Budapest

My boyfriend and I chose Budapest as the destination of our (short) summer holiday mainly for two reasons: we wanted to travel by train and we didn't have much money available. Indeed Budapest is a very beautiful city and truly convenient!! The people are always kind and helpful, public transport is widespread and works very well; in the evening in certain areas I would have been afraid to go out alone but I think this is the same in every city. We spent in total, counting also the purchase of souvenirs, about 480 euros each.

As for the choice of the train I don't feel like recommending it to others: the journey was the biggest expense of the trip, a good 207 euros each, and it was very uncomfortable. We took the Euronight departing from Venezia S.Lucia at 21.20 and we were repeatedly woken up for document checks, four times and in the middle of the night!

We stayed at the "Detty Hotel" and we were very comfortable, we spent only 83 euros each for 5 nights including breakfast and the room they gave us was clean and nice! It's located in district XIV but with buses n.7 or 7E (faster) you reach the center in less than 20 minutes.

Absolutely not to be missed are the Parliament, the Basilica of St. Stephen, the Synagogue (whose interior we didn't visit), the Opera (the "concert" offered at the end of the visit is a nonsense tourist trap), the Chain Bridge and to relax a nice ride on Margaret Island; I recommend at least an afternoon at the baths: we went to the Szechenyi Baths and spent 12 euros each.

A note of merit also goes to the food, we always ate well spending little! If you don't like cheeses be careful because they're put a bit everywhere, especially sour cream; paprika is also omnipresent. In the center there are lots of fast-foods and restaurants...never seen so many together! For a quick meal I recommend going to the Great Market Hall in Pest, upstairs there are many stalls where you can stuff yourself spending 3-4 euros. We tried three restaurants: "Regos Vendeglu" in Szofia utca 33 VI district, "Kiskakukk" in Pozsonyi utca 12 XIII district, "Arany Barany Etterem" in Harminaad utca 4 V district. We were more than comfortable in all three.

The first two are not very touristy although there's the menu in English and the staff is very kind; the third is near Vorosmarty Ter (square at the end of vaci Utca) and is a bit more expensive (always much less than in Italy) but the food truly excellent, there's also musical entertainment. Also sweets are sold a bit everywhere: crepes, filled pastries, ice creams... We went twice to "Cafè Gerbaud", they have so many cakes too good!