13 must do’s in Budapest

Discovering Budapest with one of my best friends Sien in February. Budapest is divided by the Danube river. One side is Pest and the other side is Buda. Here are my must do’s in Budapest.

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PEST

1) Heroes’ square & shopping street

In the morning we visited Heroes’ Square and Andrássy Avenue. We also did a promenade in the city park.

Fun fact: We took the metro to get to the shopping street of Budapest. The last stop of this metro was Vörösmarty tér but my friend and I were talking so much we forgot to look at the stops. The doors closed and that’s when we realized that was the last stop. The metro eventually stopped in a dark tunnel. I immediately panicked! I searched the cabin for a buzzer and pushed it, next I opened up a window and screamed for help (panic attack). Eventually, the chauffeur passed us by and told us that we had to stay where we were because she was just changing sides to restart the metro. After this incident, we couldn’t stop laughing about it.

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2) Parliament

We also went to the Hungarian parliament which is very beautiful!

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3) Shoes on the Danube Bank

From there on, we walked alongside the Danube river and found the ‘Shoes on the Danube Bank’.

“The composition titled ‘Shoes on the Danube Bank’ gives remembrance to the 3,500 people, 800 of them Jews, who were shot into the Danube during the time of the Arrow Cross terror.” (Wikipedia)

4) Liberty bridge

Our hotel is near the Liberty Bridge. Make sure to visit the bridge in the evening, the lights make it more special.

5) Ruin bars

We also organized a pub crawl to visit some ruin bars which are a ‘must-do’ when you’re in Budapest. Szimpla Kert was the best one (and oldest one) of all. The ambiance was nice and the scenery was amazing. Every room had a different decor which was fun to walk through. During this pub crawl, we passed the St. Stephen’s Basilica and the Hungarian National Museum.

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6) Thermal baths

In the evening we decided to take a spa day (actually spa evening). We bought ourselves some afternoon tickets for the Széchenyi thermal bath. Besides the fact that the employees could not speak English and that someone stole my towel, the experience was fantastic. I especially liked the outdoor swimming pools where the pool water is 40°C while the outdoor temperature was 3°C.

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7) Market hall

Check out the architecture in the market hall but don’t be too shy to buy something! Our hostel was less than 5 minutes away from this. The supermarket is underneath the market hall.

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BUDA

Buda can be done in 1 day. Here are my 5 must do’s in Buda!

1) Citadel

In the morning we climbed the citadel (in Gellert) which had a magnificent view (I could not breathe anymore but hey, I made it!).

2) Old city

We went down on the other side of the citadel, where we encountered the statue of liberty. We took a tram and ended up in the old city of Budapest. There we saw the Matthias Church,  the Fisherman’s Bastion, the Gate of Vienna, the Buda Castle and so on.

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3) Castle Hill Funicular

When we walked down the steps at de Buda castle we saw the Budapest Castle Hill Funicular. We were just in the middle of this railway where we could take some beautiful shots of the ascending/descending cabins.

4) Chain Bridge

We marched down further and ended up at the Chain Bridge. At that moment it was snowing (and freezing!) so we decided to take a bus back to our hostel to warm up.

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5) Thermal bath in Gellert

Gellert Spa is one of the most famous due to its architecture. My parents went to this one, but they said the water smelled like copper cents.

Margaret Island

RELAX-day! We checked our guidebook and found out we had seen the most interesting things we wanted to see. So we decided to take a walk towards Margaret Island. When we took a step outside we immediately decided to take the tram (it was -2°C, TOTALLY NOT PREPARED FOR THIS). We eventually made it to Margaret Island but due to constructions, we could not discover the whole island.

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Life of a Passion