Budapest - is it worth a visit?
 

Hi, long time lurker and first time poster.

We are headed to Europe in a couple of months and have considered adding Budapest to our itinerary. Is it a place that is worth a 2 or 3 day visit? Is there enough to see and do? Our trip will probably start in Prague and will include Krakow and Vienna. We're fairly adventurous travelers, but comfort is definitely key!

Thanks for any suggestions!

Welcome to FT! Absolutely visit Budapest if you can fit it in your schedule. I think you could see almost everything in two-three days. It's a beautiful city.

Budapest is a sleeper. It is a fantastic destination. Plenty to see and prices are relatively cheaper than western europe. 3 days should cover both Buda and Pest.

Welcome to FT.

Id say Go, but make it the 1st stop as Vienna and Prague are way nicer in all aspects. If you hit BUD 1st then you wont be so disappointed as you wont be comparing it to PRG or VIE, if you hit it afterwards you wont see its total beauty

I went to Poland (Warsaw through the east and south back to Krakow), Budapest, Vienna, and Prague last summer. Budapest was my favorite city on the trip (I actually thought more striking than Prague). Had a great guide there - PM me if you want the contact info.

Certainly worth a visit....loved Budapest.


A very stylish and comfortable hotel where I enjoyed a nice stay: the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus Budapest

It's definitely worth visiting for 2-3 days.

Thanks so much for the replies. It would currently be our last stop, but based on the train schedules, we would make it our first stop if we go. We've been to Prague, but it was a while ago and we would like to revisit it. Vienna would be new to us, as would Krakow.

Although we're pretty adventurous when it comes to where we go, this city made me pause a bit because it is one of the first European (well, Eastern Europe, to be fair) cities that have some pretty interesting travel warnings published. Nothing at all major - just things that I would consider to be inconvenient during an overseas trip. Like food poisoning, credit card scammers, a laundry list of places to avoid, etc. Granted, these are things that one should be aware of in every single city/town/outpost in the world, but they aren't usually so prominently mentioned in what would be described in a non-3rd world city. I guess the convenience factor is starting to win out over excitement as I get older.....

The Kempinski hotel was one of our two choices there. There is also a Four Seasons that we're looking at.

ps- Take a bath!


http://www.filolog.com/what_to_doBaths.html


my biggest regret from our trip to Budapest was that we didn't do a bath b/c we were too lazy :(

I totally disagree.

Go to Prague if you want to see how American's have exploited a city which had it going for it (no offence to our American cousins). I went a few years ago to stay for 3 nights but left after one day. Not nice at all... :td:

Go to Budapest if you want culture and excellent food (including the best café’s in the world). There is a reason for why it's called little Paris... ^

Go to Vienna if you want culture but at a price... :p

Totally agree.

I also totally disagree with the Vienna/Prague comment. Budapest is definitely not a poor cousin to either.

I also totally disagree with the comment about Americans exploiting Prague. :confused: When we visited (four very pleasant days; you left after one?:confused:), most tourists we saw were Japanese, followed closely by other Europeans (Spanish, Italian, German, etc.). You can't blame us for everything that's wrong in the world. :p;)

This is grossly unfair. Irrespective of tourism, Prague remains a fabulous city, and it's relatively easy to avoid the tourist traps (I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the cafes by the astronomical clock aren't exactly the best places to eat).

Budapest is a MUST, and a good 1st stop. We usually take the train to Vienna from there, then fly to Krakow. (direct) Then we hop over to Warsaw (fly on Lot), stay overnight, and go to Prague the next morning on the same ticket.

How is the LOT service? It appears to be regional jet Vienna to Krakow, although it is non-stop.

I'll just throw in a couple me toos. Went to Prague and Budapest recently and enjoyed both of them quite a bit. I've mentioned before that Prague may be more fun as a one-off but Budapest seems to have more to offer if you work at it. If I had to choose would go back to Budapest before Prague. Would recommend a good guide or guide book to help get the most out of the city. Try to stay off the tourist path for the best food. Great coffee shops. Make sure you hit a bath. Széchenyi bath was fun with good mixture of locals and tourists. I took the train in from Vienna to Budapest (about 3 hours if I remember correctly) and a night train to Prague (about 9 hours).



Umm, okay. Now back to your regularly scheduled reality. Spent 4 days in Prague and I could count on 2 fingers the other Americans I met. Prague was packed.....with people from the 450 million strong EU that surrounds the city.