The best pubs Budapest

Timetable

Cafés and patisseries are open between 7/8am and 5/6pm and often serve breakfast, pastries, snacks, and even lunch menus. Bars close around midnight/2am.

Budget & Tips

A drink/coffee will not cost you more than 3 €. Hungarians like to drink beer by the pint (less than 3 €), knowing that the most famous Hungarian beers - Soproni, Dreher, Arany Aszok - are rather light blondes. But craft beer has made a nice breakthrough in the capital. Hungary is also a great wine country: wine lovers, you will be served! Keep in mind that clubs and bars, even cafés and tea rooms do not always accept payment by credit card (increasingly rare).

Age restrictions

Eighteen is the legal age for alcohol (and tobacco) consumption in Budapest and throughout Hungary.

What's very local

It's a must to try the delights of traditional tea rooms(cukrászda) and local pastry shops, where you can enjoy a coffee accompanied by one of these delicacies: dobos torta; eszterházy torta; krémes; rákóczi túrós; rétes, a kind of strudel; or zserbó. As for pogácsa, although sweet or savory, they are eaten as snacks or aperitifs. Hungarians eat them throughout the day, often for breakfast, with meals or even as a snack between meals.

Popular Budapest bars are often located underground, in a cellar that can be reached from the street (for söröző or borozó, or "PMU" neighborhood bars). They are frequented, depending on the establishment, by young students and less fortunate workers alike. A handful of ruin bars (bars located in old, abandoned or crumbling buildings, which have been creatively and eclectically refurbished, with the idea of preserving the building's aged appearance while adding a quirky, artistic ambience) are popular with Hungarians, but most are now almost universally popular with tourists.

Kids

If they don't drink, children can accompany their parents to bars without any problems.

Smokers

Smoking is not permitted inside.

Tourist traps

As everywhere else in the evening, never leave your drink unattended, and never accept a drink from a stranger: people have been drugged without their knowledge. Make sure you get your change, especially at Szimpla. Also, beware of invitations from strangers to have a drink in places that don't let you see the price of the drinks (you could end up paying €800 for two or three drinks).