Budapest was the last major city on my list of ‘must visit soon’ in Central Europe. I’d seen pictures of the Parliament Building and chain bridge so many times yet had never quite made it there. So this trip to Europe, Budapest was the city that I was looking forward to visiting the most.

Day 1

In the morning, we joined a free walking tour, which is still my recommendation when in a new city to get a general layout of the city and a lot of information. This tour was just on the Pest side and we saw all the landmark buildings which I will go into more detail about as I went to visit all of them in my days in the city.

Once the tour finished, it was lunch time so I found a traditional Hungarian restaurant along the way. A Hungarian goulash and chicken paprikash went down well and was a great introduction to Hungarian cuisine. However, my eyes had already grown wider at the prices on the menu. They were larger than I had expected, researched and budgeted for.

After lunch, I went into St. Stephen’s Basilica. With construction starting in 1851, it was named after Stephen, the first King of Hungary. Interestingly, his mummified right hand is inside the Basilica. Entrance is paid but worth it in my opinion. The interiors are beautiful and it is the largest church in Hungary. I went the combined ticket which gave access to the rooftop lookout which allows you to walk the circle of the dome and also to the Treasury (which isn’t very big).

The beautiful weather meant that the views from the rooftop were stunning. No other buildings can be taller than the St Stephen’s Basilica and Parliament House, so you have uninterrupted views across the river or to the suburbs. Although further out, there looks to be some skyscrapers at the far end of town.

Deciding to make the most of the great weather, my friend and I decided to continue walking until night. We walked through the city streets admiring all the beautiful architecture and made our way over the bridge to the Buda side to see it in the evening. In particular, we were waiting to see the Parliament Building being lit up.

The old town in Buda was very quiet except the odd tourist group. There seemed to be a lack of restaurants and cafe’s compared to Pest. Still, this made the walk around very relaxing and easy to take in the views.

When darkness fell, we made our way back to the Bastions with everyone else there and found some space on the steps to take in the beautiful views. We had debated on whether we wanted to take a river cruise here to see all the night lights but I’m glad we didn’t. I had imagined the whole night sky to be lit up but it was just some of the landmark buildings on either side of the river which you can easily see walking the banks of the river.

Day 2

The next day, we had book tickets to do a Parliament Building tour. Tickets were quite expensive (they charge more if you are not an EU citizen!) but completely worth it considering how unique the interiors are. My huge tip is to book early is you are after an English tour as they sell out pretty quickly (I’m talking about 2 weeks in advance). Which is the reason why we had to do the 9:30am tour!

The exterior of the Parliament Building is impressive enough itself and the interiors were such a special treat. You are given an audio guide and ferried around the building as a group and not able to roam.

The tour took about 1 hour but in the last exhibition room, we stayed longer to watch short videos and read more information about the history of the building. Once we exited, we made our way to the Museum of Terror (no pictures). The museum details the Russian occupation in Hungary after WWII with 4 floors of exhibits. It took us almost 3 hours to complete the whole museum with our audio guide and some waiting. When we exited, the line to get into the museum was out the door. Go in the morning if you plan to go!

Starving, we quickly found the nearest Hungarian restaurant and ordered. A Hungarian goulash with traditional crunchy bread and a potato dumplings with beef cheek. The meal was delicious but expensive for my view of Hungary (each dish was about $40 aud).

With our stomachs satiated, we went to the Vasarely Museum after getting it recommended by a friend. The museum was out of the city centre and very quiet. We almost had the entire museum to ourselves. It was a pleasant visit and there were many artworks on display.

Day 3

On our last full day in Budapest, we had reserved it to visit the Széchenyi Thermal Baths but as the days here were PERFECT pool weather, the reviews on Google suggested otherwise. Many were complaining that the water was dirty and pool crowded, so we made the last minute decision to skip it and walk around the park instead.

The park was beautiful and the leafy cover from the trees made it very nice to walk around. There are some stall holders selling home made snacks and drinks. There is even a castle there (but we didn’t go in)!

We made our way across the road to Heroes Square to see the Millennium Monument and statues of notable people from Hungary’s past. The square is huge and a tourist stop however, there isn’t much else around and with the blistering sun, not a place that you want to spend too much time at.

Satisfied with our trip and morning, we headed to the Central Market Hall (Nagy Vásárcsarnok) for lunch and souvenirs. Upstairs are some restaurants and a food court of sorts. We just picked the biggest so that we could sit down. Of course, the prices are a little elevated to tourist prices but to be fair, we were pretty much paying the same prices elsewhere that we had eaten. Also here were all the souvenirs that you could imagine- the famous secret boxes of all sizes and colours, tablecloths of all sizes, keyrings and bags. Downstairs was the fresh food market including fruit and vegetables, cold cut meats and spices (perfect place to pick up some Hungarian paprika).

Once we emerged, we decided to go and sit somewhere after being on our feet all day. We found a park and some ice cream and had a nice time people watching and resting until sunset.

With renewed energy, we walked along the river bank at sunset and even found some benches to sit on after walking past and deciding not to go down the steps to the actual river bank where you can sit on rocks. The crispy skies made for a beautiful sunset over Budapest before all the buildings starting lighting up. We eventually made our way to Parliament House to get a close up of it being lit up at night. It’s just as astonishing during the night. It’s also quiet around the Parliament house and plenty of benches to sit and admire the building’s night lights to end the 3 days in the city.

Final Thoughts
I was so happy and excited to be able to finally visit but the prices of food actually shocked me. I had researched and thought that $15-20 aud per meal would suffice but if you want to eat Hungarian cuisine, it seemed that I had to double my budget. My idea of Central Europe being cheaper to travel was shattered. Whilst the Austro Hungarian architecture was present everywhere, I couldn’t help but notice that many buildings were very run down. I don’t have enough information to determine why without knowing all the social and economic factors but perhaps it’s still expensive to give some buildings a face lift.

Have you been to Budapest? What was your favourite about the city? Any Hungarian food favourites? If you haven’t been, is there anything you really want to see?