My mum bought my boyfriend and I plane tickets to a city of our choice for my birthday back in May. I had mentioned many times that I wanted to go to Budapest so we went ahead and booked it. I read how cheap Budapest is as a weekend break and as I looked further into it I wanted to go there more and more, although I'm not sure what specifically attracted me to it. After my trip I am completely in love with it and want to back again next year and one day take my mum.
After a 2am start we decided to drop off our bags at the hotel and wonder about town. We stayed at the Roombach Hotel Budapest Center which was 5 minues walk from ruin bars, parks and all he main shops. The hotel had been newly done and was very modern inside. The foyer was colourful with modern copper twists and the bedrooms had wallpaper covered in words in a typewriter-like print. My mum and I found this after searching all over the internet and I'm so glad we found it. The woman at the desk was also super helpful and I would definitely consider staying there again if I were to go back.
We headed down to the river which seemed to be the best place to get our bearings. We were able to see all the landmarks and were then able to work out how far away everything was from each other while we were both still half asleep. This is when we realized how small the city was.
Hunger was the next thing that kicked in. We didn't quite know where to go to eat and after walking past a couple which looked not very appealing or on the more expensive side we consulted the guide book we had. I wouldn't normally do this but I simply was just too hungry to try to find internet in order to look anywhere up. It directed us to Ötkert, a little ruin bar past Chain Bridge, heading towards the parliament building. Here I had the best burger I had all week. It was on the more expensive side, although I put that down to the tourist appeal of ruin pubs.
As it was such a nice day we decided that we would sit outside although the inside was really unique and beautiful with a covered courtyard in the centre. All ruin pubs have their own unique styles and vibes but it is common for them to have some kind of courtyard in the middle which is usually open air.
Right at the end of the road (another reason we sat outside) was St Michael's Basilica. We headed inside to look at the beautiful interiors...
And to get a panoramic view of the whole city...
After this we headed back to our hotel to check in and had a nap since we were both exhausted from our early start. We then prepped ourselves for dinner and looked on
LikeALocal where we found
Jelen Bistro, a place known for it's great Thai food that also had a bar for a drink before dinner and a fair amount of outside seating all along the pavement. We both absolutely loved this place and it was a great way to ease ourselves into the quirks that bars and restaurants in Budapest all possess.
The most amusing thing we noticed was that something like a vodka and coke was never on the menu and the people serving us rarely knew what we were asking for... So they bought me a glass of coke and a double shot of vodka. It is much cheaper to drink beer and wine in Budapest and Will sampled the beer in every bar and restaurant we visited. A pint and a vodka and coke was between £4-5.
After dinner we decided to walk along the river to see the city lit and it was still fairly early. However exhaustion got the better of us and we headed back early so that we would be ready for breakfast (included at the hotel) and could head out to the thermal baths...
