Party weekend guide for Budapest

Download more than 5 pages of first class insider information for your weekend trip to Budapest. Don't get ripped off by whores, restaurants or other tourist traps. You can download this PDF file for free and share it with the world.

Click here to download

About this document

This document was created to help tourists to organize their program for one weekend in Budapest. As I provide only first hand information I recommend places only if they are really worth to visit. I do not recommend any restaurant, bar, hotel or company for financial or any other beneficial reasons. All written information I have experienced myself or heard from friends to be good. Trust these facts and I guarantee fun and no rip off in Budapest. Print out this paper before you arrive in Budapest, read it during the flight to Budapest and follow my recommendations.
Please feel free to use, distribute and publish the .pdf document without asking me. The only thing I would like to ask for is not to change any facts to own benefits.

Things you have be aware of!

There are, as in any other major city, some typical tourist traps but also some special Budapest traps I want you to be aware of. Follow these warnings and you will not be ripped off.

Taxis in Budapest

You don’t know the city and you are not sure how to get from one point to the other so you take a taxi. Do not get taxis from the street in Budapest. Why? Anybody who has a taxi license can open up a taxi company but not all of them are reliable. Additionally every taxi company in Budapest is more expensive if you take a taxi from the street. So I will give you some taxi numbers of reliable companies you should call. They all speak English. 6x6 Taxi Budapest Tel: +36 612 666666 Budapest Taxi Tel: +36 614 333333

Girls in Budapest

If you are on a stag night or just a lads weekend trip and looking for Budapest girls please do not take any girls from the street even if they just want to drink something with you. You will go to some bar of their choice with massive prices and you will not leave the place under 200€ per person for nothing. If you need girls go to the table dance bar “Hallo Love Chance” (Király u. 65, 7th district Budapest). You will not get ripped off.

Restaurants in Budapest

In general I would say you should avoid restaurants in the major tourist areas because these restaurants are focused on tourists and know how to rip you off. Later we will recommend some decent restaurants for you. In every restaurant you should double check the bill because many restaurants put a 10% service on the bill. In this case don’t give additional tip. Don’t hesitate to ask the waiter.

Arrival

Airport transfer

You will probably arrive at the airport and the first question is how you should get into the city. There are several ways to go but 2 which are the fastest and most comfortable. One possibility is to go with the taxi (keep the above tip in mind) but the airport has an exclusivity deal with a quiet expensive company that allows only them to stay and wait for customers in front of the airport. If you call a taxi they will describe you the car which is coming and after 5 minutes you have a cheaper taxi in front of the airport. Take this possibility if you arrive with 3 or more persons. Second possibility is to take the Airport Mini Bus which takes you anywhere in the city for a fix amount. This is recommendable if you arrive alone. Ask in the airport for booking this mini bus they will give you detailed information. With these 2 tips you will have a good airport transfer in Budapest

Money

The currency in Hungary is Forint even though Hungary joined the EU. I recommend changing money in your home town before you start because you will need some money from the start. Otherwise go to some exchange shop and change your Euro, Pounds or Dollars there. But don’t exchange on the street because you will receive some other currency which is worth nothing. If you do not know the bills and coins you will get ripped off.

First words

Even you stay just for a weekend you should learn some small words to be polite towards the Hungarians since you wish to be treated friendly as well. Hungarian is a very language to learn as it has no relation to any other language in the world. Nevertheless three words / sentences everybody can learn during the flight to Budapest. Here you go.

o Köszönöm - Thank you
o Egy sör kérek szépen - One beer please
o Hello - Hello and bye

Wasn’t too hard, no? I tell you Hungarians will be amazed by you if you talk any words in Hungarian with them, specially the women. Go for it.

Dinner

Lets pretend you want to eat a decent dinner. Of course you can skip this part if you are here for drinking than move to McDonalds or Burger King and go on with the next point but here are some tips for the gourmets among you guys.

