- An Excellent Online Hungarian-English (and vice versa) Dictionary (actually, it also does German, French, Dutch, Italian, and Polish translation to and from Hungarian; to change direction to Hungarian-English, just click on the heading English – Hungarian)
Guidebooks (links to purchase our favorite guidebooks)
- Budapest a Critical Guide by András Török (unfortunately, not available in the USA at this time)
- Granta Guide to Budapest
- Only in Budapest
- TimeOut Guide to Budapest
and the websites for some others:
- Fodor’s (Eugene Fodor, the founder of Fodor’s Guides and reputedly a CIA operative, was Hungarian through and through)
- Rough Guides
- Lonely Planet
- Frommer’s
- Michelin
a tongue-in-cheek memoir of Budapest between the wars:
and a more sober memoir of Budapest at the end of World War II, with recipes from Lang’s less daunting later career as a restaurateur
Tourist Information
- Budapest Tourist Bureau
- Budapest.com
- Hungary Tourist Bureau
- Funzine
- xpatloop.com
- TopBudapest.com
- SpottedByLocals.com
- Budapest Pocket Guide
- BudapestAgent
- SecretBudapest
- Best of Budapest Awards
- BudapestTouristGuide (slightly quirky, locally-edited guide to the city)
and also another one: BudapestTravel
- BudapestNavigator (hip guide to Budapest, in Hungarian)
- FrancoFun
- Guide to Jewish Budapest
Web Travel Forums
Places to Stay in Other Cities in Central Europe
- Dubrovnik Apartment Source (friends of ours with a comprehensive Dubrovnik list)
- Prague Apartment Source (a new site from the same good folks who run the Dubroivnik site)
- Prague-Stay.com (recommended by one of our guests)
Getting Around Within the City
- public transit: BKV (buses)
- public transit: main site
- public transit: Budapest Card
- taxis: Alajos Pulai, the driver we use for Airport pickup and hourly trips (this link should open an email window so that you can email him to make a reservation or ask questions)
- taxis: City Taxi this link and the next two will take you to the websites for taxi companies that we have found reliable and inexpensive, and have English-speaking dispatchers, for short-haul trips within Budapest)
- taxis: Fotaxi
- taxis: Radiotaxi
- parking regulations
- web essay on parking in Budapest
- bicycle rentals
- segway rentals
Maps
- Hot-maps (our favorite; interactive)
- Budapest Culture Map (interactive)
- Talking Cities map (interactive)
- Continent Holiday (static, downloadable jpg)
- Mappy (excellent UK-based interactive mapping website)
- Michelin (interactive)
- MapQuest
- Budapest Street Finder
- GoogleMaps
- Budapest CityLive Webcam (a remarkable webcam that allows you to control its direction and magnification)
The Definitive Guide to Public Toilets in Budapest:
Getting Around Beyond the City:
- Searchable train timetable to Hungary and Europe
- Eurolines International Bus Timetables & Booking
- Volánbusz Bus domestic inter-urban timetables and booking
- Orangeways Bus Company, International Buses
- Hungarian National Airline: Malev (offers direct flights from many countries)
- Delta Airlines (offers direct flights from USA)
- Aer Lingus: Direct flights from Ireland
- Norwegian Air (Oslo, Stavanger)
- Budget Airlines: Overview
- Budget Airlines: Easyjet (Berlin Schonefeld, Dortmund, Geneva, Bristol, London Gatwick, London Luton, Newcastle)
- Budget Airlines: Skyeurope (Brussels, Bulgaria, Copenhagen, Paris Orly, Nice, Athens, Thessaloniki, Catania, Milan, Naples, Rimini, Rome, Venice Marco Polo, Venice Treviso, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Malaga)
- Budget Airlines: Wizzair (Brussels, Bulgaria, Paris Beauvais, Frankfurt Hahn, Corfu, Crete, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Rome Ciampino, Eindhoven
- Budget Airlines: Air Berlin (Paris DeGaulle, Germany, Rome Fiumicino, Milan, Moscow, Ibiza, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Zurich, London Stansted, Manchester, Gothenburg Save, Malmo Sturup)
- Budget Airlines: Sterling (Copenhagen, Stockholm Arlanda
- Budget Airlines: Meridiana (Catania, Florence)
- Budget Airlines: Blue1 (Finland)
- Budget Airlines: SmartWings (Prague, Barcelona, Madrid)
- Hydrofoil & Boat trips to Vienna, Bratislava, Szent Endre…
Sightseeing
- Introduction
- Overview
- Sightseeing Guide
- Bus tour list
- Bus tour operators: Barbiebus
- Bus tours: Eurama
- Bus tours: Cityrama
- Walking Tours: Absolute Tours
