From Rich History to Incredible Sights: Budapest for the First-Timer

Parliament Building and the Danube River

Budapest was the first trip I took outside of the continent, and it started off pretty rocky. I was unaware that jetlag was a thing until I traveled through multiple time zones and crashed and fell in the shower on the first day of the trip! How I solved that was by sucking it up and going to bed early and getting up at 3 a.m. fully rested. The good news is that this time was the only time I could watch TV in English! After a day or two, I was completely accustomed to the new time zone.

Anyway… that’s just about first-time international travelers in general. Now let’s get into details about my first time traveling in Budapest! First, you may hear people refer to it as the “Paris of the East”, but truth be told, a lot of European cities have this distinction. However, in Budapest, people are friendly and welcoming towards Americans! When I took a trip there with my family, we had people in the streets curiously approach and ask us where we were from. When we told them “the United States,” they wanted to know more! That is just the start of why more people should travel to Budapest. The others being that it is clean, not overly crowded compared to places like London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, etc. And it is safer than most big cities!

Fisherman's Bastion

Before traveling to Budapest, my family and I were given an overview by my father, who had been there before since he worked for a Hungarian company at the time. The rest of my immediate family tagged along with him on his third business trip there and we were advised how to avoid scams, pick-pocketers, and were also given recommendations for sightseeing. My father would work during the week while my mom, brother, and I did the tourist activities, and we stayed alert at all times just to be safe! Below are pieces of advice I learned from my first trip and what first-time travelers to Budapest should know as well.

St Stephen's Basilica

Guided walking tours are a great way to see the city. The first day, my dad had to work at the corporate office, so my mother, brother, and I decided to take a guided walking tour of the city. We met up with our tour guides at the fat policeman statue (yes, the name is self-explanatory!). After the group gathered together, we walked to St. Stephen’s Basilica and crossed the chain bridge from Pest to Buda. Once we got to Buda, we saw the Andras Hadik horse statue, St. Matthias Church, and then the tour ended at Fisherman’s Bastion at Buda Hills. If you don’t know where to start with sights in Budapest or any other city, a guided tour is the way to go!

Gelato in Budapest is cheaper there than it is in the U.S.! It is quite ironic considering the fact that everything else in Europe is more expensive than the U.S., but my family and I loved this about Europe! My mother in general is a health freak, but during this trip, she encouraged daily gelato! There were also multiple gelato shops in town, and they all had a plethora of flavors. Gelato is not just ice cream. It’s a magical treat.

Hungarian lesson at a coffee shop

The Hungarians don’t like it when foreigners try and speak their language. Another daily thing in Budapest was being approached by salespeople on the street, almost exactly like those kiosk people in American malls. After a Hungarian lesson my family attended, we memorized “koszonom nem” meaning “no thank you” to say to salespeople. However, it was the same salespeople everyday so they caught on to the fact that my family and I were not Hungarian. One day I said “koszonom nem” to a guy who was trying to sell me travel-sized soaps, and as I walked away, I heard the guy say about me, “you’re American, don’t say koszonom nem! Just say no thank you!” I thought this was rude, considering the fact that the salespeople were always nice to tourists, but it is what it is. For the rest of the trip, I did not try to speak Hungarian unless someone didn’t speak English.

While you’re there, please pronounce Budapest as “boo-da-pesht.” Guilty as charged, I am one of the many tourists who was pronouncing it as “boo-da-pest,” but we were told by a cab driver on our first day there that Hungarians hate it when people pronounce it incorrectly. They find the pest pronunciation offensive and will believe that tourists find them pest-like, and that is the last thing I wanted from the locals! It was hard for my family and I to get used to, but we were determined to pronounce it the way the Hungarians wanted us to. In addition, Budapest is named for the two parts of it split by the Danube River, Buda and Pest. Pest is also pronounced “pesht.”

Summers are incredibly hot, but there are ways to cool down. I did not realize Budapest would be in the high 90s and humid until the cab driver warned me. He was correct, so my family and I ended up walking around with ice packs in our shirts that melted in under an hour! When walking around, make sure to bring a water bottle, and thankfully, there are stations all over the city where you can refill them. However, other than remaining hydrated, there are options for staying cool. One of them is a reflecting pool in Erzsebet Square that tourists will stick their feet in, and another place tourists like to soak their feet in is the Music Fountain on Margaret Island! This fountain will periodically play music and shoot up, making it more worth it than the pool at Erzsebet Square. While I did not go here, Margaret Island also has a water park called the Palatinus Strand Baths with indoor and outdoor thermal and cold pools, as well as a water slide!

Musical Fountain at Margaret Island

Everything on Margaret Island is a treasure…except the food. Margaret Island is a diamond-shaped island in the Danube River between Buda and Pest, and this was by far my favorite attraction in Budapest. What is special about the island is that you can rent golf carts and tandem bikes to explore the island without having to walk the whole perimeter! In addition to the musical fountain, the island has many flower gardens, walkways along the Danube, ruins that once belonged to a princess, and a water tower. The only part of the island I did not enjoy was the food-it was bland, more American than Hungarian, and tasted more like carnival food than authentic cultural food. However, there’s plenty of other places in Budapest to find good food!

Langos is a popular Hungarian meal. It is certainly one of my favorites! To me it is the Hungarian equivalent of pizza, but it is better because it is deep fried. Langos was served at nearly every Hungarian restaurant I visited and I regret never making it at home, considering the fact that there are many copycat recipes for the dish. My first taste of langos was at the Great Market Hall in town, and the place has a bit of everything! It does get crammed in there, so hold on to your personal accessories!

St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna

Vienna is only a couple of hours away. My family took a day trip here on a weekend, and it was an easy day trip that didn’t even take the whole day! Budapest has a train system that goes directly to Vienna, and for me it was only a three-hour train ride! I wanted to sleep because my family and I were up so early, but a screaming baby on the train made that impossible. But, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider a day trip to Vienna while in Budapest!

Top of Gellert Hill

The hike up Gellert Hill is steep, but worth it! The hill is 235 m uphill so it is not too time-consuming, but you should still be prepared before going up. While it varies based on the hiker, it only takes about two hours to ascend up the hill and at the top is an iconic statue with a view of the city! Just remember to stretch and hydrate before the hike and pace yourself if you need to!

There is a hidden Jewish Quarter, and try not to miss it! Despite visiting Hungary three times prior to our family vacation, my dad had never been to the Jewish Quarter in Budapest, so we visited here on our last day. The first thing I noticed upon arrival was how all the architecture was similar. There were a few synagogues close to each other, and a lot of kosher restaurants. However, the backstory to this culturally vibrant district is depressing, like all Holocaust history. The district was once a ghetto formed by German and Hungarian Nazis where thousands of people were starved to death. While the district had a decrease in Jewish residents after World War II, today, it is more of a memorial for those who once lived there, as well as those we lost in the Holocaust. Aside from the memorial, this is also a party district where Jewish-inspired music is played and people like to have dance parties as well! So you don’t miss it, be sure to add this part to your Budapest itinerary!

I missed this but there is also a Harry Houdini Museum in the Buda side of Budapest.

For more travel inspiration and insider recommendations, check out our Budapest page.