Travel guide Budapest
The best time to go à BUDAPEST
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Practical information for travel à BUDAPEST
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Edition 2023
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What to see what to do à BUDAPEST?
Where to go à BUDAPEST?
The most beautiful tourist sites
Other nearby tourist attractions de BUDAPEST
25 km away
Petit Futé's best addresses à BUDAPEST
Discover the most beautiful addresses selected by the authors of Petit Futé.
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How to travel à BUDAPEST
How to go alone
There are many direct flights to Budapest, especially in low cost. Please note that the price variation depends on the airline used and, above all, on the reservation period. In order to get good prices, it is essential to book well in advance. Remember to buy your tickets six months before departure!
How to go on a tour
There is no shortage of organized trips to Budapest to soak up and enjoy the charms of the city and its very special language. Combined tours often offer to visit, in addition to Budapest, its two illustrious neighbors: Vienna, the former capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Prague.
How to get around
The public transport system (bus, streetcar, trolley bus, metro) allows you to travel all over the city and runs at regular intervals. There are four metro lines and the oldest one was put into service in 1896, four years before Paris! The ticket is the same for all modes of transportation.
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Discover BUDAPEST
Majestically criss-crossed by the Danube, Budapest's imperial grandeur and bohemian atmosphere are just as appealing. From the No. 2 streetcar along the river and Parliament to the panoramic view from Mount Gellért, the city unfolds like a succession of tableaux vivants. Its emblematic monuments - St. Stephen's Basilica, Mátyás Church, the Great Synagogue - rub shoulders with the art of bathing, the kert (or ruined bars, alternative bars set up in old courtyards or dilapidated buildings) and the cultural effervescence of winter. Between the Jewish and Gypsy quarters, on Andrássy Avenue or Marguerite Island, Budapest reveals a beauty that is both sumptuous and fragile, deeply authentic. Historic cafés and mythical patisseries recall the golden age of Austro-Hungary, while riverside bars embody its more modern, festive face. A dual identity, elegant and welcoming, that's sure to charm you.
The 12 keywords à BUDAPEST
#Csocsó (table soccer)
Hungary may not be famous for its soccer today, but in bars and clubs, despite the decibels and swaying crowds, Hungarians never stop playing table soccer. Whether it's a playful warm-up at the start of the evening, or an unexpected encounter at 3am, there's no resisting the call of the csocsó (pronounced "tcho-tcho")!
#Cukrászda
Halfway between a tea room and a café, people come to the cukrászda (pronounced "tsoukrasda") to enjoy some sweet treats like rétes (thin-crust strudels with poppy seed or cottage cheese filling), sűtemények and torták (cakes and pies). Hungarians like to go there with family or friends in the late afternoon or during the week.
#Fröccs
It's the national summer drink, although it can be drunk all year round. Fröccs ("freutch") is white wine (white, rosé or red) mixed with sparkling water(szodá). Fröccs are given different names depending on the proportion of wine they contain(kis or nagy , for example). It may sound like a heresy, but it's worth a try!
#Goulash
This name(gulyás, "gouyach" in Hungarian) refers to a soup of meat (beef) with onions, carrots, paprika and potato pieces, simmered for a long time (if possible in a cauldron on an open fire in good weather). Make no mistake, this is not a stew: in this case, it is a pörkölt.
#Libamáj (foie gras)
Hungarian foie gras(hízott libamáj, pronounced "izot libamaïe") does not enjoy the same prestige as its French equivalent, but it is a Hungarian specialty. Second largest producer in the world after France, Hungary produces good quality foies gras at a lower cost. They are exported to France and often repackaged.
#Magyars
Originating in the Urals, the seven Magyar tribes (pronounced madjar) migrated to the plain of Pannonia around 890 under the leadership of Árpád, Grand Prince. Since the Treaty of Trianon, most Hungarians are Magyars, but not all Magyars from neighboring countries have Hungarian nationality. Since 2011, they have been able to naturalize (and vote) with ease.
#Paprika
It is a generic term for both the bell pepper and the famous powdered spice. Paprika is the basis of many culinary specialties(paprikás is the name given to all dishes prepared with paprika, accompanied by a fresh cream sauce). This red pepper is grown and dried in the southern part of the Great Plain, such as in Szeged or Kalocsa.
#Sakk játék
As the cerebral counterpart of csocsó, Hungarians play chess (chak jaték) in schools, parks, cafés and even in the baths. An international chess tournament, First Saturday, unique in the world, is held once a month in Budapest. Among the great Hungarian champions are Péter Lékó and the Polgár sisters (Judit and Zsuzsa).
#Dark Sunday
Szomorú vasárnap was composed in the 1930s by Rezső Seress, on the occasion of a break-up. A melancholy ritornello, it has become a legend: it is said to have caused a wave of suicides in Hungary, to the point of being banned there, and later on the BBC. It has been covered by many artists, including Gainsbourg and B. Holliday.
#Trianon
Partly initiated by Clemenceau and signed by the Allies in 1920, the Treaty of Trianon caused Hungary to lose two thirds of its historical territory, one third of its population, and nearly 70% of its industries... More than a hundred years later, this large amputation is still far from being healed. French people passing through, you have been warned!
#Túró rúdi
This little bar of "cottage cheese" ( túró), covered with a thin layer of chocolate, is undoubtedly Hungary's favorite sweet. Hardly a day goes by without eating one, two or more. You can buy it in supermarkets and grocery stores: you can recognize its packaging by its red peas, like the French cycling jersey.
#Unicum
A bitter liquor that Hungarians drink both as an aperitif and as a digestive. Made from forty different herbs, the Zwack family has kept the recipe secret for over two hundred years (1790). A Time Out editor wrote of it, "Looks like an old anarchist bomb and smells like a hospital corridor..."
You are from here, if...
You alwaysintroduce yourself by giving your surname before your first name, even if it's true that foreigners on Hungarian soil are exempt from this maneuver!
In Budapest, you don'trun down the Escalators to chase your metro: you go quietly, and very few people line up on the same side (on the right) to let hurried travellers pass!
When you're invited to someone's home, you take off your shoes! Slippers are almost always provided for this purpose.
That's just good manners. Here, men hold the door for women, elderly people are given their place on public transport... Some Hungarians even still kiss hands!
You avoid talking about Eastern Europe: the lifting of the Iron Curtain rendered the term obsolete, and the Magyars never found their place in it. Central Europe" is more appropriate.
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