Terraces
There is an unusual watering hole on the top of the old Corvin department store in Blaha Lujza tér, built in 1926, similar to the pubs that have appeared in dilapidated buildings in the city in recent years. The difference – and its attraction – is the view. The Buda hills and the Citadella on one side and on the other the roof tops and chimneys of District VIII, romantic if far from grandiose. There is dancing on the floor below and in the same place there are blue and red rooms for rainy evenings. You get up there by goods lift. Incidentally, the first escalator in Hungary was installed here in 1931. (Entrance from Somogyi Béla utca.) www.corvinteto.com/english
Another place in similar vein but mainly for relaxing in the afternoon is on the roof of the Komjádi swimming pool (II, Árpád fejedelem útja 8. Open 10 am-4 am). The two-storey graffiti-adorned building is nicknamed Fecske, meaning swallow, a reference not to the bird but to the shape of socialist era swimming trunks. From its upper part there is a view of Parliament. The waterside feel is heightened by fried fish from the bar and sunloungers on 700 m2 of sand, skittles, table football, outdoor chess and ping pong tables. In the evenings there are parties with DJs and light music on the lower terrace.
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Ráday Street
One of the best things the city planners have come up with in recent years is the creation of “entertainment” streets through the development of pedestrian areas. Ráday utca in District IX links Kálvin tér, once on the city limit, with the Pest end of Petőfi Bridge. With universities and halls of residence in its proximity as well as its pubs and clubs, it’s always been a favoured haunt with students, but due to the beneficial effect of repaving and traffic-calming measures the cafés, pubs and restaurants of all sizes have really matured the area; their tables and chairs on the street quickly conjured up the bubbly ambience of a street of pubs. There’s something to suit everyone’s style and pocket.
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Tabán
For many Tabán, the area lying between Gellért and Castle Hills in Buda, today means the annual rock concert on May Day and other music festivals in the summer, while pubs with shady outdoor areas, such as the Avar at 32 Hegyalja út under spreading horse-chestnut trees or another under the plane trees in Döbrentei tér as the tram turns, offer a cool retreat.
The district’s name is derived from Turkish, meaning lower or outer town. There has been a village here since the early 13th century and it was the tanners’ area during the era of Turkish rule. After the recapture of Buda in 1686, Serbs, mainly vineyard workers but some artisans too, settled here. Until the end of the thirties this was a densely populated area with one-storey houses built one against another and fifty pubs or inns. On each block there were several pub signs, with fairytale names such as the Deep Cellar, Golden Goose or White Peacock. The hovels built at the turn of the 17th–18th centuries, rebuilt after the great fire of 1810, were demolished for reasons of public health after World War I, when much of the area was landscaped. Whoever knew this small town with its distinctive atmosphere, winding cobbled streets, houses sunk into the ground, dark cemetery and crypts, romantic park and sausage-frying women mourned its passing. The people there were very poor and the misery was evident: tumbledown houses, windows almost below ground, rags drying in the yard and washtubs, yet in the evenings well-off gentlemen came in their carriages to have fun and dine in the friendly pubs and inns.
Today all that’s left of the old Tabán are a few houses, one or two streets or squares. Such are Apród Street with the Museum of Medical History (birthplace of Dr Semmelweis, the obstetrician known as the saviour of mothers as he realised that simply washing hands before assisting in childbirth could prevent countless women dying from infection) and the Deer House (Szarvas-ház), once the Renaissance King Matthias’s hunting lodge.
The Rác Baths, dating from the time of the Turks, are nearby. Once part of King Matthias’s garden, the monarch came here to bathe along a covered corridor and there is a coat of arms from the period in the building, currently closed for renovation. (In front of the baths, graffiti daubed fragments of the Berlin wall were erected, which the Hungarian state received in memory of the Pan-European picnic, when the Austrian border was opened for 12,000 East Germans stuck here for a short time in 1989.) A few hundred metres away just south of Erzsébet (Elizabeth) Bridge there are the newly renovated Rudas Baths with its octagonal Turkish central pool with men’s, women’s and mixed sessions (www.spasbudapest.com). Under the bridge there’s a statue of the popular Habsburg Queen Elizabeth (Sissy) dating back to 1932, which was removed by the communist authorities to the edge of the city but was returned to a new place, rightfully beside the bridge named after her, in 1985.
