We first went to Budapest way back in 2009 and we found the city an exciting place full of restoration and development. Buildings were being restored, roadways and squares being repaved and beautified, overall there was a general feeling of growth …. of a city going somewhere. We were keen to go back and see what it was like 15 years on.

We were not disappointed ….

We arrived on the bus from Banska Bystrica Slovakia mid afternoon. The Central bus station was conveniently right by metro station so 2 quick trains and 30 minutes later we were at our very quaint apartment in central Budapest

We found the city metro to be clean, efficient, on time, inexpensive and at no time did it feel unsafe.

Our home for the week was perhaps one of the best short term rentals we have stayed in. While small It was in an excellent location, really comfortable and the owner had gone out of her way to make sure it was equipped with everything one needs to make it a great stay.

We quickly discovered that Budapest, like the other 2 cities we have been to on this trip has an excellent cafe culture. We found a lovely little local cafe for our morning coffee and settled into a daily routine.

It is quite fascinating to us that pretty much every country we travel to these days and not just Europe has an excellent coffee/ cafe culture except France where it still doesn’t really exist.

While in Budapest we toured the main sites, the queues to get into some of the buildings was enormous so we admired them from the outside (plus we have visited before).

We spent some time in the beautiful park on the island in the centre of the Danube River and ate some delicious food at a few local restaurants. We also stocked up on Asian groceries at an excellent Asian Market.

We enjoyed our week in Budapest it is a great city with a feeling of prosperity and positivity, but It is a big city so a week was long enough and by the end of our stay I was ready to move on to a smaller town. 

Saturday bright and early saw us back at the bus station and on a bus to Novl Sad Serbia.