the Pilsner restaurant opposite the Spanish synagogue a garlic soup, main course of sausage, potatoes and sauerkraut, plus a couple of beers was 250 krona.

A good meal for two at the Hybernska, near Namesti Rebublicky was 900 krona.

Both of these are central restaurants that cater for a lot of tourists. A couple of metro stations out you can easily halve these costs.

Obviously it's possible to find more expensive places but it is also easy to eat cheaply and well.

Cheers
Alan

Clearly a case of being in the wrong place for the budget or in a tourist trap. No gulyas (note spelling) should cost more than E8.00 with side dish - in either city.

BTW, in Hungary, there is not one gulyas but at least six distinctly different varieties, depending on the ingredients used. One of our funny stories was tied to our search for the perfect gulyas. Kept getting a soupy version (known in Austria as Gulaschsuppe)as we were traveling through the country in the 70s. I did buy a German-language HU cookbook in Budapest. Only when we sat down for dinner in Sopron, hard on the Austrian border, did I learn the truth: Hungarians call the Austrians' favorite Gulasch a Pörkölt; what the soupy thing is called is a Bogracs Gulyas - Kettle Gulyas.

Clearly a case of being in the wrong place for the budget or in a tourist trap. No gulyas (note spelling) should cost more than E8.00 with side dish - in either city.

BTW, in Hungary, there is not one gulyas but at least six distinctly different varieties, depending on the ingredients used. One of our funny stories was tied to our search for the perfect gulyas. Kept getting a soupy version (known in Austria as Gulaschsuppe)as we were traveling through the country in the 70s. I did buy a German-language HU cookbook in Budapest on the way back. Only when we sat down for dinner in Sopron, hard on the Austrian border, did I learn the truth: Hungarians call the Austrians' favorite Gulasch a Pörkölt; what the soupy thing is called is a Bogracs Gulyas - Kettle Gulyas. Try both!

Thank you Alan and Martin! For the spelling lesson - and for the dining cost info. I had a feeling our friend was in a tourist trap. We are really looking forward to our trip and I am sure we will find lovely, reasonably priced places to eat.

Went to Prague in fall of '06. Water is more expensive than beer and a full dinner at many of the recommended Rick places was very cheap. Found a great place in Little Quarter that was full service, drinks, appetizer, dinner and desert for 2 and it was less than $60 US including TIP!

Good point, Cathy. Here in Prague- at any restaurant in the city no matter where you are- water is more expensive than beer. Most places don't offer tap water in a carafe either. Water must be the cash-cow.

We were in Prague in 1990 just before the Berlin Wall came down and though the grocery stores had empty shelves, the restaurants had full menus and were very cheap. We ate one day in the dining room of the Europa Hotel on Wenceslas (the Good King?) Square and I've never forgotten that meal nor the Belle Epoch decor of the dining room. I googled it recently and it is still there looking as "Masterpiece Theatre" as ever. Have a look and see if you want to step back in time. (We paid $12 each for a 5 course meal in 1990, including a brandy in a huge snifter big enough for a goldfish. I expect the price has risen somewhat !

Someone has reminded me in a PM that the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and quite right he is, too. But when we visited Berlin, Czekoslovakia (as it was then) and Hungary in May 1990, the wall would not be officially down until June of that year. As a result, going from West Berlin to East Berlin we did have to pass through Checkpoint Charlie, as it was still in place, but we were more or less waved through.

We have just returned from two weeks in Prague, Dubrovnik and Budapest. An average nice meal in any of thoses cities was always around $60-80 for two, including tip, depending on whether or not we got a bottle of wine. We usually had a starter and a main course and sometimes dessert. In Dubrovnik especially, we would get starters and share an entree.

Lots of good restaurants around Prague that won't take you to the cleaners. We enjoyed Restaurace Provaznice (The Ropemakers Wife -- mentioned in Steve's book) as well as U Male Velryby (the Little Whale) in Male Strana at Maltese Square. We had a great lunch at Vikarka (The Vicarage) right by the castle.

In Budapest, our favorite meal was at Paprika near Heroes Square and we had a couple of good meals at restaurants in Liszt Ference Ter.

