Based on enthusiastic posts endorsing Budapest as a great place to visit, I altered my flight plans (Canada to Vienna) to fly on to Budapest arriving there the afternoon of Sept. 30. I need to be in Vienna on October 3 for the business portion of my trip so only have 2 1/2 days to see Budapest. My wife is not accompanying me on this trip and she usually does a lot of the research for our trips. So on this solo jaunt, I assume I can get the "must-sees" from research on this site but would appreciate:
1. recommendation of hotel that is central to the sights - 2/3star okay - and I have no idea if it should be in Buda or Pest. I have read some threads on that aspect and Pest seems to be the favourite of the posts I read tonight.
2. which train station in Budapest do I need to go to Vienna and what time can I go on Oct 3 to be in Vienna by mid to late afternoon? Should I attempt to pre-purchase the ticket to save money? What should I expect to pay for second class to Vienna?
3. suggestions for things to do or see that I should not miss in Budapest.

Thanks fellow travellers, I know I've posed a lot of questions but your input will assist greatly, particularly accommodation.

Cheers,
T.J.
Edmonton, Canada

We stayed in Buda and loved it there more quaint than the Pest side. There is a Hilton on the river there which also has a casino in it. It is next door to the Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church, two must sees in Buda on Castle hill. Certain rooms may have a view of the Bridges and Parliament across the river.

We did a walking tour on the Pest side but one thing we loved was an evening Danube River cruise. All the buildings and monuments were lighted, they also had closed circuit TV and provided head sets in your own language. We ate dinner before it on one of the restaurant boats along the river.
Pick up a small guide book, we may have used a Frommers on Budapest and it should help you decide what you want to see.

Public transportation was decent. We used the trolley to go from castle hill to the hotel with all the baths. We did alot of walking too and used buses.

I agree with the choice of Pest, in large part because it is closer to what I'd expect will be most of the things you'll want to see -- and it is easier to get to places. (The three metro lines all stop at one station on the Pest side, but otherwise have separate routes.)

On specifics:
1- Hotel. Many choices, but the Taverna at around $80 - $100/night including breakfast probably combines location and price/value well. Other possibilities are plentiful, including the Intercontinental, Marriott, Hyatt at higher prices, and some others a bit less. If you need less costly suggestions, do ask.
2- Train station - as I recall, there are two different stations with trains to Vienna, so the answer depends on which train you take. Pre-purchasing a ticket should save you some money, but not a huge amount. You can do it at a train station, or at the rail system's ticket office in Pest (Andrassy ut, as I recall). As to fare, I don't know current prices, but I'd guess under $50 (paid in Hungarian forint, of course). Train time varies a bit, but around 3 hours should do it. I've not looked recently, but the the Hungarian rail system does have a web site, and may now have an English option for schedules, fares, etc.
3- Musts - (A) the 1/2 day sightseeing tour of Budapest, from Cityrama or another operator using live multilingual guides, not a recording. Do that early in your stay (AM of 10/1?), as it will give a great overview and suggest further "exploring". (B) the National Museum -- great exhibit covering history, doable in 2 hours or less. (C) Central Synagogue -- an hour or less. (D) Dinner in a good Hungarian restaurant. Gundel is famous and fancy but pricey, and but for the Sunday brunch would not be my first choice. There is a good restaurant whose name escapes me at the moment, a block or two north of the National Museum, and there are numerous others in various locations. (E) Aqvincum, if you have the time. This ancient roman town (ruins) is easily reached by public transport.
Any of several guide books will have other ideas. I'm partial to the Rough Guide.

teej: We stayed on the Buda side at the Hotel Victoria ([email protected])for €102 and loved it. Lots of raves from Fodorites. Each room has huge window overlooking the Danube.

If you go to Aquincum (we did and enjoyed it, but we are Roman history enthusiasts) get back on the train and go on to Szentendre and then take the hydrofoil back to Budapest.

As for train, we did our trip in reverse of yours, leaving Vienna on IC345 from Vien Westbahnhof and arriving at Budapest-Keleti. I assume the stations might be the same, but the train # no doubt is different.

We visited St. Stephens and then took the elevator up into the dome. A short stair climb and we were outside viewing the city. It was spectacular.

Agree with the suggestion for the night cruise. Nothing like cruising along, sipping complimentary champagne and enjoying the twinkling lights on buildings and the chain bridge. But perhaps you should save that for a time when your wife is with you.

We loved Budapest and I'm sure you will enjoy your visit there.

1. The site http://www.inyourpocket.com/hungary/...tegory?cid=160 has a good annotated list.

2. The reference library of a city near you may have the Thomas Cook European Timetable. Table 1250 shows two restaurant car trains from Budapest Deli station at 0940 and 1310 to Vienna West at 1220 and 1550. Early purchase gives no saving in fare, which I think is 38 euros. You can cut that to about 25 if you change. Budapest Keleti 1205, buffet car for lunch, Hegyeshalom 1418, buy a new ticket, Hegyeshalom 1456, Vienna South 1548.

3. The In Your Pocket site for Budapest covers the major attractions. I like the strange park of socialist sculpture: please see http://www.szoborpark.hu/indexa.html

I think I would skip Aqvincum. It takes time, and Roman ruins are much like one another, except to enthusiasts.

[email protected]

Go to the German Rail site at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e. It will give you all the information you need on time, stations, etc.

Hi TJ:

Since your previous posting indicated you'd read my travelogue, I'll just summarize here -
1. we stayed at the Mecure Buda on the Buda side, nice hotel that offered a great rate & only ~150m from the Deli pu station (subway, street car, train to Vienna)
2. train to Vienna is ~2:45 with schedule at the Austrian Rail Web Site (http://www.oebb.at/ - in German but easily navigatable). We bought '1st class' tickets through RailEurope ($93cnd each including their service fee, and 2nd class would be ~$65cnd which was OK but they also charged $26cnd to courier them, not a big $$ difference so I'd still go with 1st class) but could have just as easily picked them up in Budapest without needing to pay the service fee or shipping (the day before we left for Vienna I wandered over to the train part of the Deli pu station to confirm our times/trains, etc and all of the signs were also in English, all of the agents spoke very good English & the linups were short). Both Vienna & Budapest are easy to get around on subway, so your first choice of train should be based upon what closest to your hotels at each end but if that inconvienent then your likley a max 30 min subway ride away
3. this sites we viewed were in my travelogue, but we used "The Rough Guide to Budapest" (Chapters $18cnd & plamsized) and the material they provided with the "Budapest Card" provided maps/directions to everything

As for cash, ATMs were everywhere (at the airport in Budapest there is one by the baggage claim area) and official money exhanges at the train stations at both ends to exchange extra cash.

Hope this helps.

Z