24 Best Bars in Budapest, Hungary

Among Budapest's best ruin bars—drinking holes built within old, abandoned postwar buildings and populated with flea market furniture—Csendes oozes underground atmosphere. Csendes means quiet in Hungarian, but this vintage bar is, in fact, almost always lively. The junk shop chic decor (think hanging bicycles, vintage knickknacks, and industrial artworks) brings in the hipster crowds, while the great beer selection, quality bar food, and incredible prices ensure they stick around. A few doors down, Csendes also has a lovely café-wine bar with a terrace (at the corner entrance to Károlyi-kert).

This complex of seven buildings and their interconnecting courtyards is home to some of Budapest's liveliest bars and restaurants---it can be touristy and overpriced, but it's a great pit stop on a night out. Spíler Original is the most popular hangout in the complex. Other places to visit include sister property Spíler Shanghai, plus Vicky Barcelona, Spritz Bar, and Blue Bird Karaoke Rooms. On weekends you'll find a flea market here, and the complex also has its own escape rooms.

This hidden spot down a dilapidated backstreet is the ideal place to rub shoulders with the city's coolest locals. Low-lit and cozy, the craft beers and cocktails are well-curated and the tapas plates are generously portioned. It gets very busy on weekends, and they close every summer to transform into a roving bar at Hungary's many music festivals.

This unique, colorful, and charming bar and bistro started life as a little theater—just a one-room space where seating faced a small stage. Púder still holds the occasional showcase, but post-pandemic, it's been transformed into an upscale pub, with local craft beers, cocktails and a hipster-friendly menu of vegan and Asian fusion dishes. The place gets busy on weekends when reservations are essential.

The oldest and best-known of Budapest's uniquely Hungarian romkerts (ruin bars), Szimpla Kert is known for its wild, exuberant, grungy style. Built inside a former stove factory, this maze of dark rooms, eclectic furnishings, local art, and crazy light installations attracts a raucous crowd of locals and tourists frolicking their way through the night with wild abandon. Expect a noisy, lively night here with the occasional patron's dog darting between tables while the owner downs shots. Visit by day to get a better feel for the decor, although expect to be joined by a steady stream of influencers, as it's one of the city's top attractions. Szimpla also hosts a weekly farmers' market featuring all-natural products on Sunday from 9 am to 2 pm, and runs an antiques shop next door.

The name translates roughly to "morning, dusk, evening," and this comfortable, slightly upscale gastropub is a welcoming spot at any of those times of day. The breakfasts and brunch, with live music, are lovely and worth booking in advance. And for evening imbibing, there's a convivial atmosphere and a wide range of beers and other drinks.

"Bár, étterem, lakás, arborétum" ("Bar, eatery, loft, arboretum") is how Béla describes itself. This pleasingly eclectic bar serves great cocktails and good food, and has the feel of someone's roomy loft apartment: check, check, check. However, a handful of plants hanging from the ceiling and one (admittedly cool) bird wall mural does not an arboretum make. Look out for secret swing concerts in the cellar.

For beer aficionados, nowhere beats this dimly lit underground bar: there are more than a dozen Belgian brews available on draught, with many more bottles filling the fridges. The food, including Belgian staples like mussels and fries, is nothing special, but it does help keep you upright.

Located around the back of the eye-catching Hattyú haz (Swan House), an example of the short-lived "organic" architectural style, this quirky little pub is a great place for a local craft beer and a bite to eat. If the weather is good, sit out in the leafy garden, complete with puddle-sized pond and wooden bridge.

This café is a rye slice of Tsarist Russia in the heart of modern Budapest. Antique chairs and leaning reading lamps, corner nooks with Victorian curtains, and a second-floor wooden railing overlooking the gallery: Café Zsivágó is almost a staged backdrop that insists on memorable nights. Small traditional bands play regularly on the ground floor and spontaneous concerts are held by guests who fancy plonking the old piano in the back room. For those on a budget, affordable draft beers and local wines are on offer. For everyone else, there are lovely cocktails and a fantastic selection for teetotalers here, too. Just don’t come hungry, as food options are slim.

The "Supplier" is one of Budapest's most popular event venues. Down its pedestrianized alleyway, rowdy crowds gather to chat outside on the covered terrace or get busy in the spacious, multiroom interiors. Expect local and visiting bands, pumping DJ sets, and themed dance nights, from Samba to African beats. It's a fun, sweaty affair, the kind of place where you pair a traditional shot of Unicum (Hungarian herbal liquor) with your beer.