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The Széchenyi Baths
The Széchenyi (XIV, Állatkerti krt. 11) was the first spa on the Pest side of the river and is one of the largest baths in Europe. Influences of several bathing cultures are present: Roman in the spacious, light halls, Greek in the tubs, and Nordic in the sweating rooms, plunge baths and sauna in different parts of the complex. The baths owe their existence to the borehole drilled in 1879 to tap the artesian water from below. In 1881 the ‘Artesian Baths’ were up and running. The imposing neo-baroque building housing the baths today was erected between 1909-13. In 1927 the swimming pool was built, which was made suitable for winter use in the 1960s, since when it has been open all year round.
The public baths for men and women were also built in 1927, which today operate as a thermal pool and an out-patient physiotherapy clinic. The outdoor adventure pool has an underwater current, effervescence, neck showers and water jets concealed in benches beneath the water to massage your back. This watery institution is more than just a baths: it’s a concept. It has a solid group of regular customers, some of whom go there every day to relax, relieve aches and pains, meet friends or – and this is the main attraction – to play chess in the water. It’s invigorating in any season, but it’s a particularly special experience in the bleak mid-winter, when this enclosed little world can be seen at its best. Come rain, wind or snow, bathers here don’t bat an eyelid, and taking a dip in the cold is a rewarding adventure. Once you found your way out of the labyrinth of lockers, you have to take a few steps through the bitter weather in your swimming costume before immersing yourself in the inviting warm water of the outdoor pools – which is, of course, due compensation for your pains!
www.spasbudapest.com
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Food with music
There is a place in Budapest where saying bon appetit really can be music to the ears. The Spinoza restaurant/café cum theatre offers Dutch-Jewish food alongside frequent evening concerts or theatrical performances.
VII, Dob u. 15. Tel.: 413-7489
www.spinozahaz.hu
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The City Park: the sands of time on ice
To mark Hungary’s accession to the EU on 1 May 2004 an 8-metre diameter, 60-ton monster hourglass, the largest in the world, was unveiled on Dózsa György Street at Heroes’ Square. The designers, however, forgot about the rain – it got soaked. Within four months the Time Wheel gave up the ghost and no one was willing to operate it. Whether anyone will come forward to run this monumental blunder only time will tell.
Talking of time, there is hardly a better way of passing it in winter than skating. If you like skating outdoors, there’s Lake Velence 50 km to the south of Budapest and Lake Balaton a little further down the M7, but check that the ice is safe before you go. However, for those who neither want to miss the fun nor leave the capital, there is Europe’s biggest and oldest outdoor ice rink just a stone’s throw from the Time Wheel.
Ice skating was already very popular by the end of the 19th century, and Lake Balaton and then the lake in the City Park became the venues for this winter sport. But of course everything depended on the weather, so the opening of Europe’s first outdoor rink with artificial ice in November 1926 was a major event in the history of Hungarian skating. This meant that enthusiasts could train and compete for the whole of the 105-day winter season. From the bridge behind Heroes’ Square there is something timeless about the colourful sight of figures gliding round and round as in a Brueghel painting. If you want to join them, skates can be hired (best on a weekday as weekends are very crowded).
www.mujegpalya.hu
Coffee and Cakes
Coffee and coffee houses have long been a focal point of society in Budapest and are entwined in its history. The occupying Turks made the first delivery of coffee to Buda in 1597 but it was only in the 18th century that coffee houses were established. The Pilvax, which once stood in an alley off Váci Street, now Budapest’s most prestigious pedestrian shopping street, is known by every schoolchild as the place where the revolutionaries of 1848 met. The latter half of the 19th century was the heyday of Budapest’s cafés and by the fin-de-siècle the capital was known as the ‘city of coffee houses’. In the early 20th century they became vibrant centres of artistic and in particular literary life. They were not just a social centre but journals were written and edited there. The Centrál (V, Károlyi Mihály u. 9) is associated with the periodical Nyugat and its writers of the 1930s. Today the marble-topped tables and newly restored interior still invite you to linger. Another café of the period famed for its literary circle is the recently restored New York. WW2 was the end of the era for many things, but Budapest’s cafés survived despite long years of neglect. Nowadays they are enjoying a renaissance and among the new competitors there are old stalwarts such as the over 100-year old Művész opposite the Opera House.
