Trip Report: 3 days in Budapest May 2023 PART ONE

Thanks for sharing your experience. We loved Budapest too. Mister E (whose name changes over the years, but same guy) is very helpful and knowledgeable. No reason not to link to the Airbnb you liked. Looking forward to the next installment.

🤣🤣🤣............ (names)

What a lovely first day!

I hope you will include the rest of your report here in the comments so it’s all easier to find. 😊 I am looking forward to reading it!

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to part 2.

3 Days in Budapest Part 2
update: AirBnB we highly recommend is https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/15579171?source_impression_id=p3_1686155554_D5g%2FLo%2BJSK6KrI%2FX The host, Mihaly, has other rentals. He was excellent and I would use this place (or his others)

This is restaurant we ate at in Part 1 that I would recommend:
https://www.akademiaitalia.hu/ dinner w/ desserts $90

Now, on to more details:
After our visit to the Ruin Pub, we decided to head to Parliament to see it up close. After two quick stops from Astoria Station (heading the opposite direction from the train station), we walked out of the station to see Parliament with the huge equestrian statue in front of it. It was something. It was 8:15 pm and we were wondering why it was not lit up. We walked down the stairs to walk along the Danube. There were lots of boats-- big River Boat ships long and low to go under all the bridges, and smaller tourist ships. Then, at 8:30, PUFF. All the lights were on ---on Parliament, the Castle across the river, the church across the river. It was STUNNING. We continued walking along the Danube until we came to the “Shoes on the Danube” memorial that was erected in 2005 to honor the Jews killed by fascist Hungarian militia during WWII. The Jews were shot at the edge of the Danube so that their bodies would just be carried away. Before being shot to death, they were made to remove their shoes since shoes were considered valuable and could be sold. Unbelievable. It really was jarring to see different sized pairs of shoes and think that people could just kill others like that, actually valuing their shoes over their lives. I took a lot of photos here, before we headed home.

Thursday 5/18/23 BUDA-ful Day
We took the tram to Buda and walked up to Mattias Church and Fisherman’s Bastian. They both provided wonderful views looking over to Pest. We made our way to the Hospital in the Rock but, because the tours started at the top of the hour and that meant waiting 40 minutes, we kept walking to Buda Castle. The walk from the Hospital in the Rock to Buda Castle was very nice. We walked through a well-kept residential area with nice homes. Buda Castle offered great views and we could see Parliament, St. Stephen’s, and even the Opera House roof. We were walking around there for a good hour.

We took the tram to see the Cave Church which I was really interested in. We walked past a thermal spa building, something very popular here; but none of us were interested. I think if it were just hubby and I, it would have been fun--next time. The Cave Church was a Pauline Monastery whose leader was killed by the Secret Police and the rest of the monks put in prison. The monastery and church were built into the rocks and caves of the Gellert Hill. After the monks were taken to prison, the space was literally bricked off, only to be reopened many years later. We took the English audio tour which was nice because we could each go at our own pace. The church area is literally within the cave and mass is still said here. There was even an altar where you could sit for Adoration. The monastery is behind this. We saw it from the outside marked with a huge cross on the side of the rock. We were there for about an hour. I would recoommend if you have any interest. As a Catholic, I loved it. The staff was very nice here and we bought lots of medals at the little gift shop to have blessed. https://sziklatemplom.hu/eng/
After our many church visits (we were in Salzburg before this), the kids requested we go to Margaret Island, a haven of green space.We LOVED Margaret Island. See part 3

