I spent last week in Budapest with some friends of mine for a well deserved holiday. The primary reason for the trip was to attend the week long Sziget Music Festival (post to come) but while in the city, why not check out some sites as well?
Budapest is divided by the Danu River with Buda being on the West side and Pest being on the East side. We had rented a fairly nice two bedroom apartment, complete with dishwasher and washing machine, in the financial area, district five, on the Pest side of the city. The Parliament building was near by and we were surrounded by several banks all housed in giant over bearing buildings that looked like…well…banks.
Might not be a big deal to some, but I got to experience a local super market as we stocked up on bottled water and food stuffs for the off hours when we might get hungry or thirsty. Fun stuff. Lots of unfamiliar brands which is the fun part.
We ate at two really wonderful restaurants Iguana Bar and Grill, a very nice Mexican restaurant, and a really nice Hungarian restaurant, the name unfortunately eludes me at the moment. Will update the post later if I find it.
The Széchenyi-Lánchíd bridge near by, one of the bridges connecting Buda with Pest, was in walking distance and thus twice I ventured over it with two difference friends in order to take photographs of the surrounding areas which can be seen in the Flickr photo stream below.
Budapest was a very cool city with friendly people and a wonderful vibe all around. I never had a problem communicating and people and no one tried to rip me off. Most of the city “looks” like what one might think an Eastern European city looks like, what that means to you will vary of course. But it was beautiful in it’s own right, don’t misunderstand me. But lots of concrete and metal work speaks for its self. 
We checked out a couple bars, the Cafe Del Rio being the one we frequented twice, was pretty nice with decent DJs spinning until 4am. The Buddha Beach bar, which was having it’s Salsa night when we went, was also a great experience. both were out door themed which was fantastic since it was hot when we went, even early in the morning. Drinks were affordable and tasty and lots of beautiful people dancing the night away were in abundance.
I also got to experience my first spa, called the Széchenyi Bath. Quite fantastic really. Different pools of varying temperatures filled by natural springs from below for 100s of years. Pools from lukewarm, to fairly cold, and all the way up to hot enough that it feels like you’ve stepped into someone’s soup cooking on the stove – very very relaxing. Going from the hotter baths to an ice cold shower and back again is supposed to be great for circulation, interesting experience if anything! As an added bonus you get money back if you don’t stay very long at the spa, good deal.
After my brief romp, I highly recommend a trip to Budapest for a week’s vacation. Plenty to see and do no matter what you enjoy doing.
One piece of advice if you want to take Taxis, take the ones marked with a #5. Great prices and friendly drivers.