PalenQ

After reading a thread running concurrent with this posting I wonder what various folks impression of Budpest and Budapesters (name?) as well.

On the other thread the OP posted scathing comments about the locals in particiular and them being so rude, cold, unhelpful, etc. And the OP also said bribes were rife - she said in particular when found riding a tram with a ticket that had no been pre-validated, as is oft the case in Europe - after buying a ticket you must cancel it yourself as there are often no conductors on board to do so - and then there are unannounced inspections aboard the tram, etc by controllers to check to make sure folks have validated their tickets so they cannot use them again.

Well the OP claimed the controllers demanded a bribe to let them go and said bribes were common everywhere (or some such words)

Anyway is Budapest rotten to the core as that poster said and to which several echoes her/his experience of Budapesters being cold rather nasty folks.

I have not been to Buda nor Pest for some years and in several previous visits have never found anything unusual in the locals' demeanors - but that was long ago.

Your experiences in Budapest about how locals welcomed you or not. Were you every subject to being bribed by a public official or rip-offed by a taxi, etc.???

lincasanova

I have had two wonderful trips to Budapest, but that does not take away that this person had a bad holiday.

I was AFRAID of getting ripped off by the taxis, so I took one from the train station that the tourist office called.

I also had another recommended taxi service collect me at the Sofitel to go back to the airport as the car service from the hotel was much more expensive.

The few cabs I hailed on the street were more or less reasonable and did not go way out of their way to take us to our destination..

I have found the older people in East Berlin, Prague and Budapest more sullen looking.( I wonder why?)

The only really not nice person we encountered was a female door "guard" at the Ballet/opera house, that insisted my mother had to WALK up 7-8 flights of steps to our chicken coop seats.

Fortunately, during at the intermission, I was finally able to find someone inside who arranged for her to go in the service elevator for the trip down later .

I LOVE Budapest, but can appreciate how a few incidents and how you interpret them can affect your attitude towards a place quite easily.

Great food.. music in some restaurants, wonderful ballet and recitals.. at a very reasonable price. Can't wait to go back.

jamikins

We spent a lovely 4 days in Budapest over Easter 2010 and loved it. Yes, we found the people to not be overtly friendly, but our B&B host told us on arrival to expect that. Its just a cultural thing. Also she warned us about taking a pre-paid taxi from the airport and not to take one without a set price as they can be iffy. Now we just stayed at a budget B&B but got lots of good advice from the owners.

We loved the food, and found that if we tried to speak hungarian (hilarious attempts mind you) that the people would laugh, joke and help us pronounce the words. Had some great moments in wine bars trying to order wine!

We had no problem working the metro, but living in London and previously Vancouver we are familiar with the common practice of validating before travelling.

Scott cant wait to go back for more spa time!

hanl

Can't say Budapest did it for me, though I was there in 1993 and I'm sure things have changed since then. I found the place rather cold and unwelcoming, but then one can't expect to love every single city one visits.

Therese

I quite liked Budapest, but will say that I found the system of ticket checking on public transportation to be less than pleasant: the personnel are not uniformed (apart from badges that they show very briefly when they swoop in for the kill) and some of them have very aggressive manners. It would be very easy to mistake them for panhandlers or crazy people or guys on the make. They clearly aren't there specifically to catch tourists, but instead to address the very widespread abuse of the "honor system" type of transit system access that's used in Budapest.

I was checked more than once (on the tram was more common than on the subway when I was there) and never had a problem with a fine, as of course I had my ticket to show. But the officials didn't suddenly get any nicer in their behavior, just grunted and moved on.

No other problems, and most people (even those way outside the tourist areas) very nice and helpful.

jmct714

I had a wonderful four days in Budapest last year. In advance of our trip I had read that the people there could be a bit frosty and even nasty and so was expecting that, but instead found most that we encountered to be quite polite and always helpful. Like Jamikins mentioned, our messy but sincere attempts at speaking Hungarian brought out the smiles and laughs and seemed to be truly appreciated.

We took the metro often (easy and convenient) and were stopped by inspectors a few times. Once, an inspector grabbed my arm a bit gruffly b/c I did not notice her requesting my ticket, but after I stopped and showed my validated ticket, I got a smile and thank you.