Three Days In Budapest in May 2023/Part 3
Margaret Island
A wonderful woman who was sitting across from me struck up a conversation She grew up in a small town outside of Budapest, but lives here now. She was on her way home from work and lives very near Margaret Island so she directed when to get off, what bus to catch, and where to get off inside of Margaret Island. We really had no idea what to expect but were all blown away with how big and green it was. We first came upon a dancing fountain that was moving in time to different songs coming from speakers. It felt like watching fireworks. Guarding the fountain was a giant lion built entirely out of legos. We walked deeper and deeper along the paths. There were beaufiful flowers planted and we could hear shouting and splashing as we walked past teams playing water polo in outdoor pools. We could hear a live band coming from an arena. We walked along the water, past a church/abbey in ruins. There was a lane just for runners/walkers made with real track material all along the water. We saw lots of families, couples, and very obedient dogs (we find it amazing how well behaved these dogs are. We have seen many dogs unleashed even right in the city and they all seem to follow right beside their "person"). We happened upon the zoo there, on our way to the beautiful Japanese garden with koi and lily pads. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We were at Margaret Island for close to 2 hours, with lots of walking.
http://margaretislandbudapest.com/ (free)
We were happy to rest our feet by taking a bus back to our place. Just by our flat, we stopped to try kurtoskalac, otherwise known as chimney cake. We went to Gelateria Pichler to try cinnamon ones. They did not disappoint. They are filled with your choice of ice cream. The adorable girl behind the counter spoke to us with a beautiful Scottish accent. She went on to tell us she was Hungarian but had studied English in Scotland (of course she did!) amazing. https://gelateriapichler.com)
At Mister E's suggestion, I had booked an 8:45 pm Legend’s River Cruise. I am so glad I booked this for our last night because it was a wonderful way to take in all the sites we had seen over the last couple of days. We walked through Fashion Street past fancy shops and hotels. We found our way to Dock 7 to board our boat for the one hour cruise. It was AWESOME. We went right up to the upper deck. I highly recommend the last seats in the back since you can look to the side but also turn around for awesome views (and photos) with no one blocking you. My bridge engineer hubby got lots of pictures of the bridges all lit up. It was so cool to see the spots were were at today---Buda Castle, St. Mattias, Fisherman’s Bastion, Church in the Caves (we could see the Cross marking the monastery) and then the darkness that was Margaret Island. The buildings, especially Buda Castle and Parliament, were stunning. My daughter and I agreed that we had to soak it all in because no camera could capture it. It was the perfect way to end our time in Budapest. https://legenda.hu/en/danube-legend ($83)
This morning hubby and I walked over to the Synagogue but it didn’t open until 10 am which would cut it too close for us. I am disappointed we did not make time to tour this beautiful temple, especially because it was literally across the street. I have since looked at photos of the inside and it is breathtaking. Since we couldn’t get inside, we did walk around the gounds and were able to see the cemetery and the Tree of Life Memorial. This was a big miss on my part--next time for sure.
We spotted a nice little bakery /café on the other side of the block as we walked around to come back to our flat. We got the kids and headed back over for a lovely breakfast at the place we had spotted. It was called “A Table” and I recommend it. https://atable.hu/

see part 4 (last part!)

3 days in Budapest May 2023 Part 4 (last part!)
We spotted a nice little bakery /café on the other side of the block as we walked around to come back to our flat. We got the kids and headed back over for a lovely breakfast at the place we had spotted. It was called “A Table” and I recommend it. https://atable.hu/

We came back to our flat and packed up and headed out. As we were leaving, we met the Levy family from Israel who were dropping their luggage early in the flat where we had stayed. It was an older man and woman and their 2 granddaughters They were on a “show and tell” tour of Budapest with their granddaughters. The woman's parents had been married right in that very temple. Wow. . She spoke English, Hungarian and Hebrew.
So our time in Budapest had come to an end. We were boarding a train and heading to Vienna. Honestly. I had no real expectations for what Budapest would be like (except the wonderful insights from people on this forum). I am SO glad we visited. It was a beautiful, highly walkable city with so much to see. The people were AMAZING. Some final observations:
People are friendly and want to help.
So many people speak English
Chimney Cakes are the bomb
Dogs in Hungary are so well trained. They seem to walk beside their “person” without needing to wear a leash (even in the city)
The people on the RS Travel Forum were SO helpful
I like the mix of seeing sites in the city but spending time out in nature.
This was a great trip
I love my family
Mister E is a rock star!

THANKS

ronjo, thanks so much for taking the time to post your trip report. It sounds like y’all had a terrific time. I will be in Budapest 6 or 7 days the end of October so I’m happy to read every detail.

Hope it helps you w planning. 6 days is twice as long as we have so you’ll get a lot more in (I’m jealous). Bon voyage

ronjo, you are way too kind, but I am happy you had a good time. I wish I could write trip reports as well as you do. With such enthusiasm, I suspect you never have a bad trip.

ronjo, sounds like a wonderful 3 days and that you made really good use of your time and experienced a lot! Thanks for writing up your report! I have yet to experience a Ruin Pub so it’s nice to know you enjoyed it. :) I have a “next time” list. :) I enjoyed reading that you noticed the well-behaved dogs, too. I see this in a variety of cities in Europe and it always amazes me the contrast with my home in the U.S. (and my kids’ dogs…..).

And I agree that Mister É is a Budapest rockstar. 🤣

Thanks so much for the report! Will be in Budapest in 3 weeks! Putting Margaret Island on my list!