Budapest
From Imakoopedia
Budapest is the capital city of Hungary. Home to some 1.8 million inhabitants, it is the country's commercial and administrative center.
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Understand
Located on both sides of the Danube River and featuring both the rolling hills of Buda (on the west bank) and the organized, gridlike layout of Pest (east bank), these two very different cities united by convenience into one city offer the traveller a Viennese-style aura at half the price. But Budapest (pronounced "BOO-dah-pesht") is still very much its own city. The people are charming, and for the most part very helpful. They are proud of what this ancient capital has to offer, and proud of their contributions to European culture, especially in the field of music, a universal language one doesn't need to speak to appreciate.
Orientation
Aside from the river itself, the best reference points for orienting yourself are the bridges crossing the river. From north to south, they are:
- Árpád Bridge (Árpád híd), a modern bridge linking to northern Margaret Island
- Margaret Bridge (Margit híd), easily identified thanks to its distinctive angled shape with a mid-bridge branch to Margaret Island; trams 4 and 6 cross the Danube here
- Chain Bridge (Széchenyi lánchid), completed in 1849, the oldest, arguably most beautiful and certainly the most photographed of Budapest's bridges, floodlit at night
- Elizabeth Bridge (Erzsébet híd), a reconstruction of the 1903 original; M2 and HÉV interchange
- Liberty Bridge (Szabadság híd), elegant but simple, opened 1896; connects the Gellert Baths on Buda with the Great Market Hall on Pest
- Petőfi Bridge (Petőfi híd), merely functional
Districts
Budapest is administratively divided into 23 districts, but for time being Imakoopedia uses a simpler division:
- Buda — the west side of the Danube, including Castle Hill and the bulk of Budapest's attractions (Districts I-III, XI-XII)
- Pest — the east side of the Danube, covering the modern commercial core of the city (Districts V-IX)
Get in
By plane
Ferihegy International Airport (BUD, Ferihegyi nemzetközi repülőtér; pronounced "Ferry-hedge") is the country's largest airport and the hub of the Hungarian national carrier Malév. It has two terminals a few kilometers apart, imaginatively entitled "Terminal 1" and "Terminal 2", but since all international flights now use Terminal 2 and there are no scheduled national flights, you are unlikely to ever see Terminal 1. This is a Good Thing, since Terminal 1 (opened May 7, 1950) was built by the Soviets and looks like it, while Terminal 2 (dated November 1, 1985) is spacious, well-lit and squeaky clean. Terminal 2 is further split into terminal 2A, used exclusively by Malév, and 2B, used by everybody else, but this distinction is largely theoretical since the terminals are in the same building and about 5 mins on foot from each other.
The best way of getting to and from airport is to take the Airport Minibus, a "shared taxi"-type operation that rounds up passangers going in the same direction and will take you to or from anywhere in Budapest for a flat fee of about 5 euros (1600 forint at time of writing). Join the queue at the airport and you'll be on your way in 15 minutes; for the trip back, call the center (pref. with 24h advance notice) and they'll be there to pick you up. You probably do not want to take a normal taxi, as the time savings over the Airport Minibus are minimal and the official fare is around 5000 Ft.
The other common option is to take the Centrum Bus, which runs every half hour and, for 600 forints, will take you to central Erzsébét tér and let you fend your way from there. Or you could save a few more pengö and take bus 93 (again, at time of writing) to Kőbanya-Kispest, from where you can continue on to central Pest with the blue metro for a total cost of 180 forints.
By train
Budapest has a number of train stations (pályaudvar), the main ones being Keleti, Déli and Nyugati. Be sure to check where your train is leaving from! Transferring is fairly painless though, as Keleti and Déli are both on the subway red line, while Nyugati is just a few stops away on the blue line.
Get around
Public transportation in Budapest is run by BKV (http://www.bkv.hu/angol/home/index.html), which has a useful English-language site. As of July 2004, single tickets cost 145 Ft a pop, or 180 Ft if you buy them on boarding. It's probably best to get a day pass (1150F) rather than try to understand the byzantine system of transfers, however, or risk getting fined. One ticket is good for only one direction on one line. Ticketing is apparently based on the honour system, but they do check tickets at major exits quite frequently.
The Budapest Card (http://www.budapestinfo.hu/en/card/main.html) is an excellent discount card for travel within the city. You can get it in 2 or 3 day versions, and along with allowing free travel on all public transport, it also gives you discounts at museums, restaurants etc. At time of writing, the 2-day card is 4350 Ft while the 3-day card is 5450 Ft.
By metro
Budapest's metro, consisting of three main lines, is the oldest in continental Europe. It's in good condition and an excellent way to get around the city. The yellow M1 line sometimes still uses old wooden metro cars, and is a fun change from the ordinary, Soviet-style steel metros seen elsewhere in Central Europe. Sometimes called the Millenary Metro, because it was built to celebrate the thousandth year of Hungarian nationhood in 1896 along with the Millenary Monument, the yellow line was recently renovated for its hundredth anniversary. The stations covered in white and dark brown-red ceramic tile signs are the originals. They are easily distinguished from the Soviet-style metro stations and cars on the other two lines, the red M2 line and the blue M3 line.