I wouldn't hesitate to return to Budapest and hope to soon.

suec1

We enjoyed our Budapest visit about two years ago and hope to return someday. IMO there was not as much english spoken there as in some of our other European visits and the people, service personel included, did not seem as friendly. I have been told that in the former USSR and perhaps extending to other Eastern E. countries, that smiling is not the norm. In fact one young person told me that she was told she looked "stupid" when she walked around with a smile on her face. We did have one experience when a local really went out of her way to help us find the street we were looking for in spite of the fact we could only communicate by pointing to our map. So it may be that Budapest is not QUITE as tourist friendly but we do hope to return. We enjoyed the architecture, the baths, even the food! As far as folks being ignorant of the ticket valication and the drinking girl scam, they could easily run into those problems in other cities.

PRLCH

We visited Budapest about 12 months ago and loved it! Did not meet a lot of the locals, but found the vegetable sellers in the market to be helpful. The young man who rented us our apartment was charming, and the guide who took our walking tour was really friendly! Our airport transfers could have been mistaken for being unfriendly simply because they spoke no English. However, they knew what their job was, and were very effeiceint in doing it. We would not hesitate to visit Budapest again!

PalenQ

If one judged a place by the occasional rudeness and cool reception one gets then Paris would IMO be amongst the worst of the worst - so many times there I have encountered downright rude personnel in stores and government agencies.

But these are far in the minority but unfortunately poor manners are what we remember and these often trump out IME the many more pleasant encounters.

kerouac

Frankly, I preferred Budapest to Prague, so I am very happy that more people prefer Prague. Budapest has a reserved elegance that it not accessible to the impatient, and it needs to be appreciated slowly, preferably with some excellent Egri Bikavér at dinner, followed by some generous rations of Barack (not related to Obama).

spiral

We were in Budapest for four days in August this year over St Stephen's Day. Like Kerouac we prefered Budapest to Prague mostly because it seemed like a city which had some tourists visiting it rather than a city aimed at tourists.
We found nearly everyone we dealt with to be polite and helpful - from the hotel receptionist who was mortified to find she did not have our reservation (and sorted it immediately while sitting us down with a cup of coffee) to the lady on the international ticket office in Keleti Station who took the time to ensure we knew exactly where and when to catch the train we had booked.
We also found it easy to use the metro (and to validate the tickets) and never felt unsafe in any area even in the large crowds watching the fireworks on St Stephens Day.
The only slightly unhappy occurrance was the taxi driver who took us to the stattion covering over the meter and slightly overcharging us.
We would happily go back to Budapest any day.

kathleen

Here’s my two cents on this issue. I’m in Budapest now. This is my second visit, the first being ten years ago. I do find that sometimes it’s hard to get someone (hotel and restaurant personnel) to go out of their way to be friendly, chatty, helpful, or just plain cheery. Maybe it’s my nature wanting this, and I shouldn’t expect it. Maybe it’s a frustration on their part that perhaps comes from having to put up or make do with things beyond their control (the old communist era) and settle for what is at hand. Or maybe it’s because it’s winter. But helpfulness is in short supply. I’ve had some issues in cafés. A small example: when the waiter brought me a latte of some sort instead of the espresso that I had ordered, he seemed annoyed that I wouldn’t just drink that, since, perhaps, he thought they were similar in value, so why fuss over it.
And, when the internet was not coming in strong on my laptop for a long period of time, and at different occasions, the receptionist just said, try refreshing the connection. That’s all. No explanation. It would come back in due time, so be patient and wait. I did, I have, and I’ve settled into a “grove” here.

I have to say that in some ways some of the people of Budapest seem less than eager to accommodate those visiting their city than in some other places where I've been. Budapest though is a remarkable city with a remarkable history. It is worth small annoyances.
I’m in the camp of those who prefers Prague over Budapest.

tomboy

PQ-We loved Budapest.

I wonder how friendly, etc. the OP of the other thread would be toward a tourist who came to his/her town, asking questions in Hungarian. If one makes zero effort, expecting the Hungarians to speak English, after all, can you blame them for seeming cold?

I can cite 2 examples of Budapestian friendliness:
1)I had made a 3-column spreadsheet with English/Hungarian/ and Phonetic equivalent of standard phrases. I tried to ask a 50-something local man a phrase. He looked quizzically at me, saw I was reading this sheet, and looked at it a moment. He then, with a smile on his face, said, "Do you speak English?"
Proceeded to help, etc.
2)We took a bus ride, got off one stop too late about 8 PM. Saw a liight on in a shop, went in, showed proprietor where we wanted to go. Since she knew no English, and vice versa, she went in the back, got her father to start up his car, and he drove us where we wanted to go. All with only map-pointing and charade-type movements for communication.