And today coffee is still a cultured way to indulge oneself, particularly when coupled with high calorie desires – such as cakes. The pastry cooks of the capital have left a healthy legacy for us to enjoy. Apart from adopting the best of what the senior partner in the Austro-Hungarian empire had to offer, such as the Sacher cake and strudel, Hungary has produced a string of sweet delights of its own. For instance, there’s Dobos cake – thin layers of sponge and chocolate butter cream with a hard caramel topping, named after its inventor, the great 19th-century restaurateur József Dobos. The Gerbeaud slice (thin layers of pastry and apricot jam topped with dark chocolate) was the 19th-century creation of the coffee house of the same name on Vörösmarty Square – so where better to try it? One of Hungary’s great aristocratic families, the Eszterházys, have lent their name to a walnut cake, while a gypsy musician who won the heart of a none too innocent Belgian princess while fiddling in Paris inspired a Budapest chef to coin the cake which bears his name. Rigó Jancsi, or Johnny Thrush in English, is a cube of thick chocolate mousse sandwiched in chocolate sponge with more chocolate on the top – who wouldn’t surrender their heart for that?
If somehow none of these tickle your fancy, go to the cake counter and point to one that does. It’s hard to go wrong!
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Plain and Szimpla fun
Behind the dilapidated façades of buildings in the backstreets of Districts VI and VII lie hidden alternatives for a fun time out. On the ground floor and in the courtyards of disused, often condemned blocks down-at-heel pubs have mushroomed in recent years, injecting new, summer life into the last days of buildings at death’s door. Szimpla is one such place, or rather three: Szimpla Kert (VII, Kazinczy u. 14), a pub and courtyard with pot plants, plus outdoor cinema, the only one in Budapest, including independent, foreign language films; Szimpla Kávézó (VII, Kertész u. 48), a café in similar style; and Szimpla Kiskert (VI, Hegedű u. 3), a pub with concerts in the courtyard. Their disrepair, cheap prices and great ambience is precisely what appeals – and to increasingly many. Look out for the entrances as they’re easy to miss!
www.szimpla.hu
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World of a thousand teas
Tea drinking is a true comfort in winter and 65 Váci Street (towards Szabadság Bridge) conceals a special little microcosm: 1000tea. Here you can both buy and enjoy tea, served by experts who know all about char and herbal teas – and happily give advice to those bewildered by the choice. There are teas from all corners of the world, including South America (Maté, Lapacho) and South Africa (Rooibush, Honeybush) as well as traditional tea-producing countries. And if they haven’t got something, they’ve probably got something much better instead. The best teas of the world are delivered straight to the shop to ensure quality and freshness. Besides the mind-boggling selection of teas, splendidly gift-wrapped if you so choose, there are all the appurtenances for tea making: teapots and cups (including Chinese and Japanese pieces), tea caddies, strainers, etc. So if you’re dying for a cuppa, let the “tea boys” serve you – and serve you something a little more out of this world than PG tips!
www.1000tea.hu
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Normafa
Whenever there’s a few centimetres of snow, families in Budapest grab their skis and sledges and head for the only hill in the capital that’s vaguely suitable for skiing. Normafa became a popular place for organised winter sports in the thirties. Today, however, one hillside is a squeeze for a city of two million, but that scarcely deters anyone. And neither does the lack of the ski-lift which it once had. For those braving the slope and the bus trip back up, the lure of mulled wine, tea or other refreshments soon beckons. The self-service Ski Hut fits in well with the “ski paradise” feel of the early 1900s, with large wooden tables inside and out serving simple hot food and truly delicious tócsni (say totchny), griddle cakes made of grated potatoes. For something more sophisticated, go to the Normafa Grill on the other side of the road. And if just a bite will suffice, join the queue at the strudel (rétes) seller’s.

