Budapest Must sees?
 

My husband and I and several of our friends are taking a Danube River Cruise next April and it ends in Budapest. We plan to stay in Budapest for 3 days afterward. The cruise company includes a 1/2 day overview type of tour, which involves seeing the City Park, Opera House, St Stephens Cathedral, Parliament, and Matthias Church, plus 'visiting' Heroes' Square, Buda Castle Hill, and Fisherman's Bastion. We are going to hire a private guide for perhaps an additional 1/2 day tour with more indepth sightseeing. The guide will customize the tour and we are struggling with what are the most important sites to get a real feel for the city and what makes it unique. What are the 'must-sees? Is there anything that added greatly to your experience in Budapest...that would require a guide, I mean. We already plan to visit the Great Market Hall, the New York Café, and Kirlay utca, but thought those could be seen and enjoyed without a guide. Any input or thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

What about a visit to one of the ornate bath houses?
http://visitbudapest.travel/activities/budapest-baths/

I have friends in Budapest so have gone several times. My favorite thing there is not far outside the city and reachable by suburban rail, the HEV, Line 8.

It's the wonderful Godollo Palace: http://www.kiralyikastely.hu/main_page

Walk out onto the Chain Bridge at night when it is lit up. You also have a view of the lighted Parliament from it.

Only if you are in the neighborhood, but we stayed at the Radisson Blu Beke Hotel, and the lobby is worth a look in. It was the hotel in which passengers from the original Orient Express train used to stay, and the lobby is decorated with a lifesize Englishman complete with rolled-up newspaper and a bulldog at his side. Wall decor includes brass cut-outs of things like a lady in a big hat, teacups, et. al. It is just up the street from the train station that has the world's prettiest McDonald's.

Looks like you are hitting the main attractions. You might want to add The House of Terror which is a museum dedicated to those that were tortured in that building during the Nazi occupation and the Communist era. Statue Park just outside the city is worth a visit and for excellent sweets and pastry, Gerbeaud Cafe is world famous. For a change of pace, as suggested above, try a bath at the famous Gellert Baths.
Have a good time, really enjoyed my short 5 day visit there

Dido:
The venerable Hotel Gellert on the Buda side, has a most ornate inside bath house...see pix.

Visit the Jewish Museum of Budapest in Pesht on the second floor of the famous Great Synagogue and the unique Holocaust Memorial, metal weeping-willow in the synagogue's courtyard. Commissioned by actor Tony Curtis in memory of his father, Emanuel Schwartz. Striking! The courtyard was boarded shut and used by the occupying Nazis as a "holding pen" for Budapest Jews that were to be transported to the K-kamps. The brutal Battle of Budapest was fought in 1945 as the oncoming Russian troops surrounded the city and finally captured it from the occupiers.

The young Swedish diplomat assigned to Budapest in '44, Raul Wallenberg, was able to provide safety by flying Swedish flags over several apartment dwellings ("safe houses")and the Swedish embassy. Today over 60,000 surviving Jews and their descendants still make Budapest their home in the face of occasionally virulent (covert and overt) anti-Jewish actions.

The New Yorker Cafe has had several names over the years..once called The Hungaria Cafe also. Tea and pastries in the late afternoon is quite a nice experience, in over-the-top art deco surroundings.

***Ask your guide about Hannah Senesh..chances are he/she will not know or care to tell you about her. Most will completely ignore the Wallenberg saga, and all will shy away from the details of the bestial Arrow Cross gangs. All are significant parts of Budapest (Hungarian) WW II and Holocaust history.

Refererences: Chapter on Hungary, "Blue Flags Over Budapest", (Withered Roots: The Remnants of Eastern European Jewry, Isaac Natham Publishing, 1994). Chapter 11 "Encounters: Budapest", The Wayfarers, The Lighthouse Press, 2003).

If none of the above interests you, then I take it you left the thread. Very little of the above will provide you a fun visit to the city. But I'm just answering your question on what to see and do in Budapest....a fine old European city.

(See pix below)

Dido:
Pix of Budapest 1980's and 1990's:

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...1980SAnd1990S#

The shoes on the Danube Promenade memorial to those killed by the Arrow Cross. They were shot along the Danube so that their bodies would fall into the river.

You MUST visit the Castle in-depth (will take quite a while), take a cruise on the river - and explore the major museums.

Agree with others that the House of Terror and the Szechenyi Baths are worth doing. Budapest is an amazing city. Have fun!

The Szechenyi Baths! My husband and I also got foot massages while there.

Not sure why you would hire a guide to do the above. All (the baths, shoes on the Danube, terror museum), are quite easy to visit alone.

