Valyo Kikoto

Valyo is an unknown place for almost anyone in Budapest, either locals or foreigners, open in spring and summer.

Let's say it is a sort of cultural centre, led by youngsters in an oper-air space, really close to Rakoczi bridge. It is not like any usual place where Erasmus students go to have fun, mainly because of the position, quite far from the city centre (about 40minutes by tram 2), but it is completely worthwhile. Maybe it is a bit spartan, so if you like fancy and smart places, don't go there, you are going to feel out of the world. The mood created by this place on the river of the Danube is literally chilled and peaceful. Staying there at sunset with the breeze shaking your hair is something special you can feel inside. It's the perfect place to go with a couple of friends who you'd like to talk to but also to spend time in silence, just staring at the sun while it is completing its routine of darkening (the view in the pic). Then, at night everything is surrounded by little and colorful lights that create a magic atmosphere.

There's a bar with craft beer, good cocktails, not expensive at all. You can also decide to bring your own beer or your own drink from home though, nobody will bother you for this. Moreover it has a dancefloor and -despite my dislike for techno- I must admit that the music is awesome.

Sometimes it also happened to see some people having their barbecue (they built some special structures to make fire safely).

Apart from typical Hungarian dances' spectacles, tango performances, alternative rock and indie concerts, the staff also organizes open-air yoga sessions totally free and for anyone. That's why I cannot define it only as a 'bar'. 

I do not remember anything like this place in my life.

I brought with me a little souvenir of Valyo: a glass (in the pic), where they usually put the beer and you can decide whether to keep it with you or giving them back in order to get 200huf. Obviously I'm preserving it like a treasure.