Of course, these places aren’t just open when it snows. Normafa is a favoured spot for outings all year round and at the weekends it’s hard to find a space to park. Marked footpaths set off in several directions from here – the look-out tower on János Hill can be reached by path or road, by bike or with a buggy as well – and there’s a playground. The track of the Children’s Railway (operating since 1948 and known as the Pioneers’ Railway until 1990), run by 10–14 year olds (excepting drivers!), comes this way. (www.gyermekvasut.com).
Get there by bus no. 21 from Moszkva tér.
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The Central Ervin Szabó Library
Near Kálvin Square, in the so-called palace quarter that sprang up in Hungary’s age of reform, there is an imposing neo-baroque building built in 1889, the Wenckheim Palace. Since 1931 the Central Ervin Szabó Library, the heart of a network covering the capital, has been housed here. The public library was founded in 1904 and has a considerable music collection, the country’s largest sociology collection and a unique Budapest collection as well as much more besides. In recent years growing demand meant that it had to be expanded. At the same time the building was restored in an exemplary manner and its surroundings were also given a facelift: a pedestrian area with new paving and a fountain was created. The result of the expansion is an impressive world-class library where a reader-friendly spirit reigns. 13,000 m2 of facilities include an open shelf lending library, 15 reading rooms, an Internet room, coffee bar, places for about 1,000 readers, and 160 computers.
www.fszek.hu
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Heated boulders
If you have to arrange to meet someone on the street when it’s stone cold, the best place is Móricz Zsigmond Circus, the centre of South Buda. Here two young applied artists, Barbara Szöllőssy and Zsolt Pyka, erected heated street furniture. The idea for the hollow statues made of stone in the shape of enlarged pebbles was prompted by Gaz de France’s international design competition in 2000. Entries for the competition had to use gas, to which the boulders (they won second prize) owe their attractive and witty warmth. These menhir-like, organic yet modern objects are more than simply an aesthetic improvement to the circus. The designers had more in mind: their street furniture are communal objects where people are glad to stop and catch their breath, warm up and wait.
History of Margaret Island
The island in the Danube near the heart of the city was formed from sediment deposited by the river. Originally three islands, the upper island was dredged away and the lower two united to form Margaret Island during river regulation at the end of the 19th century. Already inhabited during Roman times, in the 11th-12th centuries Rabbit Island, as it was then called, was a hunting ground for the kings of the house of Árpád. The ruins of the 13th-century Dominican convent built by Béla IV can still be seen, where his daughter St. Margaret, after whom the island is named, lived as a nun when she was a young princess. In 1796 it became the property of the Palatine József and in the 19th century was known as Palatinus Island. In 1866 the thermal water was tapped, and spas and hotels were built. The Palatinus Baths, still operating today, preserve the name of the island’s former owner. In 1908 the city bought the island from Archduke József, but it could only be visited for a fee. This was temporarily abolished by the Soviet Republic of 1919 but was only finally stopped in 1945. Today it is still a favoured recreation area: many do capoeira in the large meadow, others jog around the island, while in summer sunbathers (swimming forbidden!) exploit the water’s edge. Other attractions include a small zoo, rent-a-bike, snack bars, an open-air theatre near the water tower, a Japanese garden, a musical fountain and a musical well.
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A walk on Margaret Island
Although it’s a great place for doing nothing very much, it does have a good smattering of things to see and the flatness of the 2.5 km long island means almost anyone can comfortably amble from end to end and back. If, however, you insist on wheeled transport, there are pedal cars, mini electric cars and bikes for varying numbers of people for hire in this car free area (www.bringohinto.hu).
Going onto the island from Margaret Bridge, the first object you encounter in the middle of the roundabout is the centenary monument. The giant bronze petals commemorating the 100th anniversary of the unification of Óbuda, Pest and Buda were erected in 1972. Following the path to the right leads past the rose garden to the ruins of the Dominican convent built by Béla IV in the 13th century to redeem a vow he made during the Mongol invasion. He sent his nine-year-old daughter Margaret, after whom the island is named to the convent, where she lived a holy life until her death at the age of 29 in 1272. The convent was almost entirely destroyed by the Turks. After the 1838 flood, the burial ground of the convent was found during river defence works. The grave of St Margaret as well as that of King Stephen V was found here.
