Items to purchase in Budapest?
 

What is an item that is unique to Budapest that would be good to bring home.
Thanks!

Embroidered/crocheted linens, tableclothes and napkins, placemats, etc. Paprika. Tokay wine. We also purchased some beautiful dolls for our nieces' collections.

Tinned goose liver, paprika, wine, Unicum, salami, Visit Nagycsarnok - plenty of foodie things to check out, leather products..they sell small very unique leather purses( small round shaped ones made of hard leather) and bags on the danube bank..I have got one of these and several people have admired it over here and asked what it was.

porcelain (Herendi, Zsolnay and Hollohazi are the most famous)
Embroidered pheasant blouses
wine
palinka
Unicum (try it first you might hate the taste)
cd-s with Hungarian music (whatever type you like)
food (if they let it through the border!): szalami, kolbasz, libamajkrem (goose liver pate), paprika
wooden or wrought iron pieces (bowls, christmas-tree stand etc.)
books - usually MUCH cheaper than in North America

anything that you haven't seen anywhere else and you like.

Keep in mind that Tokaji is a dessert wine, meant to be drunk by itself or with dessert.
I heard about people who ordered a bottle of Tokaji with their meal and then complained that it was *too sweet*, after drinking the whole bottle! That's not what it is meant for.

All of the above, and also Clinique makeup if you care for it. Some one gave me the tip and while I don't wear a lot of makeup, I did get a lipstick for $8 (seemed like a good price for clinique). The store is on Vaci Utza, the main shopping street.

Many of the embroidered items in Budapest are lovely, but not very well made. Look closely at the stitching. One day we were near the Szechenyi Baths in the Municipal Park on the Pest side & found an older woman selling lovely handmade pillow shams. Although our choices were limited the workmanship is exquisite. At $30 a piece we snatched them up.

I snuck some in once, but salami can't legally come into the US. The openwork/cutwork linens that come from Romania are exquisite. Prices are much more than in Romania, but if your aren't going into Romania then this is the place to shop.

THE CLINTON DOLL!! There may still be some left! It has Bill Clinton on the outside of the wooden stackable doll. You open it up and there is Monica Lewinsky. Open Monica up...Paula Jones. Open Paula....Jennifer Flowers....the last small doll left when you open Jennifer.....HILLARY!

The guy at the store in Budapest knew the entire story and could recite all the women. God Bless America and Bill Clinton!

I usually buy classical CDs [You can get stuff by Hungarians Bartok & Kodaly that never see the light over here] and paprika [go to a grocery store -- it's cheaper, fresher and you will see the various varieties-- see below for types] I also buy painted eggs, real and ceramic [there was a place near the top end of Vaci Utca that had a wide selection in the basement.]

Skip Unicum -- blech.
[I don't buy the embroidery very much both because of quality issues and I'm not an embroidery kind of gal:)]

PAPRIKA TYPES
Rozsa (sweet and a burnt-orange color; sold as Hungarian paprika in most supermarkets)
Edesnemes (more like Spanish paprika, sweet and very red)
Csemege (similar to Edennemes; very aromatic)
Csipos (slightly hot but less so than chile)

Csipospaprika is also called erospaprika.

Embroidery that can be bought in shops with touristy knick-knacks may not be good quality. Embroidery takes a long time to make so for good quality you'll have to pay the price.

There are about 2 million Hungarians living in Romania (a consequence of WW1 & WW2) and many of them bring over their crafts to Hungary to sell. So what you think is from Romania may be in fact ethnic Hungarian.

Unicum is made of more than 75 herbs and medicinals. It was first made for a sick king who consequently became well again. Don't know if it was from the herbs or the alcohol ;)

Herend also makes a pottery that is quite attractive and very expensive in the US.

Also, Tokay comes in different levels of sweetness. I do think they are all too heavy for food, but one works well as an aperitif.

Cheers,
Jan