I was very excited to show MsFlamingo around Budapest. I was very impressed on my last trip and thought it'd be a great starting point for her first time to Europe.
We stayed at the Prestige Hotel where I'd stayed on my prior visit and was glad MsFlamingo shared my thoughts on what a great boutique hotel it is.
The lobby is nicely appointed and the staff were friendly and helpful.
The rooms are nice and modern with enough room to make yourself at home during your stay.
Unfortunately MsFlamingo was feeling really motion sick when we arrived and wanted to rest while I went to dinner downstairs at the restaurant Costes which you can check out in a separate post.
The next morning MsFlamingo was feeling a tiny bit better, we attempted breakfast at Costes and she appreciated their freshly made gluten free bread while I had a simple, but tasty scrambled eggs.
We walked around the waterfront and came back to relax in the salon and have afternoon tea.
We then took a walk through the city and stopped along the way in the park to have a coffee and enjoy the beautiful weather.
After getting something for MsFlamingo's motion sickness, she took a nap while I went off to grab lunch. I ended up enjoying a Wiener schnitzel and beer.
When she woke up in the afternoon, we ventured out to check out the parliament building which is great during the day as you can see here, but spectacular at night, see further down.
As we were walking through town, we stumbled on a small bookstore that MsFlamingo wanted to check out and find a book to read.
We went to the nearby St Stephen's basilica which is gorgeous outside and inside.
Back outside we went back towards the park from earlier only to find they'd setup for a dance party as part of the Budapest Spring Festival. It was really fun to hang out and enjoy the music. Needless to say this was much better than riots due to the election that day.
We went back to the room and got ready for dinner where we went to Rezkakas. It was a good and solid meal.
A sampler appetizer platter was tasty.
MsFlamingo had the pea soup.
MsFlamingo had the seabass which was very fresh.
I had a pork dish that had slow cooked meat, assembled and lightly fried. Along with the vegetables, it was very flavorful.
After dinner we wanted to go check on the dance party which was still raging. What impressed us is everyone was having a genuinely good time and we noticed how it was the most orderly and civilized drunk crowd ever.
They even managed to organize their trash. At the end of the party, everyone pitched in to clean up the main grass area, this would never happen back home.
We took the long way back, going by the waterfront and shopping district which was mostly closed.
We had a night cap at the Four Seasons bar and called it a night.
The next morning we woke to beautiful weather and headed across the bridge to the Buda side.
Since we woke up late and didn't have breakfast, we stopped by a cafe called Barkert to have an early lunch before heading up to check out the citadel.
We split a lentil soup that had a nice spice to it.
MsFlamingo had a salad that was refreshing.
Meanwhile I had a burger that was so heavy, I could barely eat half.
After lunch, we went straight to working it off and hiked up to the citadel. Despite being a solid walk, the views were spectacular.
The views from the citadel of the city were amazing.
The citadel itself was neat to see, but not a whole lot besides the exterior walls.
After taking pictures and checking out the sites around the citadel wall, we headed down and grabbed a coffee at a small coffee bar.
From there we headed up to see the castle itself. It was quite a warm day and we used that as an opportunity to check out extra sites on the way up.
The castle is amazingly beautiful, it's amazing to read about the history how it was originally built and expanded over hundreds of years.
We then walked over to another area of the castle and to get there was walked through a cute town situated within the castle walls. This church was the main church for the town.
This area had spectacular lookout towers and walls.
Within the walls was a small cafe we stopped at for a coffee.
Great views!
Back out of the cafe and views of the church.
The town center.
After seeing amazing sites and walking 12-miles through the day, we went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. Tonight we went to Borkonyha which you can read about in a separate post.
After dinner, we wanted to walk and see the sites at night. As beautiful as Budapest is during the day, at night is spectacular with the lights.
The parliament building at night.
View across the river at night towards the castle. What a great way to end a spectacular day of sight seeing. Needless to say we were ready for bed.
We woke up late and went straight for a lite lunch in the plaza near the basilica.
We went with soups - a so-so pea one for MsFlamingo and I had a Hungarian goulash soup with bread on top. Creative presentation and descent.
We walked around and took a look at the shopping district. The first stop was a macaron shop that caught MsFlamingo's eye.
Inspecting the shopping district.
We then walked across the city to check out the famous baths. It was located inside a large and beautiful park.
The bath house complex was huge with indoor and outdoor baths. It was really fun to check out and relaxing to spend time especially in the outdoor pool.
After a nice time spent relaxing in the warm spring water, we headed to check out the park on our way back to the hotel.
On our way back we headed through an amazing monument.
Our walk back we headed straight from the monument and park back to parliament and the hotel. It was great seeing the consulate buildings and a larger shopping district as we got closer to our hotel.
For dinner we went to Onyx which you can read about in a separate post.
After dinner we walked back along the water to check out the sites at night one last time.
We had a great time in Budapest, the city is beautiful and easily earns its reputation as the Paris of the East. The people are friendly, the food and wine excellent, beautiful architecture and something different than the primary tourist destinations in western Europe. We would highly recommend going to check it out.
The next morning we headed out bright and early for Switzerland, check that post out next.
Trip links:
- Budapest
- Onyx
- Zurich
- Lucerne
- Bern
- Dux
- Escriba
- Xerta
- Lasarte
- A.O.C.
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