What are you interested in? Maybe she can build something around a particular passion? (Ex. You love Franz Liszt ...

My favorite part of the city are some of the small city neighborhoods. I live on Szent Istvan park and love the neighborhood around here (not far from the most beautiful McDonalds mentioned above which is in Nyugati).

I also like the neighborhood near the holocaust museum. If you go to the synagogue, pop into the ruin pub, Szimpla.

If you provide some specific detail, I might have better ideas.

Great ideas for my upcoming tripin September! Thanks

Re: Baths, the article I read states you can buy swim suits there. How expensive are they please and can you also buy towels? That would be more convenient than bringing them from home. Anything else I need to know about the baths?

I agree with those above that the Baths (I was in Szechenyi, Gellert is also supposed to be amazing) and the Great Synagogue are must-sees.
Oh, and cd, I had a suit, but I either "borrowed" the hotel towel for the morning, or got one there, I can't remember which. But absolutely go. Just LOOK: http://s560.photobucket.com/user/nfl...ml?sort=6&o=19


I also enjoyed the village of Szetendre, which is an easy daytrip by train.

If I could have afforded a private guide, I would have looked for someone to guide me to some of the lesser known architectural gems. Budapest has some amazing ARt Nouveau buildings (the Arts & Crafts Museum, the Gresham Palace Hotel, and others I didn't get time to see), some very elaborate neo-classical (the ARt Museum at Heroes' Square), and unique Gothic restoration/Art Nouveau/neo-Romanesque in Matthias church, plus some early Renaissance houses still standing in the Castle district. The Gothic Downtown Parish Church (Belvárosi Plébánia templom) was closed for renovations when I was there. I remember an ARt Deco theatre (Uj Szinhaz), but many fascinating buildings are still covered in grime, hidden behind courtyard doors, or unmentioned in most guides. Even the Art Nouveau Parisian Arcade (Parisi Udvar), which was built as a shopping arcade, is dimly lit and hard to find (Here's the exterior: http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/s...y/100_3329.jpg )

You could also have a fascinating former-communist tour, if that's more your interest. Someone already mentioned the Terror Museum, and there's a collection of former Soviet-era statues in a park on the outskirts of Budapest (called Momento Park, I think, I didn't get there).

It's a fascinating city, with some truly spendid views, so whatever you choose will be enjoyable!

The architecture comments above reminded me of the Great Market Hall. I had such fun there and it's walking distance from most parts of the city: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_M...Hall_(Budapest)

My daughter rented a suit at the baths... I was not aware you could buy one, but perhaps you can.
And you should be able to rent a towel...

Oh, Centraleurope, as a local, what's your impression of the Troffea Grill? We enjoyed that immensely, particularly as an intro to Hungarian cuisine.

We enjoyed our visit to the Ethnography Museum, across from the Parliament building. I guess one would call that Art Deco, as well.

Thank you all so much for the great ideas!!! We ARE planning to go to the Szechenyi Baths and will bring suits for that (not thinking I want to 'borrow' a suit!). All the Jewish historical monuments, the Synagogues, the museums are very high on our list. We were looking to hire the guide more for the 'hidden Budapest' type of thing...the guides are actually very reasonable and we were thinking that they might provide more background and insight than just a casual look, or what we can gain from a guidebook. No, tower, I haven't left the thread, and I loved the Wallenberg story and your other suggestions. We do know that a lot of what we see is not going to be 'fun', but it will be informative, interesting, and sobering. We are looking for what makes Budapest unique and it sounds like there is a great lot of that...in that beautiful city and the others we will be touring. There is a lot that was mentioned that we will see on our own. I was trying to gather some thoughts on unusual or different places, not usually visited. CentralEurope...you mentioned some neighborhoods that sound intriguing, and as far as our passions go..I would say history (especially Jewish, as I am fascinated by the Holocaust, and its impact on humanity), castles, cathedrals, local life, that type of thing. Again, thank you so much for the wonderful input...it is all helpful.

I too am interested in Jewish life... Before you come, if you are a reader, you might want to read some Imre kertesz or Peter nadas... There are some great Hungarian authors. I am an American, so I can not relate to the history of this region. I also read regional fiction (ex. Milan Kundera) to try to wrap my head around it.

The neighborhood near the holocaust museum is nice. There is a small ruin pub around the corner. That is a less discovered part of town worth exploring (the ruin pub is a left out the museum doors, first right and on the right ).

I do not know the trofea, but I see it gets great reviews. When we eat out Hungarian, we go to little places near our apartment.

I do like the ethnography museum.... That entire area from parliament, past the Nagy statue, to the liberty square, and down to October 6th is a great place to walk.

Enjoy. We love this city.