We will be in Budapest in mid-April for the first time : do you have a favorite experience there that you can share with us?

Thank you,

Going to the Freedom Statue up on the hill at night and looking at the lights of Budapest.

Shopping in a little grocery store off Andrassy.

Hungarian goulash soup!!!

Seeing the Statue of Anonymous opposite the entrance to Vajdahunyad Castle
http://www.xlab.co.uk/photos/albums/budapest/?index=2

Buying Hungarian paprika in the market.

The best beer ever at the top of the hill.

Seeing St Stephen's mummified hand at St Stephen's Basilica.

A mushroom stew that was divine (sorry do not remember the restaurant and it was many years ago anyway).

The underground labyrinth--cheesy but memorable!

Tour the Parliament

Tour the synagogue on Dohany Street, the largest synagogue in Europe with a fascinating story

The lights at night

Evening cruise on the Danube

Szechenyi Baths

Open-face sandwiches at Duran - http://www.duran.hu/ - bottom of Andrassy ut.

See also my TRs at http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ria-venice.cfm and wilhelmswords.com/rtw2004/index.html - Lands of the Two-Headed Eagle

Sunset cruise on the Danube

View of Pest from top of Buda Hill

Lunch at the food stalls on the 2nd floor of Central Market

A visit to the Hungarian House of Wine! A spectacular opportunity to taste numerous Hungarian wines and ask questions to a knowledgeable staff. (Especially good if its raining outside, or if you just need a good drink). The Bulls Blood was one of my favorites -

Enjoy - Budapest is wonderful.

So many of the above, plus:

Taking the funicular up to the Fisherman's Bastion area.

Dinner at a little restaurant called Kis Rablo about a block or so behind the Gellert. Good Hungarian food! We also enjoyed dinner at Gundel.

And, of course, the Gellert spas.,

Loved Budapest...

Byrd

The House of Terror on Andrassy is a spooky and meaningful museum in a "facility" in which fascism (the Nazis and the Arrow Cross [the Hungarian fascist party]) and the subsequent enforced Communism (the Russian occupation) were not so very different evils.

the Ethnograph Museum across the street from Parliament

Central Market

Parliament

Liszt Ter

walking along the Danube

getting lost, and having a Hungarian beautician get her dad to drive us back to hotel

great meal at Trofea Grill Etterem (a upper-class Hungarian buffet)

Fishermen's Bastion and the photo opportunities of the Parliment from the arches of the Bastion.

The Mathias Church... beautiful! And, its round stained-glass window of the the dove proves to be a wonderful photo op!

Walking across the Chain Bridge at night.
Terror Museum
Cruise on Danbue in the evening- the lights on the Buda side and the lights of the Parliment, and the Chain Bridge- amazing!

Szechenyi Baths-went at 8 a.m. and was "floating" for the rest of the day
Dohany Synagogue & the memorials behind it-not a source of smiles, but VERY memorable. Use the guides there--even on a hot crowded August day, ours was excellent

Every single one of all the above posts, plus :

Coffee and cake at Gerbeaud www.gerbeaud.hu

A visit to the Opera house, both to see whats on stage and the beautiful building that houses it.

The stainless steel remembrance tree at the Dohanyi synagogoue.

A visit to the National Arts centre; beautiful building, quality shows, inexpensive ticket prices.

Sweet Tokaj wine with goose liver.

Worth repeating : A visit to Gellert and Szechenyi baths.

A stroll on Margit island.

Budapest at night along the river - very beautiful when all lit up.

It's on my Fodor's profile.

The view of the parliament building from Fisherman's Bastion on Buda hill (www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/102061720)

The most moving memorial I've ever seen - "The Shoes" (www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/102061669)

Riding the old trams by the river (www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/102061665)

The Chain Bridge - especially at night (but during the daytime also, especially on a summer weekend with the craft stalls on it) (www.pbase.com/annforcier/image/102061846)

You have all given me such wonderful ideas we will be going to some of the places you suggested - we only have three days there but now I wish that we had more.

I will be posting our experiences when we get back.

Thank you!

Have a wonderful time. You will love Budapest. All of this remembering is making me anxious to go back again.

We stayed at the Hotel Pest and we found it to be a good location. Right off Andrassy close to the Opera House.

Even with 2 days let alone 3 you'll be able to do almost all of these things, and many of them together in a day or an afternoon as they several are very close to each other, such as the central market, Gellert hotel and baths and the citadel hill. An afternoon can accomplish all those. Then, a 4 min. tram ride along the river will take you to the funicular rail, which takes you to Fishermans bastion and St. Steven's church. The Elizabeth bridge is directly across from all this too, and the houses of Parliament just across the river.

Have fun. Budapest is wonderful.

And what most here would consider a trivial and odd addition: Pizza Marzano on Andrassy ut, the Budapest branch of Pizza Express, one of the UK's best, most dependable modestly-priced eatery with what still seems to be, believe it or don't, the best salad niçoise in the western world.