Blog | Trip to Budapest

23rd of October – National Holiday

Dear Travelers!

Let us inform you that the 23rd of October is annually a national and bank holiday in Hungary and Budapest.

On this day bigger grocery shops, shopping malls, clothes shops will be closed. You can find some smaller, non-stop supermarkets open, so do not worry about your grocery shopping! 🙂

Also, museums and bathhouses will be open this Sunday and our Free Budapest Walking Tours also run as usual!

You can join our free Communism tour, to learn more in details about this national holiday, but shortly here is a little info about it for you:

In 1945, at the end of World War 2 Hungary was liberated by the Soviet Red army and after the liberation they set up a totalitarian, Stalinist communist dictatorship in our country. The 1950s and 1960s were quite hard in Hungary and in 1956 a revolution broke out in Budapest against the Soviets and against the Hungarian communist regime. The revolution lasted for about 2 weeks, the Soviets then invaded Hungary and we lost the uprising. However, it was the first big uprising in the Eastern European communist block since the end of World War 2, so even though Hungary lost, it is considered to be and important point in history. October the 23rd is the memorial day of this 1956 revolution.

There will be commemorations all over the city center on this day, Sunday.

Enjoy your time in our beloved Budapest and see you soon on our free tours!

Programs for first half of October 2022

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Program recommendations from the Free Budapest Walking Tours Team

Let us list a few things for you – besides our free tours – to do in Budapest in October 2022! 🙂

World Press Photo Exhibition in the National Museum: one of the most awaited exhibitions of the year, the World Press Photo, which attracts huge interest every autumn, opened again in Budapest. The Budapest public can view the exhibition at the Hungarian National Museum, on the Múzeum boulevard, between the 23rd September and the 30th October.
World music week in Óbuda, Kobuci garden: from the 4th of October until the 8th. As part of the IV. Óbuda World Music Week, one of the world’s most original, traditional Gypsy music bands, Parno Graszt, will play on the 7th of October 7. In addition to this 9-member orchestra known for its dynamic performances, another great band, Babra guarantees an unforgettable concert experience representing South Slavic folk music.
Art Market Budapest in Bálna: Between the 6th and the 9th of October, the Art Market Budapest awaits you with a larger selection than ever before, around 120 exhibitors from 30 countries and thousands of works by more than 500 artists on the four floors of the Bálna Budapest building, covering a total of around 8,000 square meters.
Restaurant Week: the Restaurant Week brought to life by DiningCity is being organized this year for the 22nd time, and it keeps the taste buds excited. Between the 6th and the 16th of October around 100 top domestic restaurants offer their three-course menus at friendly prices. Table reservations can only be made online from the 21st of September.
October Biergarten in Gellért Hotel: The Serfőző (Beermaker) team will be on the terrace of the Gellért Hotel for 4 days, between the 6th and 9th of October and they will pour you light lagers into liter pints, the barmaids will walk around in Bavarian dresses, and the snacks that go well with beer will be also made by the Serfőző exhibitors.

We, the triptobudapest.hu team, wish you a fun October in our city!

In Focus Budapest Thermal Baths – Lukács Bath

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Dear Travelers,

let us, the triptobudapest.hu – Free Budapest Walking Tours Team recommend you some of Budapest’s nicest bathhouses… This time in this blog article we introduce you the Lukács Spa. It is a great option to relax after a free tour with us in the Hungarian capital! 😉

Hungary was occupied by the Ottoman Turks for roughly 150 years in the 15 and 16 hundreds (after Christ). An indisputable benefit of their occupation was the bath culture. Most bathhouses are on the Buda side of the river Danube while Széchenyi Thermal Baths can be found in Pest. Each bathhouse has its own character and atmosphere.

3 hours should be enough time for you to get the most from your visit. Our personal favorite called Lukács Thermal Baths https://en.lukacsfurdo.hu/ is located a few hundred meters north from Margaret Bridge on Buda side.

