Budapest: Things We Learned So You Don’t Have To

We went to Budapest thinking we were doing a little recon for Unchecked Baggage.

And we did.

We also drank wine fresh from the cask, got stuck in an unfortunate train-bathroom situation, made friends with a waitress, cruised the Danube with unlimited Prosecco, made some questionable decisions involving thermal baths and late-night festivities, and learned that sometimes the best thing you can do in Budapest is absolutely nothing for a couple of hours.

You know. Research.

Budapest surprised us. It was beautiful, complicated, historic, quirky, affordable, occasionally chaotic and much more relaxed than we expected.

So rather than give you another list of the “10 Best Things to Do in Budapest,” we're giving you the things we actually learned while we were there.

Some are practical.

Some may save you from making the same mistakes we did.

And at least one involves a nonfunctioning toilet.

You're welcome.

DON’T Plan Anything Important on Arrival Day

We landed in Budapest in the morning, and somewhere in the back of our minds we apparently believed that meant we had an entire bonus day to explore.

We did not.

Even though we've traveled internationally before, we'd forgotten just how exhausted you can be on that first day in Europe.

By the time we made it through the airport, got to our hotel and dropped off our bags, we were perfectly happy finding a café, having brunch and getting recommendations from our amazing waitress, who, naturally, became Anna’s new best friend as they bonded over the best, most affordable nail salon in the area.

It turned out to be exactly the arrival day we needed.

Give yourself permission to land.

Drop your bags. Eat something. Walk around your neighborhood. Figure out which direction the river is. Sit at a café. Have a drink. Go to bed early if you want to. We did and we’re very glad we didn’t try to power through. 

Budapest will still be there tomorrow.

DO Bring Your Patience to the Airport

Could it take you 20 minutes? Sure.

Could it take two hours? You betcha. 

At one point airport workers were handing out bottled water to the people waiting in line, which should give you some indication of how things were going.

This is exactly why you don't want a prepaid tour or a hard-to-get lunch reservation waiting for you a few hours after your flight lands.

You're on vacation. You're in a different country. Things are going to work differently. There is no point in stomping your feet and throwing a fit. Don’t be an ugly American.

Take the water. Practice your deep breathing. Go with the flow and make new friends with the fire fighters from Texas in line behind you.

DO Make the Most of Your Mornings

Budapest isn't necessarily an early-morning city. Many things don't really get going until around 9 a.m.

Use that to your advantage.

Getting to places like Fisherman's Bastion, Buda Castle, Matthias Church and St. Stephen's Basilica earlier in the day gives you a chance to actually enjoy them before everyone else has the same idea. And you’ll get some amazing photos because you aren’t fighting the crowds. 

If you're traveling during the summer, there's another benefit: Budapest can get HOT in the afternoon.

See the things in the morning. Walk the hills (The hills in Buda are no joke). Take the pictures.

Then, when the afternoon heat arrives, find yourself a café, order something wonderful and hunker down for a while.

One of the things that surprised us most about Budapest was how wonderfully unhurried it felt.

Let it be.

Slow down and take it all in.

DO Visit the Ruin Bars. DON'T Wait Until Late Friday Night

Budapest's ruin bars are quirky, eclectic, bizarre and absolutely worth seeing.

Szimpla Kert is the famous one, and you could spend an embarrassing amount of time just wandering around trying to figure out what exactly you're looking at.

Go.

But here's where we offer a little midlife wisdom: maybe don't make your first visit after 9 p.m. on a Friday night.

First, there will be a line.

We are too old for lines like that.

Second, while we fully acknowledge that we don't always act our ages, the late-night crowd has a way of reminding you exactly how old you are.

And we prefer to live in denial, thank you very much.

Go earlier. Explore. Have a drink. Enjoy the weirdness.

Then leave the late night line to the 22-year-olds.

DO Go to a Thermal Bath. Sparty? Know Yourself

You can't really talk about Budapest without talking about its thermal baths, and yes, you should absolutely experience one.

But then there's Sparty.

Sparty is the famous weekly night party that transforms the historic Széchenyi Thermal Bath into a massive open-air nightclub with electronic music, lights, drinks and hundreds of people partying in thermal pools.

Would we recommend it?

Maybe. But with some caveats. 

Are you adventurous? Young at heart? Slightly questionable in your decision-making when you're on vacation?

Then this insanity might appeal to you.

Being caught up in what can only be described as a conga-line-turned-whirlpool at 2 a.m. left us with unexplained bruises, one very stubbed toe and a healthy respect for some of the benefits of growing older.

For example, we've learned that cheap, warm Prosecco chugged from plastic cups lost its appeal about 30 years ago. 

