Budapest was a surprise. We did not expect a lot. We had been to Praque before. Budapest was so beautiful and picturesque! We stayed at hotel Moments on the pest side. Very good location with a taxi stand right in front and metro/train stops a few steps away. We were in Budapest for 4 nights but definitely could have stayed longer. We find it very safe, clean and very walkable. Transportation was easy. If there was one tip/suggestion I could give it was to buy a travel card. You can buy for at least
1,3 days or more. It is for 24 hours. Best part is you can take the cruise on the Danube that comes with the travel card. Can buy on the purple colored kiosk. There were really inspectors to check your tickets either when you get off train or inside the train.I read on TA that there is a fine if you forget to stamped your tickets. .We took a free walking tour which I highly recommend. It did entail some walking as we walked up the Buda hill to fisherman"s Bastion. We enjoyed the thermal bath at Szechenyl thermal bath. We would have stayed there a full day if we had the time. The parliament building all lit up at night was so beautiful. lots of comforting foods at the central market. We had langos and their beef soups.
Thanks to the forum and with all their help, my sister and I had a very nice fun trip.
This is just a personal opinion and I know some might disagree.I know I have go back to Salzburg and
Budapest again one day. I would add more days in Salzburg and Budapest. I still want to go to the salt mines, 5 fingers and ice caves. I still want to try the other thermal baths.
We used the Atm machines but we followed the advice of the forum where we withdrawed inside the bank.
Vacations are always so short but validates working hard. Back to regular work and I know I have to do this trip report in a rush as the longer I postponed, the less I will remember.
Still so many places to go.. Haven't been to the Scandinavia or Greece or Croatia. We'll see what comes up next year. Thanks so much again for a wonderful trip made possible by all your help!
Posted by
Atlanta
2469 posts
Thanks for posting, Sally! Nice report.
I also loved Vienna, have not been to Salzburg or Budapest, but both are on my list. I must do the full-blown SOM tour, even it’s cheesy, I don’t care.
I agree there is never enough time to do everything on vacation but now you know where you want to return. And you now have the experience of planning a successful, fun trip! Bravo!
Posted by
Wisconsin
552 posts
Thank you for sharing your trip reports. I've enjoyed them!
Posted by
OP
san Francisco
733 posts
Hi, one of the questions I have asked is about cell phone usage. Since we were only going to be there for 10 days, I just added the international plan to my Verizon at
$45. Coverage was minimal. Something like 100 texts, 100 mins talk time and I think 100MB. I had my cell phones on airplane mode and just turn it on to download the directions for google map and turned it off right after. TI Office has free WiFi. We just used WeChat to call home. We saw T-Mobile, A1 in Vienna but since we were going 2 countries - Austria and Hungary, it will cost about 40 euros so we stick with our international Verizon plan which we used as needed.
The only problem I encountered was in Budapest airport. Our Lufthansa flight was delayed so I downloaded their app. After I downloaded it, it was asking for more questions to verify my Apple ID. I ignored it and didn’t used the App. A day after we arrived SF, there was an email asking to reset my Apple ID password. It made me suspicious as the English was quite off. I called Apple and they said it was not from them so I just ignore it and didn’t respond to the email.
Posted by
San Francisco
14507 posts
Thanks for the interesting report. What is wrong with going back to Salzburg and Budapest? Both are certainly worthy of repeat visits.
From 2010 to 2015 I made three trips to Budapest, all day trips. The next visit to Budapest has to be an over nighter for at least 4-5 nights. Day trips don't cut it. One lunch and one history museum basically took up the entire day trip since the museum was 3 floors.