Sunbathing on the terrace with a spectacular view on the Buda hills is priceless. There are both a wet and a dry steam chamber and 6 indoor pools – each has varying temperature of medical water. The hottest is 40 degrees Celsius. Outdoor pools are open all year long, too. The swimming pool is where the famous Hungarian composer called Zoltan Kodaly used to swim (Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music education), the leisure pools are where famous Hungarian writers and poets had their small talks. The medical water of the thermal baths is not recommended under the age of 14. Wearing a swimming cap is obligatory in the swimming pools.

Ask your free tour guides about more bathhouses in Budapest and about what to bring and what not to bring to the thermal baths with you!

Let us also remind you that our free walking tours in Budapest still run as normal after the summer season is coming to an end. See the DAILY TOUR SCHEDULE HERE!

Programs for the end of August 2022

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The triptobudapest.hu Free Budapest Walking Tours Team hopes that you had a great summer full of adventures, travelling and nice free tours! 🙂 Let us recommend you a few more things to do in Budapest for the end of the last summer month, August!

Fireworks on 27th of August: the 20th of August was a national holiday in Hungary, it is the day of Saint Stephen (the first king of Hungary crowned in 1000 AD) and the state foundation. Every year we have huge fireworks next to the river Danube in the city center of Budapest. This year, last Saturday the fireworks were postponed because of a possible storm. They are going to do it this Saturday, on the 27th, starting at 9 pm. Go down to the riverbank anywhere between the Petőfi bridge and the Margit bridge and enjoy! Expect a lot of people!
Inner city Beer festival 30th of August-4th of September: The country’s best breweries join forces and take over Szabadság Square for the umpteenth time, supplemented by an excellent international offer. The Downtown Beer Festival, which is organized every year to promote the rich domestic beer culture, opens its imaginary doors on August 30 with more than 250 types of beer, including craft specialties, and awaits the beer and gastronomy-loving public until September 4. As usual, cold beer is only the beginning: the atmosphere of perfect summer evenings is created with a variety of street food and entertainment programs.
Sólet festival 28th of August: This time, the Budai Parkszínpad will host the almost traditional Sólet Festival, which will be held for the seventh time. On the last Sunday of August, the 28th, we can once again immerse ourselves in the emblematic Jewish food, thanks to the variously prepared sólet (or cholent in English) dishes. In addition to the delicious food,the festival atmosphere will be there too, there will be children’s activities, puppet shows, cultural programs and concerts, and in the early afternoon the tunes of the Hot Jazz Band accompany the gastronomic experience.

See you soon on our free walking tours in Budapest that run rain, hail or shine! See our Daily tour schedule here!

Garden bars in Budapest

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Dear Travelers, let the triptobudapest.hu Free Walking Tours Team recommend you a few garden bars off the beaten path, in the Hungarian capital with nice shades to cool down in the summer heat.

‎ Pàntlika (1146 Budapest, Hermina út 47.) Located in the City Park of the Pest side of the city, they have Hungarian gulyàs soup, burgers and much more.
VakVarjù Csònakhaz (1203 Budapest, Vízisport utca 12–18.) Also located on the Pest side, right next to the river Danube with nice, calm views of the water. They rebuilt and refurbished and old boat rental building to make a nice restaurant and bar.
Bereg Embassy Bar and Cafe (1015 Budapest, Batthyány utca 49/B) This one is on the Buda side of the city, they offer you craft beers, burgers, lecsó (Hungarian ratatouille) and grilled food.

Enjoy and see you soon on our free Budapest walking tours! 🙂

The new “mini airport” of the city center

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In the beginning of July 2022 a new “mini airport” opened in the city center of Budapest! 🙂 Let us, the Free Budapest Walking Tours Team tell you a few useful info about it!

It is called Universal Airport HUB. You can find it on Kálvin square, the same place from where you can take the bus number 100E, which takes you directly to the “real” international airport of the Hungarian capital, the Liszt Ferenc Airport. You can find many important airport services in the new “mini airport’ in the city center, let’s see them:

You can print your boarding pass, and check-in is also available for some flights
There is a luggage storage
If your boarding pass is ready, you can print your luggage tag and then it is easier at the real airport to drop your baggage off at the self-service baggage drop-off without standing in line (this is available only for the customers of Wizzair, Air France-KLM, Norwegian and Aegean airlines at the moment)
In the near future there will be more services: they will have luggage wrapping and you will be able to check the weight and size of your baggage as well

With the above services, Budapest Airport tries to simplify and speed up airport processes as much as possible, and to provide a much more comfortable travel experience, by which they mean the entire process, even from the moment you first look at the application.