We'd go back in a heartbeat.

Sher

I was in Budapest in October for four days. I think my impression of the city suffered because it was followed by several days in Krakow. I found I like Krakow better.

I can actually say that taking the subway was a little tense for me. I only took it to the baths and back. On the way to the baths, I validated the ticket but when I arrived at the stop for the Szechenyl baths there was no one there to check the validation. When I returned from that stop I validated the ticket but when I looked at it the validation could barely be seen. Upon arriving at Ferenciek Tere the checker did cause me some concern because he looked at the ticket for several moments. The thought crossed my mind that he would not let me pass. But finally he did. It gave me some uncomfortable moments.
Also. A cafe owner took me for about $50 when I gave him a 1500 bill instead of a 500 bill. I know he took it because having no money for lunch I stoped at the ATM across the street from the restaurant to withdraw money. And the amount was correct. But after leaving the restaurant to go to the grocery on the next street, I was short when I tried to pay for the few groceries. I realized what had happened but what could I do.

I just chalked it up to experience and being more careful the next time. It isn't a city I would rush to return to, I don't think.

Snowflake25

We visited Budapest 3 years ago and enjoyed ourselves so much that we will be taking a group of students to Budapest in 2012. We found the people to be helpful. We were unsure of which bus to take and a young gentleman (who didn't speak much english and we spoke no Hungarian) assisted us, and even got off the bus at our stop and walked with us to show us where to catch the bus back to our hotel. The staff in restaurants were willing to answer our questions and even suggest where we should or should not take a walk after dinner. We encountered the people that check for validated tickets, but we've been checked in other cities so that was no big deal.

brennynp

We've been to Budapest twice - one of our favorite cities. We took public transport all around without any issues. Some people were friendly, others aloof.

logos999

There is an economic depression going on over there, isn't it? You and I probably make more per month, than the person that's serving you food in the whole year.
That may not be a reason to be impolite, but it helps if you behave in a modest way. I only met helpful people in Hungary, but I wouldn't care much about Budapest anyway.

When the wall was still standing, it was a not so difficult possibility to visit the commies. That was fun, because the infrastructue was so lousy. You'd never knew if you'd find a place to sleep the next day, but you could visit all the police stations to register you presence and ask .


And they had the worst biscuits on the planet. Has anyting changed lately?

KayF

We enjoyed our few days in Budapest a couple of years ago but did find the 'guards' at the metro stations quite intimidating. I can understand they want to check people have valid tickets but often we were met with five burly guards standing abreast and blocking our path. It seemed unnecessary to us and I was always very glad to have the right ticket.

People were not overly friendly but not rude either. Each country is different and that's why we enjoy travel.

Kay

Hans

I've been there several times for work and vacation and like it very much. The typical Hungarian might be a little reserved if he's doing his job, but there are a lot of very nice people once you get chatting.

As long as one displays some common sense (like not walking with some girls to the next strip joint), I don't think there are any more or less problems than in other big cities.

nfldbeothuk

I certainly didn't think Budapest was awful, and the architecture & history were fascinating, but I did notice that everyone I encountered in a business transation--clerks, guides, waiters,etc.--generally were serious and brusque, no smiles, thank you's , or small talk. Since this seemed to be the demeanour to locals as well, I don't know if I'd call it unfriendly, probably it's normal business practice there. An elderly man on a boat to Szentendre scolded me, in a "fatherly" way, for leaving my rain hat on the seat when I went to the toilet, then made limited conversation (limited by his English),so perhaps business and social manners are significantly different.

I encountered ticket checkers at one point, and I noted that they had a somewhat threatening manner, and no one in the subway car seemed to make eye contact with them--of course, like the naiveirishgirl, I only figured out who they were from the actions of other people in the car. But I didn't see anyone bribe them and I honestly don't know what kind of transactions an ordinary tourist would encounter that could involve bribes--unless you didn't follow the rules or laws.

Compared to neighbouring Austria, I think Budapest's past was evident in the grimy buildings, graffiti, and somewhat run-down appearance (with the notable exception of the beautiful and gleaming Castle district). And I have seen recent news reports of xenophobia in Hungary, and wondered if there was a connection to their relative lack of national prosperity. Nonetheless, I certainly wouldn't advise people against visiting Budapest, which has some amazing sights--just don't think it's Disneyland.