Tell me about Budapest
Jun 27, 2005, 10:01 am
#31
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Programs: Amex Platinum, Delta Platinum, United, Diners Club
Posts: 14
Budapest Info
If you want some heads up on things to do and see while in Budapest, take a look at my website www.budabab.com . The photos, restaurants, and links pages will give you lots of information.
If you have other questions, send me an e-mail. My partner and I will be on vacation from July 1 to 15, so I will respond to all after that date.
[email protected]
Ryan
If you have other questions, send me an e-mail. My partner and I will be on vacation from July 1 to 15, so I will respond to all after that date.
[email protected]
Ryan
Jul 21, 2005, 6:53 pm
#32
Join Date: May 2004
Location: formerly Gold now Diamond, formerly MSY, now LAX, formerly NW, now DL
Programs: Hyatt Plat, Hilton Gold, SPG Gold, Delta Diamond/1MM
Posts: 4,638
Trip Report
hey all
so my bf and i just got back from spending about a week in budapest and other places....budapest was AWESOME!!! it's beautiful (maybe more so than Paris), very affordable, plenty to do, gorgious boyz, easy to get around and had a great time.
we first flew into BUD and after a delay (mine) we headed to croatia and back. in the first night the bf stayed at the ugly (really ugly exterior) but apparently very nice, friendly and helpful MArriott which is right on the river and near all the gay stuff on the Pest side. When i finally got there we stayed a night at the Hilton Budapest at the Castle, which is beautiful but not so great in terms of friendliness nor helpfulness. They however have free fare on the airport minibus form the airport.
when we came back from hopping around croatia, we stayed at the gay b&b km saga I which we found on gayguide.net. It was very central, a block from the huge central market, very near some of the gay cafes. bars and saunas, as well as many of the main attractions such as the Gellert baths. There is a restaurant with great food, drink and atmosphere nearby call Soul Cafe which we went back to repeatedly. Entrees were less than $10 and AMAZING! Almost better than food in New Orleans....
KM Saga was friendly, flexible, and decorated in a very kitschy voctorian way (statues, busts and ornate furnishings). there is a common kitchen full of stuff to use for the guests, though very small space, they will do a laundry for 3 euros with drying and folding, we did one of the rooms with a shared bath, which was always clean, and they made up the rooms everyday. We had a TV with cable and CNN. and the people were very friendly and helpful with lots of good advice and places to go. They gave a very good orientation and map when we got there. All for only 50 euros per night. There are i think 5 rooms there, some with private baths.
We were there for Gay Pride. overall, a simple event, very laid back, a few international travelers as well, not the big commercial event like that of the US, which was great. They had a schedule of gay films being shown for about 5 days, though we didn't go. We went to the parade, which started up by Heros square, basically people started showing up slowly, there were 3 big floats, a few other cars but otherwise, just lots of the local and visiting people marching. We were heavily escorted by the Police (some were just amazingly HOT) who had their riot gear available. We heading through town, gots lots of fun looks from passing tour buses, but overall very welcoming open reception. lots of people joined in and at least followed the parade for a while....i'm horrid at estimating numbers but at least probably 500 people....we skipped the big circuit party that sat night, but went to the one outside on the river sunday night. good music spun by 2 guys from the UK (who spun music on one of the main floats for the parade). Smaller crowd mixed lesbian and gay guys....but lots of fun....
Cafe mylord was cute, simple, great views of the river, right nearby. small, cute, mixed gay straight because of it's location, a nice place tojust hang.....
Magnum sauna the gay sauna was kind of quite on a late sunday night....some cute guys, clean, friendly, inexpensive, nice lounge just to hang out....wish there was a hottub. small for american standards but then, not in the us eh?
Gellert baths were huge and beautiful, full of tourists, a little cruising on the men's side, though didn't see anything going on.....dfid notice lots of the gay guys from pride there. dress is a swimming suit or you can wear this cloth coverup which has no back....
Kiraly baths, the old Turkish baths that are over 500 years old....this is a smaller place, with men's days on tues thurs sat, women mon weds fri. about a $5 entrance for 1 1/2 hours (tipping the locker room attendant will avoid late charges). the baths themselves are quite old and just amazing, there is one main pool, with a small side pool for hotter water, a back steam room, shower and cold pool. you sit in a circle in the main pool, very cruisey, with a number of shortlived action going on. definately some kissing, massaging rubing going on openly (there's really no where to go for privacy) and the small hot pool had some ****ing going on as well.....it was very laid back and nonchelant. some of the straight tourists didn't stay very long
coxx was a good celler bar, which is cool for us americans for the atmosphere....we got there a bit early 10 pm fri so not much going on and left a bit early...was planning on going back but got distracted....the upstairs is a cafe and internet bar as well. there is a min consumption of 1000 floirents $5 which they give you a ticket and pay on the way out. don't lose it!
anyways, definately worth the trip and hope to go back, especially before all the prices go up as they integrate into the EU
so my bf and i just got back from spending about a week in budapest and other places....budapest was AWESOME!!! it's beautiful (maybe more so than Paris), very affordable, plenty to do, gorgious boyz, easy to get around and had a great time.
we first flew into BUD and after a delay (mine) we headed to croatia and back. in the first night the bf stayed at the ugly (really ugly exterior) but apparently very nice, friendly and helpful MArriott which is right on the river and near all the gay stuff on the Pest side. When i finally got there we stayed a night at the Hilton Budapest at the Castle, which is beautiful but not so great in terms of friendliness nor helpfulness. They however have free fare on the airport minibus form the airport.
when we came back from hopping around croatia, we stayed at the gay b&b km saga I which we found on gayguide.net. It was very central, a block from the huge central market, very near some of the gay cafes. bars and saunas, as well as many of the main attractions such as the Gellert baths. There is a restaurant with great food, drink and atmosphere nearby call Soul Cafe which we went back to repeatedly. Entrees were less than $10 and AMAZING! Almost better than food in New Orleans....