Félix Hélix is a friendly neighborhood bar set in one of Budapest's busiest areas. A hidden gem, it's staffed by a longstanding Irish expat who regales you with banter as he pours perfect pints of Pilsner Urquell. Sit outside to enjoy the ruin bar-like setting or snake your way upstairs to the low-ceilinged mezzanine for quiet chats among fairy lights and vintage posters.

From the street, you would hardly imagine just behind the fence is one of the cutest neighborhood garden bars. Inside, cheery fold-up rainbow-colored chairs surround a tiny koi pond, shaded by garden umbrellas and lots of trees overhead. Figaró Kert is a repurposed community lot, and one of the city’s best-kept secrets. Though the service is known to be a little cantankerous, prices are good, and the atmosphere is summer chill.

At the southern tip of the Inner Town, facing the Central Market Hall, this popular pub is most notable for the thousands of pieces of paper stuck all over the walls and ceiling. Every guest is encouraged to add their own note—but only after enjoying a drink and a hearty meal (like the enormous bowl of homemade goulash soup).

While you may not want to spend all night here, this classic ruin pub and courtyard garden bar is open daily from 4 pm to 4 am, so you can pop in any time to get a feel for what cool, young Budapest is up to. With its cheap drinks and smoking area, tucked into a leafy courtyard, it’s easy to see why it's a favorite with rowdy students and backpackers.

This large complex of indoor and outdoor spaces set in a dilapidated building is part romkert (ruin bar), part culture hub. Students come here for cheap drinks, and businesses and clubs book meeting rooms for their membership events, so the place is buzzing almost every night of the week. Brightly painted walls and funky, cozy couches and chairs pepper the interior and lively courtyard. There’s not much in the way of food—it's mostly about the beers, spritzes, and games here.

Located in the historic Fészek Klub, this lively Cuban theme bar and restaurant features some lovely old design elements, live music, and a lively atmosphere. It's a little noisy for a relaxing dining experience, but perfect for cocktails. The leafy, outdoor courtyard is nice for a summer evening, featuring live Cuban dance shows. Or, you can grab a bite to eat in the bar in the front room, or head downstairs where the dance floor invites everyone to groove the night away.

"Don't worry, feel hippy" entreats this chill restaurant and bar (albeit a little cheesily) with trippy motifs, groovy energy, and a large terrace with views of the Danube. The bar’s menu is nothing special but it's decent and priced reasonably. It's all about the drinks (smoothies to alcohol) and the vibes.

Hopaholic prides itself on its extensive selection of local and international craft beers. As the sister bar to Csakajósör, it's an equally quirky little venue with a hip, alternative interior. The beer selection is finely curated, and the staff are friendly and knowledgeable.

Budapest's quintessential dive bar, Klub Vittula made headlines a few years back when actress Jennifer Lawrence got into a "beer fight" here with a pestering fan. Down its steep basement staircase, expect an unexpected crowd of bearded hipsters, broke students, and general weirdos. DJ sets are played from an extremely small stage in the front room, and you can never guess what odd event is taking place in the back, from garage sales to artsy movies.

Across the street from Budapest's Millenáris Park, this bar and pizza parlor is a kitsch, somewhat tongue-in-cheek tribute to communism, including graffiti-scrawled walls, chicken wire, and black and red paint smeared everywhere. Drinks are low in price and wide in range and the atmosphere tends to get very lively as the night progresses. For food, try the "Gulag Pizza," covered in spicy red paprika, ham, and corn.

The outdoor terrace of this hip drinking joint is ideal for watching the comings and goings of Széll Kálmán tér. Things can get busy on the dance floor on Friday and Saturday evenings.   

For a deeply immersive Újlipótváros experience, stop by for a beer and perhaps even a shot of Unicum at this teeny-tiny watering hole right on Pozsonyi út. Customers consist of brainy neighborhood regulars with a fondness for alcohol. Outside the bar there is a pin board with artworks and poems by the regulars.

Located next to lovely coffeehouse Hadik, Szatyor has a similarly airy, contemporary central European feel, but with a bit more edge than its stately neighbor. There's art everywhere—even painted on the ceiling—and a cultural ethos pervades, even extending to literary quotes about soup on the menu. An arty and delightful place for a drink or two.