Budapest help please
 

We will be getting off of a river cruise on May 7th. We fly home on May 9th and are looking for something interesting for Monday. We see that many museums and such are closed on Monday's. We will already be going to Matthais Church and Fishermens Bastion with our cruise/tour. We like museums and unusual and cultural things. Do not like shopping. We realize our time is limited and that Monday is not such a good day. Any ideas or suggestions for us?

Hi
I've missed the museums in Budapest the times I've been there. Have you thought of getting a city map and walking around? It's a nice city to walk around. Even if the museaum are closed it's a nice area to visit. The Charles bridge etc. I've never shopped there, we've visited about 3 times and have always enjoyed the city.

I think that the Opera can be visited daily at 15:00 and 16:00, the Synagogue also daily.
I am not sure about Parliament; the tours in English are at 10, 12, 14:00, but I do not know if on Monday. You can check in its internet site.

Aeiger, I suppose that you are speaking about Chain Bridge, not Charles (I think that it is in Prague).

There is a very interesting (to us) Ethnography Museum on the corner northwest of the Parliament Bldg. Good place to spend time while waiting for a tour of Parliamnet to begin. Exhibits showing the history of Hungary, folk costumes, etc.

the parliament tour and tour of the opera house are excellent, however I don't know if they are open on Monday. The Museum of terror is so-so

Heres another vote for visiting the Dohanyi synagogue and attached museum. It was a fascinating experience for me, and the beautiful outdoor holocaust memorial in the gardens - an enormous weeping willow tree made of twisted galvanized/stainless steel - is breathtaking and contemplative.

Another worthwhile experience is a walk on Margaret Island, set on the Danube like a large, leafy, green boat, smack dab in the heart of the city. Visit the excellent spa there too.

Then theres the main city park and zoo and circus and the Szechenyi baths, all at the same location or close to each other. The outdoor baths are great. You could spend almost the whole day there and not realise it. Theres a whirl pool there that spins you and about 50 other screaming people around at great speed...or you can just relax in the sunshine and hot water and read your book or newspaper, or play a game of chess with the locals. Or sit under a fountain or waterfall...

Then there's the Statue park; a park where all the old statues of the communist leaders and others have been placed (some in neat lines and rows) instead of being destroyed. Very unusual and quote interesting and surreal, there being so many.

Thank you for all of the great ideas. Keep them coming if you can think of more. I think we will try the Opera House tour. Would reservations be required? And, I think I was confused about Synagogue's. I saw one, Leo Frankel that looked like you needed an appointment for, but when Mathieu said Dohanyi Synagogue - it helped me figure out the Jewish museum/Synagogue. We have been to several lately, but always enjoy them, so that sounds like a good option.

So, what do you all feel about the zoo? And, we will have alittle better than 1/2 a day Sunday to choose a museum or two. I was thinking the Terror, but not sure if that is the best choice from what I have been reading. If you could only pick 1 or 2 museums, where would you head? What is the Parliament tour like? I don't think we have ever done anything like that??

And finally, we would like a bath that was more like Turkish, scrubs, rubs, etc. - rather than a pool. Any options there? It looks like one that is more like that - is not unisex. Ruda's I think? Am I understanding that correctly?

Mathieu, How far is Margaret Island from the Chain Bridge? Can it be walked (a mile or two) or is it better to take the tram, or maybe walk one way and tram back. From what I have found it looks like Margaret Island would be a nice place to go on Saturday night. Connette, what river cruise are you on? We leave June 8 for Budapest to Prague. If you search Restaurants in Budapest there are lots of tips that Fodorites have given us. Thanks

Sylbea,
We are on Avalon, Artistry, 4-23 to 5-9 AMS to BUD. Hope the water situation in the Danube improves soon.

Sylbea : Margaret island is quite close to the Chain bridge; your guess of a mile or two (or even less) would be about right. It's an easy and quite pleasant walk along the water.
Walking one way and tramming it back is a good idea too. I ran/jogged there from Gellert Hill (you'll see all number of joggers, cyclists, rollerbladers, etc. doing this) and walked back, taking in the many interesting side and back streets on the Buda side. Depending on where you are, you can also take the Tram from/to the Margaret Bridge which is even closer to the Island.

Mathieu, we are at the Sofitel which I understand is near the Chain Bridge. I know that the DunaArt Festival starts on June 9, Friday, but I am having a hard time finding what actually takes place at Margaret Island. I am sure we will walk down there and find out as we go. We arrive Fri. a.m. so will probably want to go on Saturday night. Thanks for your help.

Hi, across the street from the Gellert baths there is a Catholic church in a cave that is interesting. If you get a 1 day transit pass you can hop on the yellow line and take the route along the river. If you get off at the Margaret island bridge you can cross the stree and get the bus around Margaret Island. We travelled all over the city on the trams and buses and just got off when we saw places that interested us. The transit system is very good

The Gellert baths were amazing, very relaxing...I think they offered spa treatments but I mainly stayed in the thermal baths.

The Terror museum is very interesting, it tells about Budapest during WW2/Communism. Also, Vaci Utca is a nice strolling street with lots of cafes, even if you don't like shopping. Have fun, Budapest is beautiful!

We LOVED Budapest and cannot wait until we can return. It is just out kind of city. Besides our includeded tour, we ended up only having time for the covered market, Terror Museum (excellent - it takes longer to go with the audio tape, but we were so glad we did. It is still resonating in us days later), and the Opera House tour.

On Monday we went to the zoo and had planned on the Jewish Quarter and Gellert Baths - but... We took so long at the zoo - what a place that is, and we were right across from the Széchenyi baths, that we figured why not just try them. They were so cool. We had already fallen in love with Budapest and these baths knocked us right in to the deep. So fun just going from bath to bath and people watching. Unbelivably relaxing - especially for one who doesn't seem to know how to relax.

We had a few great meals - Owl's Castle, Mocca and 100 years restaurant. And just walking the city, especially at night was really fun. We think maybe next year at this same time of year with much more time is a very good liklihood.

Go to the Marriot Hotel for afternoon tea. What a buffet! Live classical music too.