KM Saga was friendly, flexible, and decorated in a very kitschy voctorian way (statues, busts and ornate furnishings). there is a common kitchen full of stuff to use for the guests, though very small space, they will do a laundry for 3 euros with drying and folding, we did one of the rooms with a shared bath, which was always clean, and they made up the rooms everyday. We had a TV with cable and CNN. and the people were very friendly and helpful with lots of good advice and places to go. They gave a very good orientation and map when we got there. All for only 50 euros per night. There are i think 5 rooms there, some with private baths.
We were there for Gay Pride. overall, a simple event, very laid back, a few international travelers as well, not the big commercial event like that of the US, which was great. They had a schedule of gay films being shown for about 5 days, though we didn't go. We went to the parade, which started up by Heros square, basically people started showing up slowly, there were 3 big floats, a few other cars but otherwise, just lots of the local and visiting people marching. We were heavily escorted by the Police (some were just amazingly HOT) who had their riot gear available. We heading through town, gots lots of fun looks from passing tour buses, but overall very welcoming open reception. lots of people joined in and at least followed the parade for a while....i'm horrid at estimating numbers but at least probably 500 people....we skipped the big circuit party that sat night, but went to the one outside on the river sunday night. good music spun by 2 guys from the UK (who spun music on one of the main floats for the parade). Smaller crowd mixed lesbian and gay guys....but lots of fun....
Cafe mylord was cute, simple, great views of the river, right nearby. small, cute, mixed gay straight because of it's location, a nice place tojust hang.....
Magnum sauna the gay sauna was kind of quite on a late sunday night....some cute guys, clean, friendly, inexpensive, nice lounge just to hang out....wish there was a hottub. small for american standards but then, not in the us eh?
Gellert baths were huge and beautiful, full of tourists, a little cruising on the men's side, though didn't see anything going on.....dfid notice lots of the gay guys from pride there. dress is a swimming suit or you can wear this cloth coverup which has no back....
Kiraly baths, the old Turkish baths that are over 500 years old....this is a smaller place, with men's days on tues thurs sat, women mon weds fri. about a $5 entrance for 1 1/2 hours (tipping the locker room attendant will avoid late charges). the baths themselves are quite old and just amazing, there is one main pool, with a small side pool for hotter water, a back steam room, shower and cold pool. you sit in a circle in the main pool, very cruisey, with a number of shortlived action going on. definately some kissing, massaging rubing going on openly (there's really no where to go for privacy) and the small hot pool had some ****ing going on as well.....it was very laid back and nonchelant. some of the straight tourists didn't stay very long
coxx was a good celler bar, which is cool for us americans for the atmosphere....we got there a bit early 10 pm fri so not much going on and left a bit early...was planning on going back but got distracted....the upstairs is a cafe and internet bar as well. there is a min consumption of 1000 floirents $5 which they give you a ticket and pay on the way out. don't lose it!
anyways, definately worth the trip and hope to go back, especially before all the prices go up as they integrate into the EU
Jul 27, 2005, 1:22 pm
#33
Join Date: Jun 2004
Programs: United Mileage Plus
Posts: 115
I was in Budapest earlier this year!
For lodging, I stayed at the NH hotel. It's reasonably close to the underground, and extremely close to the trams. It's also near the enormous WestEnd Shopping Mall. It was a nice property--I got a fantastic rate through octopustravel.com which didn't hurt my opinion, either. The breakfast buffet is HUGE--it usually held me over through lunchtime as well.
As for gay things there, I went to both the Gellert baths and Kiraly. Gellert was very touristy--lots of British "lads" on holiday with their friends. It's big, open, and well-lit. Kiraly, on the other hand--totally. gay. I was there after whatever scandal had happened, but the monitoring is pretty lax (just one guy in a white shirt and shorts who occasionally slowly walks around). Swimsuits are mandatory, but taken off a lot of the time--the first thing I saw walking into the Kiraly, in fact, was sex in the showers. There was also quite a bit of groping in the steamroom. If overt cruising is your thing, you'll love the Kiraly
I met some Germans at the Kiraly who recommended a new bath-house type sauna in town to me--I think called the 69. They told me it was wonderful.
For lodging, I stayed at the NH hotel. It's reasonably close to the underground, and extremely close to the trams. It's also near the enormous WestEnd Shopping Mall. It was a nice property--I got a fantastic rate through octopustravel.com which didn't hurt my opinion, either. The breakfast buffet is HUGE--it usually held me over through lunchtime as well.
As for gay things there, I went to both the Gellert baths and Kiraly. Gellert was very touristy--lots of British "lads" on holiday with their friends. It's big, open, and well-lit. Kiraly, on the other hand--totally. gay. I was there after whatever scandal had happened, but the monitoring is pretty lax (just one guy in a white shirt and shorts who occasionally slowly walks around). Swimsuits are mandatory, but taken off a lot of the time--the first thing I saw walking into the Kiraly, in fact, was sex in the showers. There was also quite a bit of groping in the steamroom. If overt cruising is your thing, you'll love the Kiraly
I met some Germans at the Kiraly who recommended a new bath-house type sauna in town to me--I think called the 69. They told me it was wonderful.