Budapest Questions Round 2
 

1). We are staying at the Marriott on the Danube. Can anyone guide me on how best to get to the castle. Yes using public transportation (trams?) but which one and any other info. I cannot seem to find schedules and maps of the trams on line.

2) We willl visit the opera house for a tour and I will purchase our tickets on line, any tips from those that have taken the tour? We will take the one given in English.

3) We Want to be able to say hello, goodby and Thankyou in the native language. Can someone give us the phonetic pronunciation of these so that we get it right?

Mrs Billit,

not able to answer those questions I'm afraid, but if you have any interest in music, the Franz Liszt museum on Liszt Feranck Ut is fascinating and worth seeing out. Also the tour of the Parliament is well thought of I gather [we missed it].

We went to an opera performance which was excellent and very good value - not sure what the cost is now as this was a few years ago. The opera house is really beautiful and the tour should be very interesting.

how long are you staying?

We will be there for 3 days in early September. It is the last stop on our trip. Yes we will do the ParlIament as well. One question I left off my list above related to seeing the Parliament building. I seem to recall that a tram passes by the Marriott and will stop at the Parliament. Can someone give me the tram number and is the tram stop clearly marked near the Marriott.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-171059-2.cfm

Also, buy a guidebook and use the translate app on your phone.

Be sure to take the evening river cruise - the city is gorgeous lit up at night.

We just hopped in a cab to get to the castle - not sure how to work trams over the bridge to the Buda side.

"The best and most scenic way to get up to the hill is to take the funicular (Sikló) from Clark Ádám tér at the Buda end of the Chain Bridge. The track is almost 100 m long.
Operating hours: 7.30-22.00 every day. The cable car runs constantly during peak time, and at max 10-minute intervals during less busy periods.

Other option is to take the Várbusz (Castle bus: no. 16 and 16A), it departs every few minutes from Széll Kálmán tér (formerly called Moszkva tér) (M2, red metro line, or tram 4,6).
A more romantic way of getting to the Castle is by taking the steps leading up the hill from Clark Adam Square."

Plus I'ms sure your hotel will tell you.

As we learned on our last visit to Budapest, if touring Parliament is a priority for you, you might want to reserve tickets in advance. We Walked over one afternoon only to find that all the days' tickets were sold out.

If you'll have a mobile with you, I can suggest the BKK Futar app for navigating the public transit system. The app is very easy to use; you can enter POI or specific station names for directions.

The opera house is vast and certainly worth a look on tour. Performances are very cheap by North American standards and sold on-line. Sit on the main floor rather than the "stalls" for better sightlines. Subtitles (actually surtitles) are shown like all the big opera houses, but in Hungarian, which I suppose is obvious but no help to the tourist trying to sort out Wagner. Enjoy Budapest, one of Europe's great bargains.

We used our Maps application on our phone for directions to all places in Budapest, and then directions which showed which tram etc to take.

Remember that the #16A bus only makes loops up and down to the Castle District and doesn't cross the river to the Pest side. Be sure it's the #16. The bus is probably the best way to get up to the Castle District but if you do not walk at least once you will miss many great photo ops. It's not a bad walk.

When you are up on the Castle District at the top of the tallest turret is a small café where we go to relax for a bit with a drink and for the views. About 90% of the people go up there, go through it, and out onto the veranda on the other side which has great views up, down and across the river. It's described here ---> http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...l_Hungary.html

And a nice place for a cuppa tea, coffee or hot chocolate and maybe a sweet is the Walzer Café ---> http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...l_Hungary.html

Pjk

1).
Take bus number 16 or 16 A directly up the hill. Or tram number 4 or 6.

2) szia for both hello and goodbye. pronounced at see-ya. and szia stok is the plural form. ( seeya-stok). koszonom for thank you. Pronounced as ke-se-nom