Places You Need To Visit In Budapest!

After exams two of my friends and I decided that we wanted to go on a city holiday to Budapest to celebrate exams. We mainly chose Budapest because the flights weren’t that long (around 2 ½ hours), the city looked gorgeous and we’d heard it was pretty cheap. Budapest is split in onto two sides by the Danube river, Buda and Pest. The Buda side is more green and is full of hills and stunning old architecture. It’s famous for its old thermal baths and old castles. Whereas the Pest side is more similar to a city and has more museums, cafes, shops and bars. There are bridges connecting the two sides that you can walk over so it makes exploring the both sides easy and accessible. We stayed in Pest but found that most days we were bouncing between the two sides anyway.

Here are some of the places I would suggest you visit if you are interested in going to Budapest:

The Pest side

Parliament

Walking around the grounds of parliament and staring up at the beautiful architecture of the buildings, with the landscape of the Danube river in the background is really a sight to see. We didn’t actually go into parliament but just walking around the grounds and going down to the river was good enough for us. Opposite parliament there is a memorial with metal shoes that line the bank of Danube river, honoring the people (mainly Jews) who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen by them being ordered to take their shoes off and were shot at the edge of the river during WW11.

The Ruin Bars

The ruin bars are a fabulous place for a great night out. My friends and I decided to go to one spontaneously one night and when we got there it was nothing like I expected. We went to a bar called Pont, right in the middle of the club strip and it was massive. There were tons of themed rooms and little passageways. At first, we thought we’d gone to the wrong place but we went up some stairs and it opened up into an outside bar. It was packed the night we went but the bar was quirky and unique with statues and figures around the trees and up the walls. If you’re looking for a fun night out I would defiantly suggest going here. Budapest’s night life really surprised me for the better.

Széchenyi Thermal Bath

We took a quick metro into the middle of the city park and decided to spend the day at Szechenyi baths because it looked like the cheapest and the most tourist based. The building for the bath was so pretty and so was the inside. The baths were so relaxing even when it was fairly full and sunbathing on one of the sunbeds really made it feel like a holiday. One of my friends and I found the mini circular lazy river very entertaining too. But if you are looking for a more rejuvenating and private visit to the baths I would suggest one of the more pricier baths on the Buda side because it may be more quiet so you can reach maximum chill.

The Buda side

Elizabeth Lookout

The views from Elizabeth lookout are spectacular. You can see over a wide part of Budapest and look down to see parliament and the Dunube river. It was a massive treck up there and a massive treck back down again but the views were worth it. A lovely Hungarian family we knew walked us up there and honestly is was like no other. Elizabeth lookout is quite deep into Buda but if its accessible to you it is defiantly a must see. We kind of used this as a bit of a substitute for Gellert hill, so if you can’t get up to Elizabeth lookout, even though we didn’t end up climbing it I suggest that you do Gellert hill because I’ve heard that the view is amazing there too.

Fisherman's Bastion

Fisherman’s bastion is truly beautiful. The castle literally looks like its jumped right out a fairy-tale. The buildings around the castle districts are gorgeous and really take your breath away. The views from the castle are amazing too. There’s even a Starbucks up there to keep you refreshed. We walked around the castle district for a while and it is defiantly a must see, including Buda Castle.

Margaret Island

Margaret island is actually in between the Buda and the pest side. It’s so pretty there and is lovely to walk around and have a picnic. There are many gardens there too and plenty are photogenic areas that are a dream for photographers. There’s even a musical fountain and a waterpark. We mainly spent our time there sat on bean bags in the beer garden but there is so much to explore.

Overall, Budapest was gorgeous and I’m so glad I went there. It was so fun, beautiful and interesting. Also, it was so cheap too to explore the city and get food/drinks. The currency is quite complicated but we had an app that converted the money into pounds. This makes Budapest the ideal place for students. If I go back I would love to dive into the city’s rich history more by going to the museums and places like Hospital in the rock and the house of terror but we didn’t really have enough time. I would 100% recommend visiting this city, even if it is just for a long weekend.