We’ve travelled a bit since our trip to Budapest in April, but we finally have our photos to share with you! We spent two nights in Budapest, so we have two sets for your viewing pleasure:
Budapest was exotic and lovely and most of all, quite warm. We enthusiastically recommend visiting the city to anyone who gets a chance. The buildings are like none other in Europe. The baths are not only historically unique, but a truly relaxing experience.
When one looks at a list of the best places to visit in Budapest, it looks like they are scattered all over Buda and Pest, the cities on either site of the (beautiful) Danube that merged in 1873. If you want to hit only the major sites, that’s no problem. The public transit works very well.
We recommend walking between at least some of the points, because there are so many discoveries to make along the sidewalks, particularly in Pest.
Budapest is also an inexpensive place to visit. We found that very good food can be had for little money, and even the worst meals were terrific. Still, we found that Budapest, of all the cities we visited so far, has the largest difference between the best values and the overpriced restaurants.
Here are the guidebooks we used to prepare for the trip:
- Delia Meth-Cohn, Budapest: Art and History. Written shortly after 1989, the text is dated, but the photos are magnificent and helpful to find destinations off the beaten path.
- Eyewitness Travel Guide: Budapest. As usual for this brand of guidebook, it offers fascinating diagrams and a few good walks, but it is difficult to use for planning a trip or in the city itself. We use these guidebooks to build enthusiasm for a coming trip.
- Rick Steves’ Eastern Europe. Our guidebook series of choice — heavy on walking tours, moderate to good on historical detail, and light but accurate on restaurant recommendations.
- Michael Jacobs, Granta city guide: Budapest. Rich in literary, social and historical detail. Somewhat autobiographical and pretentious — pleasantly so for Will. Too much like reading a textbook for Anita. Not much help while in the city itself.
- Gallagher, Gardner & Kadri, Cadogan guide: Vienna, Prague, Budapest. Similar to Rick Steves in its narrative approach, with an added emphasis on historical detail and architecture. More comprehensive than Rick but less endearingly quirky. Will’s favorite for trip planning.