Off to Budapest in less than two weeks. Afraid I haven't put aside enough spending money. Just wondering if anybody has been there recently and can provide an example of prices. I will be there 7 days and have set aside about €600. My accommodation is already paid.

eireg: We just returned from Budapest on Wednesday. Did a quick conversion for you on oanda.com with the following result:

Friday, May 30, 2003
600 Euro = 149,996 Hungarian Forint
600 Hungarian Forint (HUF) = 2.40006 Euro (EUR)

Public transport is very reasonable. You don't say how long you are staying, but perhaps a Budapest Card would be beneficial for you. Gives you unlimited transportation around the city and entry to some museums.

We felt food was fairly inexpensive.

Check budapest.com and http://www.fsz.bme.hu/hungary/budapest/ for general info.

We liked Budapest and enjoyed our stay there.

Hi Eireg:

We were in Budapest & Vienna back in March and for some stupid reason keep meticulous records ... and I found Budapest to be a fairly inexpensive major city ... since Giovanna did the conversion and €600 is 150,000ft, I took out that much from the ABM at the airport in Budapest and that covered everything but accomidations in Budapest & Vienna for the 2 of us (we don't drink so that extends the $$, but drinks didn't appear to be that expensive) ...
- direct shuttle (minibus) to hotel from airport 2,100ft each (we took the train to Vienna & the train station was next door to our hotel)
- 3 day Budapest Pass (transit & some sites free, many site discounts) at 4,950ft each (transit system is very good & I'd go for it alone rather than the Budapest Pass as not enough 'free' with the Pass & most discounts are 10-25%) ... Buda Castle Labyrinth was the only thing we paid full price for & it was 1,000ft each
Food -
- 1st night PizzaHut (tired & didn't want to experiment) - 3,500ft (including tip) for a large pizza
- 2nd night the Iguana (a spot near the parliament buildings that was recommended in the Budapest city guide) -www.budapestweek.com/restaurants/rest_iguana.html - 6,200ft (including tip) for 2 & very full
- 3rd night at 7,600ft a not bad local resturant that I couldn't remember the name of but good
- 1 litre soda, 1.5 litre bottled water, chips & chocallate bar at grocery store by hotel - 395ft
- 2 pastries at subway stop - 320ft

... why I tracked all that I don't know but the fact I've relayed it to you will somehow justify my continuing to do it ...

Z

Hello TravelMaster-where in canada are you from? I'm also canadian

... where am I from or where do I live ... I currently have a house in Ottawa that I rarely see because I travel with work ... but so far I've lived in New Brunswick (mostly Bathurst & Fredericton), Ontario (aside from Ottawa, its been Hamilton & Toronto), New York ('officially' Ogdensburg, unafficially Poughkeepsie) ...