- City Segway Tours
- A Tram-hiker’s Guide to Budapest — Seeing the city by taking its trams
- Off-the-Beaten-Path Walking Tours of the 8th District
- Gabriella Török–Individual Guided Tours
- Pal Street Tours–Interesting Expat Tour Guides
Exchange rates
- Live market midpoints
- Understanding the system
- Table Comparing ATM and Bankcard charges and fees for foreign use
Foreign Language Newspapers
- Caboodle
- Pestiside (humorous)
- Budapest Sun
- Budapest Times
- BudapesterZeitung (German)
- xpatloop.com
- Budapest Week
- Journal Francophone de Budapest (French)
Baths
Cultural Offerings:
Listings:
- BudapestSun
- BudapestInfo
- BudapestWeek
- xpatloop.com
- BudapestPanorama
- Budapest Funzine
- Budapest Cultural Directory
SPRING (and other Budapest) FESTIVAL(S) 2008:
CHRISTMAS FAIR:
- 2007 Photos
- Background information from the Tourism Office
- Food and Flavors at the Christamas Fair in Vörömarty tér
Venues:
- National Concert Hall (MUPA/Bela Bartok Concert Hall); English and German options available at top right)
- Opera
- Operetta Theatre
- National Theatre
- Merlin Theatre (English) (not current program, but contact information)
Orchestras:
- Hungarian National Philharmonic
- Budapest Festival Orchestra
- Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (aka Hungarian Symphony Orchestra (website in Hungarian))
- Budapest Philharmonic (Hungarian)
Museums:
- Talking Cities’ Museum List
- Museums homepage
- Budapest Museum of Fine Arts (English option at top right)
- Hungarian National Museum
- Museum of Applied Arts (slow…)
- Museum of Ethnography
- Natural History Museum
- Holocaust Memorial Center
- Statue Park (public statuary from the communist era)
- Citadella
books: Public Library (admittedly not exactly a museum but worth a visit)
For Kids
- BudapestInfo children’s page
- Frommers on kids
- Frommers guide to parks and playgrounds
- Family Outings in Budapest
- Budapest Tourist Guide for kids
- Budapest Family Calendar
Shopping
- antiques: auction calendar: http://www.taylorartadvisors.com/auctions.htm
- antiques: Pinter Antiques
- antiques: BAV (national pawnshop with sales outlets)
- antiques: Belvarosi Auction House
- antiques: Maj Gyorgy (in the Jewish district)
- books: Talking Cities Guide to Budapest Bookshops
- books: The Red Bus (English language used bookshop)
- books: Tree Hugger Dan’s (English language used bookshop and Cafe)
- books: Bestsellers English language bookshop
- computers (Apple): iStyle
- design: monthly design market – WAMP
- posters & paper ehermera: Hodobay Auction House (site is in Hungarian)
- shoes: Istvan Toth bootmaker
- shoes: Vass Shoes
- toys: Two Teddy Bears (great crafted toys)
- toys: Fakopancs (in Hungarian)
- The Almost Useless English Language URL for the Hungarian Postal Service
- http://posta.hu/object.f76cdb9a-7633-4d8f-b9d1-5746e2d1d49d.ivy
Restaurants, Food, and Drink
guides and listings:
- Chew.hu’s Top 33 (best restaurants in Budapest, and Budapest restaurant reviews and news)
- Chew.hu blog
- Caboodle’s list of bars
- BudapestWeek Online Restaurant Reservations
- Culinaris foodie Budie (cooking classes and listings)
- Kashmir Restaurant (Indian cooking classes)
- Chowhound.com (international food bulletin board)
- Chili & Vanilia (food blog in Hungarian)
- Tejben-Vajban (food blog in Hungarian
- A website with numerous, often engaging, personal restaurant reviews by a British frequent traveler to Budapest (Jason Curtis)whose expense account appears to sustain wide-ranging sampling of food and drink
- a restaurant reservation website for Budapest (I’ve never tried to use it)
food shops:
- Culinaris — Gourmet Foods
- Szamos Marcipan
- ChefParade
- Astoria Delicatessen (Hungarian language website, but has store hours, etc)…decent selection of gourmet ingredients
cooking classes:
- ChefParade — Cooking School and Shop
- Cooking classes taught by an English-speaking Hungarian ‘grandma’
- Cooking classes for 5 or more guests can be arranged at Bagolyvar Restaurant (owned by Gundel’s)
wine:
- Bortarsasag
- Chocolates & Selected Wines (in Hungarian; great shop)
- Janos Árvay Hétfürtös Winery (perhaps the finest Tokaji in Hungary today)
- Istvan Szepsy Winery (the other major contender for finest Tokaji wine)
- Gál Tibor Winery (surely the most distinguished winemaker in Eger, Gál Tibor died in a car accident in South Aftrica in 2005, but his winery continues)