Did we have fun?

Absolutely. We have fun most places! 

Would we recommend it to everyone?

Absolutely not.

Choose your own adventure, Bag Ladies.

DO Get on the Danube

There are some cities you need to see from the water, and Budapest is one of them.

Especially at night.

The view of the Hungarian Parliament Building illuminated from the Danube really is every bit as spectacular as the photographs make it look.

There are all kinds of river cruises available. Sightseeing cruises. Dinner cruises. Romantic cruises.

We chose the Prosecco cruise.

Because, well, Prosecco.

Would that be our recommendation for everyone? Probably not. A dinner cruise might be a little more mellow and sophisticated.

But that's the beauty of it.

Pick your poison.

We chose chaos.

DO Get Out of the City

Budapest is incredible, but some of our favorite experiences happened after we left it.

Our day in Eger and the Valley of the Beautiful Women was absolutely worth the trip. Cellars tucked into the hillside, Hungarian wines we probably wouldn't have discovered otherwise and a completely different pace from Budapest made it one of the highlights of the trip.

We also spent a day exploring the Danube Bend, including Szentendre, Visegrád and Esztergom, with a quick side quest across the river into Slovakia.

We're not usually big organized-tour people. We'd much rather wander around on our own than follow somebody holding a little flag.

But this was different.

It was just the two of us with our guide, Tamas, and it was easily a 10/10 experience.

Having someone who could explain what we were seeing, and, more importantly, put it into the larger context of Hungarian history made the day completely different than it would have been if we'd simply driven from one pretty place to another.

If you'd like to look into the same private Danube Bend experience, you can find Tamas's current tour listing here: Szentendre, Visegrád and Esztergom Private Danube Bend Tour. Tell him Tori and Anna sent you! 

DO Take Time to Learn the History

Budapest is beautiful.

But some of its beauty sits alongside an incredibly painful history.

The Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial is one of those places that deserves more than a quick photo before moving on to the next attraction. The memorial honors Jewish people who were murdered along the Danube during World War II, and standing there beside the river is a very different experience from simply reading about it.

Our day with Tamas also gave us a deeper understanding of Hungary.

We learned about invasions, occupations, communism, revolution and the ways ordinary Hungarian people adapted over generations. What stayed with us most was the resilience and resourcefulness of the people who have lived through all of it.

Travel is more meaningful when you understand where you are.

Not every Unchecked Baggage experience needs to be funny, Instagrammable or accompanied by Prosecco.

Some places simply deserve your attention.

DON'T Assume the Toilet on the Train Home From Eger Will Be Functional

Is this advice extremely specific?

Yes.

Will it apply to 99 percent of people reading this?

Probably not.

Are we including it anyway?

Obviously.

After approximately three hours of wine tasting in the Valley of the Beautiful Women, we stopped at a little local bar near the train station.

There may have been a lovely lager recommended by a local. 

There may have been some enthusiastic lager consumption because our train was coming.

And then we boarded said train and discovered that the toilet was not functioning.

This is where travel teaches you important life skills.

Adaptability.

Problem solving.

Resourcefulness.

And the ability to make agreements with your travel companion that certain events will never be discussed publicly.

We will not be taking questions at this time.

DON'T Try to Do Everything

We spent nearly a week in Budapest.

And we still didn't see everything.

We didn't tour Parliament.

We didn't make it to Párisi Passage Restaurant.

We didn't get up to the Citadel.

We missed Heroes' Square.

We only ate Langos twice. 

We didn't make a trip to Lake Balaton, which we now feel quite strongly deserves a day of its own.

At first it's tempting to look at everything you missed and think you planned the trip wrong.

We don't.

Because one of the easiest ways to ruin a great vacation is to turn it into a checklist.

If we'd squeezed one more attraction into every open hour, what would we have given up?

The long café stop?

The conversation with the waitress?

The random wandering?

The side quest  to Tropicana Las Vegas Casino in the heart of Budapest that we didn't plan?

Sometimes those are the moments you remember.

You are not going to see all of Budapest in one trip.

And that's okay.

Because Budapest Deserves a Second Trip

If there's one big thing Budapest taught us, it's to slow down.

Get up early and see something incredible before the crowds arrive.

Then sit down.

Drink the coffee.

Order another glass of wine.

Talk to the person sitting next to you.

Get out of the city.

Learn some history.

Leave room for the unexpected.

And when something inevitably goes sideways, remember that someday it will probably become one of your favorite stories.

We went to Budapest to do the recon.

And we left with a very long list of reasons to go back.

So no, we didn't do everything.

That's what the second trip is for.