Budapest
 

I'm off to Budapest for about a week and am curious if anyone can recommend day trip from the city via train. I was thinking of going to Vienna for one of the days - though it is five hours each way. Any insight appreciated.

Thanks.

Enjoy Budapest - it is one of my favorite cities.

Looking at a day trip to Vienna is a tough one... I have
taken the train between the cities, but to do both ways
as a day trip is too much, in my opinion. I don't think
Vienna is the kind of city where you can see a couple of
the big sights in a couple of hours and get a sense of
the place.

I might suggest two other choices, both designed to
give you more exposure to Hungarian life.

An easy trip is to the area known as the Danube Bend -
Szentendre is the name of the town (I hope I am spelling
that correctly). The trip is very easy - it is a train, but it
is called the HEV, and is basically a commuter train. I
think the trip takes an hour, and it gives you a chance to
walk around some of the older parts of the city. It is a
bit touristy, but still one of the best choices for a day trip
in my opinion.

If you want something a bit different, you might also think
about taking a train to a Hungarian city of Debrecen. I don't
know how long the trip takes, but Debrecen is one of the
larger cities in Hungary (although any city other than Budapest
is much, much smaller). Some universities in Debrecen, and
it might be a way to get a better feel of how the Hungarians
spend their days when not living in their massive national
capital.

Enjoy your trip!

The HEV is an excellent choice. You could start taking it directly across from the Parliament ( on the other side of Duna ).

Just a bit further is going further north where the Duna bends directly to the west and walk over brand new bridge to Slovakia ( there is also a historical beautiful castle there which itself is worth the trip). Nice walk around or lunch for two to four hours in Slovakia.

An other choice is to to go to Eger, which is about 2 hours north east of BUD. Very historical, nice town and excellent vineries, beautiful churches.

If you are interested i a daytrip by train from Busapest your absolute best bet it to visit the beautiful little town of "Esztergom", it is the old capital that lays on the banks of Danube on the Slovakian border aboutan hour west from Busapest. There are trains every 45 miutes.

You could also do a day trip to Eger where they make the Egri Bikaver (Bull's Blood) wine

Private guide in Budapest
 

Can anyone recommend one.

Transportation from airport to hotel?
 

I will be travelling alone, with two suitcases, so would like to avoid train or subway if possible. Is there a shuttle service and how to avoid being 'ripped off' by the taxis? Any other helpful advice/tips for visiting the city would also be greatly appreciated.

The airport runs a mini-van shuttle bus service which is very reliable and cheap. You can also arrange pickup for the return trip to the airport. Some of the taxi companies are honest, Fotaxi and Radiotaxi are 2 (there are others), and offer a special rate to the airport from parts of Pest that is competitive with the shuttle bus. The problem taxis are easily recognized (they are generally Mercedes Benz private cars with a removable sign on the roof, rates are 5x to 10x higher than a real taxi; but they speak english while most of the regular taxi drivers do not ... so have your destination address written out).

Budapest-Vienna rt in one day - Too much of a hassle!
 

I agree with Gary. Time is not sufficient to travel from Budapest to Vienna and back in one day and at the same time visit the beautiful capital city of Austria.

I suggest you do a one day trip into the Hungarian Puszta or eventually to Lake Balaton. The Hungarian Railway Company MAV will certainly be able to help you in that www.mav.hu.

A trip on the Danube with a boat may also be a great thing to do.

Enjoy your trip.

Ramón

When I visited BUD a couple of years ago, the only ATM at the airport was empty! And they don't use Euros there, either.

I got lucky since I had and extra US$100 in my billfold for just these events. I exchanged US$ -> HUF at the exchange window and even got a fair rate.

Then I asked about getting on the next hotel (shared ride) shuttle and was told that the next 6 vans were sold out! So I got a taxi and paid an OK fare to my hotel.

Enjoy Budapest. The food is pretty good (and cheap), too.

There are at least 3 ATMs, 2 on the arrivals level (at opposite corners of the building) and 1 upstairs in departures. There might be a 4th one upstairs as well. They do tend to empty during weekends as the ATM rate is better than the exchange counter rate.

Lake Balaton; Esztergom
 

less than 100 miles SW of Budapest, reachable through South Station. My dad and I got on a train, and got off at the small but pretty town of Balatonfured (Balaton Hot Springs), had a delicious lunch at the dining room in the Hotel Uni ($23 with tip for two people having a full course meal including a fabulous bottle of local chardonnay), and walked around the town and enjoyed the quiet and the total absence of English speaking tourists. There are other places to go, like Siofok (across the lake from where we were).

Although we did not go there, another town which was recommended to us was Esztergom, the cathedral city of Hungary (the famous Cardinal Mindszenty was actually the Archbishop of Esztergom).

Enjoy.

Another nice option (though not involving a train) is one of those 3.5 hour cruises up the Danube to Bratislava...

Thank you, number_6, Swisswings, roberto99, ND76, lecter for the helpful info and advice above.

Any food/restaurant (casual) that I should try/not miss?

Two I highly recommend : was there in April when it was quite cool so I think
diners were more dressed against the weather.
Alabardos - Castle district

Kasca also on the Buda side - our favorite speciallizing in great duck dishes "very romantic" with two talented young musicians on violin and piano.
MY wife will never forget the guy at the adjacent table who got down on his knees and proposed :) in plain view of the whole place.
We presume he was accepted since after the tears, he ordered a bottle of
champagne. :)

mike