Budapest, good times in the summer
Published by 
Pedro Fernandes
— 14 years ago
9 0
Tags: Erasmus experiences Budapest,
Budapest,
Hungary
This happened last summer, in the middle of august. Me and 2 more friends we were traveling around Europe on interrail and we arrived at Budapest from Krakow full of expectations. We heard by people who had been there that it was one the best citys in eastern Europe and could easily be compared to the major capitals in the whole continent. We werent certainly disapointed. Budapest has almost 2 million inhabitants, its a city full of history and culturaly diverse, with roman ruins and turkish baths included. The amount of sights and beautiful and very imposing landmarks is amazing, and considering that it sustained world war 2 and 40 years of communism, any negative effects that it may had been caused were so strongly solved as you wouldnt notice it all unlike other citys.
The city is divided, in two parts: the viticulture hills of Buda, and the plains on the other side of the river where actually most of people live called Pest. The Architecture is beautiful, it could easily rival with a city like Paris (Although much smaller) and the landmarks are scattered all over the town. A few sights you should not miss are, the insanly huge castle in the buda side, the parliament and the opera house on the pest side of the river. Theres a lot more stuff to see but you basically just get dazzled by walking around. You should really experience the turkish baths on the city park located northeast of Hero\'s Square (another famous landmark). The landscape of the city is breathtaking, the orizon is filled with vibrant green trees colouring the landscape alond with some hills where the sun sets allong with the hot sunny weather of the summer time.
Despite the city\'s sights being very tempting, the main goal of the trip was to party and experience Budapest\'s famous vibrant nightlife, we had the best time there. Me and my friends we asked at the hostel reception for places to go, where hungarian people like to go none of that tourist overpriced crap. On our first night we ran into this place where you could sit down and have a drink in some big bar inside some park right next to the big basilica, the place was crowded but definetly had a nice mood. We crossed the river and went to this club called “rio” in the other side of the river which had a guest dj that night and because of that you had to pay 5 euros to get in. It was well worth it, the club had a lot of space and it was mainly outdoors which is fine in the summer and the prices are good compared to most clubs around western europe. The music was a nice electro-house, which is fine for me but after a few drinks i really dont care what im listening to. Needless to say there were beautiful women all around too bad they dont really speak that much english. The following night, we went to this alternative bar called Szimpla Kert. It\'s a mixture of garden/cafe/bar with Graffitis on the walls and a concert stage. It\'s a very relaxed environment where you can see all kinds of people just hangin out. After that we crossed the river again to find this bar/club where people gather in and around of it, it\'s kind of a place called Rèmkert for people to get together and chill but the mood is more snobish. The music is basically mainstream but it\'s filled with good looking people and it\'s has “no sex allowed” signs in the bathroom doors, never seen that before. Again, the prices are acceptable for a club but expensive for a bar. In Budapest there are things that are cheap but that doesnt apply to everything, and in some places the price list remind us that Budapest is not-so-eastern europe. After a while we got bored, and went to rio again since we had loads of fun the night before, but this time the entrance was free but instead the music was pretty much commercial hip-hop and R\'nB which, in my opinion, sucks. Another thing, if fancy “adult only” kind of bars, there is a list of dangerous bars where there were scams involving a good looking Hungarian woman who ask foreign men to buy them drinks. When the bill comes, usually acompanied by imposing men, it can be like 1000 euros per round. There\'s a list of questionable places in some hostels, if not ask the person at the reception they will give you tips.
As for food, I became and fan of goullash soup. In Budapest you can get good quality food reasonably cheap. I dont remember any specific places, I guess 3 days is not enough to memorise the names.
The transports in budapest are effective. There is a subway system which is quick and very simple to use compared to the ones in major european capitals. The buses are nice for you to see the city since everywhere you look there is something architecturaly gorgeous and historical. Basically I walked around all the time since the city is mostly plain.
And thats it, hope you liked the article, and its guaranteed that Budapest will not be a disapointment wether you are a drunk-party person or just someone looking to see something majestic.
Pedro Fernandes, Lisboa, Portugal
Note: I wrote this article for the contest to win the trip to ibiza, my mothertongue is portuguese but I chose to write it in English so that more people could read it. Rate it High please
The city is divided, in two parts: the viticulture hills of Buda, and the plains on the other side of the river where actually most of people live called Pest. The Architecture is beautiful, it could easily rival with a city like Paris (Although much smaller) and the landmarks are scattered all over the town. A few sights you should not miss are, the insanly huge castle in the buda side, the parliament and the opera house on the pest side of the river. Theres a lot more stuff to see but you basically just get dazzled by walking around. You should really experience the turkish baths on the city park located northeast of Hero\'s Square (another famous landmark). The landscape of the city is breathtaking, the orizon is filled with vibrant green trees colouring the landscape alond with some hills where the sun sets allong with the hot sunny weather of the summer time.
Despite the city\'s sights being very tempting, the main goal of the trip was to party and experience Budapest\'s famous vibrant nightlife, we had the best time there. Me and my friends we asked at the hostel reception for places to go, where hungarian people like to go none of that tourist overpriced crap. On our first night we ran into this place where you could sit down and have a drink in some big bar inside some park right next to the big basilica, the place was crowded but definetly had a nice mood. We crossed the river and went to this club called “rio” in the other side of the river which had a guest dj that night and because of that you had to pay 5 euros to get in. It was well worth it, the club had a lot of space and it was mainly outdoors which is fine in the summer and the prices are good compared to most clubs around western europe. The music was a nice electro-house, which is fine for me but after a few drinks i really dont care what im listening to. Needless to say there were beautiful women all around too bad they dont really speak that much english. The following night, we went to this alternative bar called Szimpla Kert. It\'s a mixture of garden/cafe/bar with Graffitis on the walls and a concert stage. It\'s a very relaxed environment where you can see all kinds of people just hangin out. After that we crossed the river again to find this bar/club where people gather in and around of it, it\'s kind of a place called Rèmkert for people to get together and chill but the mood is more snobish. The music is basically mainstream but it\'s filled with good looking people and it\'s has “no sex allowed” signs in the bathroom doors, never seen that before. Again, the prices are acceptable for a club but expensive for a bar. In Budapest there are things that are cheap but that doesnt apply to everything, and in some places the price list remind us that Budapest is not-so-eastern europe. After a while we got bored, and went to rio again since we had loads of fun the night before, but this time the entrance was free but instead the music was pretty much commercial hip-hop and R\'nB which, in my opinion, sucks. Another thing, if fancy “adult only” kind of bars, there is a list of dangerous bars where there were scams involving a good looking Hungarian woman who ask foreign men to buy them drinks. When the bill comes, usually acompanied by imposing men, it can be like 1000 euros per round. There\'s a list of questionable places in some hostels, if not ask the person at the reception they will give you tips.
As for food, I became and fan of goullash soup. In Budapest you can get good quality food reasonably cheap. I dont remember any specific places, I guess 3 days is not enough to memorise the names.
The transports in budapest are effective. There is a subway system which is quick and very simple to use compared to the ones in major european capitals. The buses are nice for you to see the city since everywhere you look there is something architecturaly gorgeous and historical. Basically I walked around all the time since the city is mostly plain.
And thats it, hope you liked the article, and its guaranteed that Budapest will not be a disapointment wether you are a drunk-party person or just someone looking to see something majestic.
Pedro Fernandes, Lisboa, Portugal
Note: I wrote this article for the contest to win the trip to ibiza, my mothertongue is portuguese but I chose to write it in English so that more people could read it. Rate it High please
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