budapest in 2 days 🇭🇺 | 10 days in central europe

flew to europe for the very first time back in november and explored budapest, vienna, salzburg, hallstatt, and berlin in 10 days (excl. flying) 🌍 this was how our travel itinerary was like ◡̈ -

first stop was budapest, hungary

day one:

from the airport, we took the bus to the city centre - super fuss-free! we dropped our luggages at the hotel and freshened ourselves up before heading for brunch

📍cirkusz cafe - MUST GO 🌟

this place is no doubt the best breakfast place in budapest and it’s also one of my favs in the entire trip. it was just guac toast (4,600 HUF / 16.30 SGD) and french toast (3,300 HUF / 11.70 SGD) that we ordered but it was mindblowinggg

📍free walking tour - budapest historic centre

booked a free walking tour with guruwalk so that we can have a better understanding of the history of the city and at the same time, check off some of the tourist attractions. the tour duration was 2.5 hours but we managed to cover quite a few attraction in the pest side. there are many walking tours offered by other guides on guruwalk so you can always just find one that you think suits you best! our tour was in the late afternoon but i personally feel that morning or early afternoon might be better else your photos will be really dark (like mine)

📍mazel tov

made dinner reservations at mazel tov - a really popular ruin bar/restaurant, serving isareli food in the old jewish quarter. we ordered a couple of dishes to share among 3 of us. love the dips but pita was a tad tough and lamb was too gamy for me. total meal amounted to 21,488 HUF (76.33 SGD)

bonus: if you’re there in nov-dec, do visit the christmas markets! we got some mulled wine at the basilica of st stephen’s christmas market. thought it will be fruitier but just tasted like hot red wine 🥲

day two:

📍new york cafe

we didnt manage to book a slot at new york cafe so we decided to walk-in. thankfully, the queue was manageable so we waited for our turn so that we can dine in the world’s most beautiful cafe 😍 got the chocolate choice set which consists of the new york hot chocolate and chocolate cake (8,190 HUF / 29 SGD) as well as the lemon mousse with crunchy coffe (3.900 HUF / 13.80 SGD) out of all the popular dessert places we’ve gone to in this trip, new york cafe is probably the best. the lemon mousse was refreshing and the hot chocolate was to die for (but not really suitable for one pax cause it was super thick)

📍freyja - the croissant story

freyja was just around the corner so we went to grab some pistachio croissant (1,600 HUF / 5.66 SGD). saw it on tiktok where people were saying that this is the best croissant they’ve ever eaten in their life 😂 was quite impressed by it cause i only ate it a few hours later after but it was still very crispy. but a pity that it was a little too oily and the pistachio cream got quite jelak towards the end. still worth a try but maybe share it with someone

📍széchenyi thermal bath - MUST GO 🌟

one of the things we were looking forward to the most in budapest - thermal baths! we went to the széchenyi bath (7,100 HUF / 25.10 SGD) so that we could experience the outdoor bath. the place is hugeee, with several indoor baths (at different temperatures), saunas etc. really the best place to relax at in the cold weather

had a crazy night after cause we walked all the way from central market hall to the buda side. took the funicular up the castle hill > buda castle > fisherman’s bastion > matthias church > back to pest side. clocked 37k steps and this was the day we destroyed our feet - not recommended to walk!!

📍street food karavan budapest

headed over to karavan for some hungarian food. shared a langos with my friends and i also had a bowl of chicken paprika (non-beef alternative to goulash) (3,500 HUF / 12.37 SGD)

langos was topped with sour cream, cheese and garlic oil (2,250 HUF / 7.95 SGD) and it was sooooooo good. similar to a youtiao but better. the chicken paprika was alright - it was like soup spoon but with more meat

📍szimpla kert

a few steps away from karavan is szimpla kert which is an iconic ruin bar where you can unwind and relax. there are different rooms in the bar and each room has got really quirky features and design

other tips for budapest:

💳 cashless payments are widely accepted so i typically use my amaze card. we did change some HUF at arcade but the rates were super bad. arcade charged 1 SGD : 213.68 HUF v.s. instarem’s 1 SGD : ~ 282 HUF!!!

🚶🏻‍♀️budapest is super walkable but public transport is easily accessible as well though confusing. just find the machine or buy it via the budapest go app and make sure you validate your ticket when on buses/at platforms

👩🏻‍💻remember to make online reservations for popular food places

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