restaurant websites:
- Gerloczy Cafe (our favorite casual café, breakfast, lunch, dinner)
- Cafe Bouchon (John’s favorite dinner)
- Segal (Jeanne’s favorite dinner; she may be right)
- Cafe Central (great Budapest-between-the-wars feel; good food, good prices, central location)
- Cafe Alibi (lovely sidewalk caf´with excellent Alibi Salad, fresh orange juice, great coffee and teas)
- Károlyi Etterem
- Muzeum Etterem
- LouLou (over the top opulence, first-rate food)
- Baraka (tasteful, lavish. lovely, not as wonderful as it was when Viktor Segal was cooking there, and the portions are on the small side for the unusually high cost)
- Trofea Grill (all-you-can-eat; all-the-locals-you-can-watch the range of well-made Hungarian dishes is near-limitless)
- Océan (first-rate seafood restaurant in the heart of a landlocked country; creative chef)
- Toscana (the first serious Italian restaurant in Budapest, its Tuscan chef left to start Océan and it is not as good as it was)
- Fakanal (in the Central Market) surprisingly good given the touristy look and feel, but check out the steam tables lining the mezzanine as well — Barbara Somlo’s find
- Cafe Kör (excellent food, often crowded, heavy on tourists, but never a bad meal)
- Búsuló Juhász (excellent, if kitschy, Buda restaurant in a huge garden with gypsy violins and traditional dishes)
- Manna Lounge (Great location on top of the tunnel up to the Castle District, beautiful interior design, lavish terrace, quite good food, and service bad enough to louse it all up; still, a lovely place to go to watch a beautiful summer’s dusk
- Soul Cafe (a cozy place on the Raday strip; food is good; the service can be slooowwwww…)
- Vapiano…slow fast italian food (inexpensive, high quality)
- Tom-George (trendy, tasty, moderately expensive, first high quality sushi in Budapest, eclectic fusion cuisine)
Off-the-beaten-path cafes/bars/hangouts:
- http://www.szimpla.hu
- www.tuzraktar.hu
- www.zoldpardon.hu
- www.cafedelrio.hu
- www.a38.hu
- http://www.west-balkan.com/blog/
Beyond Budapest:
- Var Vendeglo – Sarospatak
- Gróf Degenfeld Castle Hotel near Tokaj
- Hotel Palota, near Miskolc, in a beautiful wooded setting
- Hotel Azur in Siofok on Balaton, Barbara Somlo’s pick
- Culture, Politics, History, Religion (in English)
- Buksz (the Budapest review of Books in Hungarian)
- Hungarian Quarterly
- European Cultural Quarterly
- Diplomacy & Trade
- BabelMatrix (index of web-available translated literature into and out of Hungarian and other European languages)
- Mult es Jovo (Past & Future, a Hungarian journal of culture and Judaic studies) Budapest Review of Books (no longer published in English, for archive, click ENGLISH button)
- Central European University
- Hungarian Government Publications
- Centropa (‘Jewish Witness to a European Century’)
- Hungarian Catholic Church
- Hungarian Reformed Church
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary
- Mormon Church in Hungary
- Jewish Community of Budapest
- NYC Hungarian Cultural Center
- American Hungarian Foundation not to be confused with:
- Hungarian American Foundation
English Speaking Real Estate Offices We Have Used
- at Duna House, we have found Argi Gyermán very helpful (Duna House is probably the largest network of realty offices in Budapest)
- at Otthon Central Bogi Horvath has had an excellent eye for finding places we liked from the mass of multiple listings (also a very large network of offices)
- Gabriella Haas has been great on follow-through; a much smaller office
Embassies, etc.
- Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office
- Address List of all Embassies
- Unted States
- Canada
- Britain
- Australia
- France (French Trade Commission)
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Italy
Newspaper Articles
- Hungary is Stealing Some of Prague’s Spotlight (NY Times, 3 Sept. 2006)
- Where Once an Empire Flourished, Nostalgia is for Sale (NY Times 8 June 2006)
- Budapest’s Pendulum Swings Again to the East (NY Times 11 December 2005)
- New York to Budapest: Where Celluloid Dreams Beckon (NY Times 20 Feb 2005)
- Bed, Bath and Beyond in Budapest (NY Times 10 Oct 2004)
- Budapest Winter’s Tale (NY Times 21 Oct 1990)
- Nora Ephron on Strudel (NY Times 28 Dec 2005)
- NY Times Article on the Rebirth of the VIIth District
- NY Times Article on Dental Vacations