When you are already on the actual journey, you can check in, shop or have a coffee at Kálvin square, and if you have any questions, the staff is always present and will help you with everything, but there will also be informative videos continuously.

Have a nice trip dear Travelers and see you soon on our free tours in Budapest that run in any kind of weather conditions! 🙂

Summer heat and Evening tours

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Dear Travelers,

Summer is here in Budapest, it is going to be very hot this week in the Hungarian capital: it can be 37 degrees Celsius in the second half of the week! Please take care in this weather, hydrate, drink a lot of water!

Tap water is drinkable everywhere in Hungary, also during our free walking tours, we show you public taps, where you can refill your water bottles.

Our free tours in Budapest run as normal in any kind of weather conditions, but if you would like to make sure you are not walking during the hottest time of the day:

We recommend you to take our free Evening walking tours. They are on Friday, Saturday at 18:30, and during summertime on Thursdays, too. (Jun 30, Jul 07, Jul 14, Jul 21, Jul 28). This tour lasts about 1-1.5 hours. The topic of this free walking tour is general, we take you around one of the center parts of the Pest side of the river Danube. See you at the meeting point, the Elisabeth square close to the Ferris wheel and the Danubius fountain.

Cool yourselves down at a pool/Danube, Budapest beach!

Last, but not least, let the Free Budapest Walking Tours Team recommend you a few places where you can chill during the summer heat:

Palatinus strand: you can find this place on the Margaret Island in Budapest, which is a very nice green area in the middle of the city and the Danube. Many pools and street food places are waiting for you here.
Kopaszi gát, SHO beach: opened in July 2021, this is natural water beach in Budapest next to the Danube with a sandy area. It is close to the center of Budapest, and offers a special location in a premium environment for bathing and recreation. In addition to bathing, the premium beach with excellent water quality in Lágymányosi Bay awaits visitors with sports facilities, culinary experiences and various programs during the summer.
Római part (Roman beach): on the Buda side of the river Danube, in the northern part of the city. You can find many open air bars and food places here, as well a free beach. The beach is open near this section: Kossuth Lajos üdülőpart 15-17., from the 15th of July until the 20th of August every day between 11 am and 7 pm.

Sightseeing trams of Budapest

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Another way of sightseeing besides free walking tours in Budapest

In this blog post let us recommend you, Dear Travelers, two tram lines in the Hungarian capital city, on the Buda and the Pest side as well, that you can hop on before or after taking some of our wonderful free tours! 🙂

Tram number 2 on the Pest side of the river Danube: since 1942 runs from Jászai Mari square, from next to the Margaret bridge, till Közvágóhíd stop. In 2012 National Geographic said that this scenic tramline is the 7th most beautiful one in the whole world! Some sights of Budapest that you can see while riding this tram: Parliament, Chain bridge, Danube Promenade with the little Princess statue, Elisabeth bridge, Castle hill, Gellért hill with the Liberty statue, Liberty bridge. You can hop on tram number 2 every 3-4 minutes on weekdays during daytime and every 5 minutes on the weekend days.
Tram number 19 on the Buda side of the river Danube: the tram line runs all year around between Kelenföld and Bécsi út/Vörösváry út stops, but from the 4th of June till the 28th of August in 2022 on weekend days in the mornings you can listen to the description of the following streets, squares and buildings on the tram: Kosztolányi Dezső and Móricz Zsigmond square, Bartók Béla boulevard, Hadik café, Saint Gellért square (and bath), Rudas bath, Castle Garden, Chain bridge, Parliament.

About tickets: a single ticket to the public transport costs 350 Hungarian forints at the moment and after stamping it, is valid for one single ride (use the same ticket on buses, trams, metros, trolley buses as well).

If you know that you will ride public transport vehicles more times during one day, it is also worth to buy a 24 hour pass which costs 1650 HUF.

Ticket machines can be found at all metro stations in Budapest, and in some bus/tram stops as well.