Be careful of ticket inspectors who prowl the platforms and stations of Budapest's metro and seem particularly keen to target tourists. You must have a ticket for each trip or interchange on the metro; pleas of ignorance will go unheard. If you're issued with an on-the-spot fine by one of these red armbanded officers, it is cheaper to pay on the spot than later on by mail.
By tram
Trams are tourist-friendly way of getting around, slower but more scenic than the subway and particularly useful on the nearly subwayless Buda side of the river.
By train
HÉV suburban railways connect central Budapest to several suburbs but are of little use to most visitors, with the notable exception of the line to scenic little upriver Szentendre. Connect from Batthyány tér on the subway red line.
See
- Margaret Island (Margitsziget). Margaret Island is connected to the city by two bridges: Árpád Bridge to the north, and Margaret Bridge to the south. The site of a wartime tragedy when exploding dynamite killed hundreds on a busy afternoon. Today, the entire island is a park with more than ten thousand trees, most of them planted by various Habsburg gardeners to stop soil erosion during floods. At the Margaret Bridge entrance to the island, there is a fountain and the Centenary Monument (by István Kiss, 1972), which was built for the hundredth anniversary of the union of the cities Buda and Pest.
Do
- Budapest is a famous spa city, so go bathing! The most famous options are the Gellert Baths on the Buda side, or the Szechenyi Baths on the Pest side.
- Cinemas are a favourite pastime. Not just the big American blockbusters showing in badly subtitled versions all over the continent, but also smaller art films most people in their countries of origin haven't seen. Films are almost always subtitled rather than dubbed, which makes movie-going convenient for non-Hungarians. http://www.budapestsun.com/movies.asp
Learn
Work
Buy
Most of the visitors from far away end up shopping in Pest in the middle of the city: Váci utca and nearby. It is historically the most expensive part of the city.
Prices may vary greatly.
There are hypermarkets like Auchan, Tesco, Cora where daily stuff and food is cheap, and they offer usually wide range of articles. The "plaza"s are usually good for buying clothes, but prices may wildly differ even in the shops next to each others. For electronics the cheap supermarkets like Electro World, Media Markt are good targets but their prices match the quality.
Eat
Local specialties include paprikás, gulyás, Lake Balaton pike-perch (fogas), pörkölt (a goulash-like stew with lots of onions), stuffed cabbage, and liberal use of paprika.
Coffeehouses
Coffeehouses (kaveház) are a Budapest institution and visit to one should be on every visitor's agenda. As the name implies, these are places for a cup of coffee and a delectable pastry, not a full meal. Famous houses include Gerbeaud in Pest and Ruszwurm in Buda.
Drink
Budapest offers plenty of places to drink, from cool and ultrahip to rowdy and downmarket. One particularly Hungarian experience is to visit a borozó (wine pub), where cheap but tasty Hungarian wine is available on tap, at ridiculously low prices if you find one off the tourist circuit.
Sleep
Budapest offers a wide range of accommodation in all price classes, although the costs of staying here are notably higher than elsewhere in Hungary. Arriving trains are often met by touts offering free rides to hostels, as well as little old grannies offering their apartments for rent. Try to figure out exactly where you're going before you choose — or, better yet, visit any of the many travel agencies to browse the many options in a more comfortable environment.
Contact
Stay safe
- Beware of the pickpockets (virtually everywhere you go nearby humans).
- Watch your steps: most of the pathways and grassy places are covered with dog shit.
- Never give money to policemen (except for bribing, usual bribe amount varies around 10,000 HUF, but risky): they are not allowed to take cash by law.
- Avoid walking in the night alone. Survival chances are good but below 100%.
Cope
Get out
- Statue Park. [1] (http://www.szoborpark.hu). Located at the corner of Balatoni utca and Szabadkai utca (From the blue metro line stop Ferenciek tere, take the 7-173 red-blue bus to Kosztolányi Deszo tér, then the yellow Volan bus from stall 6.). tel. (36-1) 227-7446. Open 10a-sunset every day except 1 Dec-28 Feb, when it is open weekends only, 10a-dusk. Tickets 200 forints. The Statue Park, was first conceived by the literary historian László Szörényi in 1989 when he suggested the various Lenin statues from all over Hungary could be gathered into one "Lenin garden." According to Ákos Eleôd, the architect: "This park is about dictatorship. And at the same time, because it can be talked about, described, built, this park is about democracy. After all, only democracy is able to give the opportunity to let us think freely about dictatorship." Possible souvenirs are t-shirts which poke fun at communism, German Trabant car models, CDs of Hungarian communist fight songs, reproduction Hungarian Communist Party membership booklets and kitschy postcards of old communist advertisements. The park is -perhaps appropriately- in a badly-kept state, and signs are in Hungarian only.
External links
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