Close to the nearby 52-metre-high water tower is a walkway with statues of famous Hungarian writers, poets, artists and musicians. Moving on, at the northernmost tip of the island, is the Music Fountain with a statue of Poseidon on top of a dome supported on six columns. The original water-powered fountain was built in Romania in Marosvásárhely and taken down in 1911. A replica was built here in 1936. It makes music on the hour. Just to the south of the Music Fountain there is a delightful Japanese garden with small artificial lakes and rare plants. Heading back down the centre of the island towards Margaret Bridge, there are the ruins of a late 13th-early 14th century Franciscan church. In 1796 the island became the property of the Palatine József and at this spot he built a summer house. Later many notable Hungarian writers spent the summer here. The house was destroyed during World War II.
There are also many other corners of the island to discover, including a small zoo, playgrounds and a large green for ball games. And for those in need of refreshments, there are snack bars.
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21st-century concert hall on the Danube
At the foot of the City’s newest bridge, Lágymányosi híd, a new district is being built, the Millennium City Centre. The ambitious plans envisaged creating Central Europe’s most colourful and lively cultural centre. The eclectic style National Theatre was opened in 2001 and the Palace of Arts next to it in 2005. With a floor space in excess of 10,000 m2 and a capacity of 4,500 people at once, the complex houses three large units under one roof. Besides an enormous concert hall with outstanding acoustics and a purpose-built organ that already has an international reputation, there is a theatre and the Ludwig Museum of contemporary arts. Not to mention the snack bars, an Internet café, an elegant restaurant, terraces with views and shops offering gifts (including Hungaricums), music and art books, CDs, DVDs, etc. Get there by tram No. 2.
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National Dance Theatre
The National Dance Theatre presents a broad spectrum of the art of dance from folklore to classical ballet throughout the year. It is now housed in a historic theatre in the Buda Castle, which was once a Carmelite monastery. This is the only 18th-century theatre building in Hungary which is still used as a theatre today. Joseph II, Hungary’s Habsburg ruler from the Age of Enlightenment, ordered the monastery to be cleared and converted the building into a theatre and casino. A part of the crypt below the chancel became a trap opening and cells were turned into dressing rooms, while the stage was erected where the main altar once stood. In the summer the Carmelite Courtyard is also used for performances.
www.nemzetitancszinhaz.hu
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The bottomless lake
One of Buda’s attractive parks is around a lake between Móricz Zsigmond and Kosztolányi Squares. Known romantically as the bottomless lake, the bed of this former brick factory clay pit is in fact just 4 metres down. Today it is surrounded by reeds and aquatic vegetation, the ideal home for ducks. It’s a favoured spot for locals, too, and that’s what makes it such a good place – so many different people go there. New parents push their babies on the path around the lake, youngsters, escaped from nearby secondary schools, lounge on the grass, fishermen naturally fish, while in the evenings the waterside attracts loving couples. On one side of the lake there’s a popular playground and a hotel, and on the other the older generation meet and play chess at the stone tables, while dog walkers take their hounds for a stroll seemingly with clockwork regularity. There’s also an elegant restaurant with a terrace overlooking the lake.
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Nyitott Műhely
The Nyitott Műhely (Open Workshop, XII, Ráth György u. 4) is a curious cultural institution in Buda near Déli railway station. Originally a leather workshop, it soon became apparent that it was an excellent interior space for cultural events. The owner, who happened to be the resident, staff and programme manager in one, set his sights on presenting the full spectrum of contemporary Hungarian artistic life. The Workshop boasts a truly sparkling cultural life, alternating jazz, ethno and classical music concerts with art, and has a constant stream of people from the most diverse clubs. This is a place where the world of creating art is opened up to anyone who is interested in culture. The customary homeliness of a workshop is combined with the aspects of active urban life today. There are public computers, exotic teas, a second-hand clothes corner, second-hand books, etc. – all with an unusual, personal colour.
http://www.nyitottmuhely.hu/ (Hungarian only)