In both Prague and Budapest, we found the beer gardens and had great cheap meals outside while people watching and, in the case of Letna Gardens in Prague, watching the sun set over the river and the rest of Prague.

We have only been back one week and I'm already jealous of your trip! Have fun.

Amy and Norma!

Thanks for the recent (and 19 year old!) information. We are leaving on the 18th and will only have 2 1/2 days in Budapest and 4 days in Prague, but we are really looking forward to the trip. When our friend returned from a business trip to Budapest last month and told my husband how much he paid for a meal there, my husband panicked. Sounds like the prices are pretty much the same as in DC, so we will be fine.

Amy - since you just returned, what would you say were a few of the highlights of your trip?

Thanks,

Patricia

Patricia, We just got back from a week, about a week ago...do not worry yourself over the prices of food. RS has several excellent suggestions in his Eastern Europe Guidebook. We enjoyed one place in particular, we ate there twice, which we never do). It is located behind St Istavan's Basillica: Belvarosi Lugas Etterem. The first meal we had there we had an app and entree, and a couple drinks, and ate for 19,30 Euro..about $30.00 USD. The second meal we ate bigger entrees and added a dessert for 27,?? Euros, about $43.00 USD. We also ate at Cafe Kor (on the other side of and just down the street from the Basillica). It was excellent...we ate off the menu when we asked for daily specials and both of our meals were great! We also enjoyed the eateries at lunch in the upstairs of the Great Market Hall. Moving off of food to other suggested points of interest: Do the Danube cruise by Legenda at night, it was great...RS readers enjoy a discount. Buy the Budapest Cards-Public Trans is easy in Budapest; Skip the castle, but enjoy the Funicular and the views from up there; Matthais church is disappointing, if you've seen lots of European Cathedrals and the like; National Museum is free w/ B'Pest Card (as are many museums) and it's worth a 30 min look, unless you are just that interested in HU history; Terror Museum is good but a pain to tour (few things are marked in EN and you have to collect about 20 pieces of paper (written in EN) to understand what you're looking at; St Istavan's Basillica is also not that interesting, but the St Steven's Fist was cool. We went on a Sat and the cathedral was busy with Mass, etc., but they opened a side door so tourists could view the fist (probably the only reason to actually go inside); Heros Square was great and do go for a swim at Szechenyi Baths--they were great and the atmosphere was very relaxing and cheap. Great Synogoge was interesting as well, but the museum portion was not. We basically followed RS's 2-day walk.

One more thing for everyone's general knowledge...take public trans to your hotel form the airport. The cabs are expensive and taking public trans is too easy. Buy the B'Pest card at the airport and then take Bus 200 to end of the line stop on the BLUE line--Kobanya Kispest(Metro 3-M3) Take the M3 to Deak F Ter, which is the central hub and you can go anywhere in the city from there...your trip will be free (with the B'Pest card) versus a $35.00 taxi ride. My wife and I took the taxi TO the hotel and the system above TO the airport and kicked ourselves for not taking public trans both ways, because it was MUCH cheaper to take the public trans. Now, I think a lot of the hotels are in cahoots with the Zona Taxi Co (THE airport option), because they try to scare you into a taxi ride by saying, "...it'll take hours on public trans...", which is not true, it takes exactly 1 hour door to door (both methods). If you are traveling light (1-2 bags for a couple) then you'll have no problems traveling on public trans to/from your hotel.

Amy and Andrew -

Thank you SO MUCH for the tips. I really appreciate the info - especially about what to avoid. It will save us precious time.
Other than a few places we have been told not to miss,
we are really just planning to roam around the city, soaking up the atmosphere. Sounds like that isn't a bad way to go in Prague......

Patricia,

Sorry about that...I just re-read your email chain again, and noticed you really wnated more info on Prague than Budapest, so my apologies for the 2 posts of info that didn't really anser your Q. We were in Prague in Mar 08 and had a great time. We really enjoyed the Castle and Old Town...Wenceslas Square is not that thrilling. SR gives some great places to eat and when the weather is nice, a beer in Old Town Square cannot be beat--people watching, church bells, and the Astronomical Clock. Public Trans is very easy there as well. Have Fun!