See you soon in Budapest and on our Free Tours! 🙂

Upcoming Events

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Dear Travelers,

Let the Free Budapest Walking Tours and Private Tours Team recommend you a few upcoming events/festival in or around the Hungarian capital. After joining some of our free tours in Budapest these will be fun! 🙂

2-6th June – 1st Wine and Champagne Festival of the city center (1. Belvárosi Bor és Pezsgőfesztivál) on Liberty square (Szabadság tér): after organizing many-many beer festivals, the main purpose of this free festival is making the Hungarian wines and champagnes more well-known and popular.
8-12th June – Czech Beer Festival on the Rooftop of Westend City Center shopping mall: The Budapest Czech Beer Festival, which presents Czech gastronomy and beers, will be held for the 15th time in the Hungarian capital. During the four-day festival, which will be held in the Westend Roof Garden, in addition to small and large-scale Czech beer, we will be able to taste distillery specialties made from Czech beers, other spirits and short drinks, as well as Czech beer skates.
3-6th June – Pork knuckle and Beer Festivalin Gárdony, Lake Velence: Lake Velence is the 3rd largest natural lake in Hungary and a popular holiday destination amongst Hungarians. The lake has an area of 26 square kms, and because of the sunny climate of the area and the shallowness of the lake, it is one of the warmest lakes in Europe: its temperature in the summer may reach 26 to 28 °C. The train can take you from Budapest to Gárdony in about 1hour, leaving from Budapest Déli or Kelenföld.
10th June – Holi Peace Festival in Kincsem Park: Hungary’s original and number one color festival. Since 2014, they have been organizing the largest color festival of Europe in Hungary. The event, that is organized around colorful Holi powders originated from India, celebrates the victory of good over evil and the beginning of spring.

Hope we could make your stay in and around Budapest in the first half of the first summer month more colorful with our reccomendations, see you soon on any of our free walking tours in Budapest! 🙂

Closures in Budapest & Practical info on transportation

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Dear Travelers!

We, the Free Budapest Walking Tours Team made a blog post about ongoing renovation works and closures in Budapest a couple of months ago, now let us repeat this post about the closures that are still going on:

Chain Bridge: The most iconic bridge of Budapest, also the first permanent suspension bridge connecting the two sides of the river Danube ready by the 1850’s. There is a long renovation project going on at the moment, supposedly it is going to be ready by the end of 2023. Until that you can choose the closest 2 bridges (white Elisabeth bridge and yellow Margaret bridge) or cross under the River Danube by the metro line number 2, which is the deepest metro line in Budapest.
Liberty Statue and Citadel on Gellért hill: The highest point of the city center of Budapest, with the altitude of about 235 meters, it has one of the nicest views as well. On the top you can find the Liberty statue and the Citadel, a Fortress built in the 1800’s. The renovation works will last supposedly until the end of 2023. They are building new paths/stairs leading up to the top, new lookout terraces, new green areas and a huge park, a new lake and café. Do not be fooled by the closures around the Liberty Statue while the renovation is going on, you can still go up to the top of the hill to see the views, just follow any paths going upstairs! Here is a little visual help as well 🙂
Blaha Lujza sqaure: one of the most important traffic junctions in the city center of Budapest (more precisely on the Pest side), it is a metro station as well, metro line nr.2 runs through it. The renovation works are planned to be finished in the first half of the year 2023.
Metro line nr. 3: they are planning to finish the renovations works by the beginning of the year 2023, until that at some sections of the metro line nr.3 replacement buses are running. There are informative boards at the stops/sections where there are works going and replacement buses are running.

Some more useful information about Budapest transportation

From the 9th of May 2022 taxi fares rise by 35-40% due to inflation and high fuel prices. The base fare from now on is 1000 HUF (about 2.6 EUR), the time-based fare unit (HUF/min) is 100 HUF (0.26 EUR) and the distance-based fare unit (HUF/km) is 400 HUF (about 1.05 EUR). Always look for the yellow official taxi cars.
There is a new type of pass if you would like to get out of Budapest and see the Danube bend: for 2500 HUF there is a 24 hour travel pass which you can use on trains, ships and buses from Budapest to different cities of the Danube bend. You can buy this pass in train stations or in the MÁV application.