Restaurant Goa

It is still my favorite restaurant in Budapest thus I recommend it highly to anybody who need information about dining out. Friends, parents, colleagues, business partners, all of them had to go there. Restaurant Goa is held in a Indian, Asian, quiet chilly style and is from the bottom to the top good. The food is excellent and covers a wide range of dishes, from pasta over meat to vegetarian dishes. The prices are a bit above average but still cheap for that quality. Perfect for all you party animals is that it is in the center of the city and 5 minutes by foot to a warm up place which I will describe later. Check it out, you’ll be amazed!
Address: Andrássy út 8 / 13th district / Tel: +36 1 302 2570

Trattoria Toscana

Trattoria Toscana is a superb Italian restaurant with a good view on the Danube. This is the place where you get the most decent Italian food in the city. Pasta, salads, pizza, the typical Italian dishes you will find here next to a very good wine selection. Absolutely recommendable is the fish whereas I have to say that I ate better pizza than theirs. As Goa the Trattoria Toscana is priced a bit above average but worth every cent or penny.
Address: Belgrad Rakpart 13 / 5th district / Tel: +36 1 3227 0045

Nancsi Néni

Ok Ok, we are in Budapest, Hungary and I offer you all that international food. From the name you can see already that this one is Hungarian. Unfortunately it’s a bit far outside the city but reachable with the taxi. Nancsi Néni is by far the best Hungarian restaurant I have been to in Budapest. If I remember right it was the only Hungarian restaurant in 2007 which is listed in the Michelin guide. Here you get all traditional Hungarian dishes, soups, desserts and good Pálinka (the typical shot of Hungary). Please make sure that you check the availability before you go there.
Address: Ördökárok út 80 / 2nd district / Tel: +36 1 397 2742

Warm up

As a warm up I consider the time between the dinner and the party where you start to get drunk and decide what your plan will be. I will recommend you two squares where you find many bars. The first one is the place for stag nights and weekend tourists. Both places are in the heart of the city and you will have good fun there.

Liszt Ferenc tér

I will not steal your time and make a historical presentation about Liszt Ferenc, he was a famous Hungarian that’s enough for now. On this square you will find around 20 bars offering beer, wine, cocktails as well as food (if you want to combine the dinner with the warm up). In almost all of them I have been and there is none which is really bad so you can take the one where you like the waitress the most or the one with the most comfortable chairs. In the summer time you have the chance to sit outside and watch passing girls which in general are quiet attractive. Check it out, yu will like it.

Raday utca

Utca means street in Hungarian, Raday utca is a street full of bars, many bars. As on Liszt Ferenc ter I have not been in a bad place so choose the one with the best theme or the most girls sitting around. Here you can eat as well and get drunk, the only disadvantage is that the places close quiet early but never mind, you will go somewhere else anyways.

The party

So, are you drunk already? Fine let’s go on to the places where the beautiful girls are. You want to see something, dance and drink on than we move on in the taxi to one of the places.

Bed Beach / Dokk Club

I am not sure what is the real name of this place but the taxi driver will bring you there. This club is located on one of the Budapest Islands. This place is full, and I mean full, of beautiful women. Here you will find the dressed up girls trying to catch a guy you were looking for back in your home country. The club itself plays average music from house to disco but you will have fun. Prices for drinks are above average but you don’t need so much anymore since I gave you great warm up tips.

Romkert

This place is in the heart of Budapest right in front of the Gellert hill. As it is an open air place it is just open during the summer time. In Romkert you will find very open, amazing looking women who dance all night. Next to the fresh air you get very good drinks for fair prices. In the summer time this place is almost unbeatable.

Miniatür

I don’t know why but I have to recommend this place. It is actually a small and very snobbish place and the prices are quiet high for Budapest but always I have been there the party was very good and the atmosphere amazing. The taxi drivers might not know it but with the address it will be fine.
Address: Corner of Budai László utca and Rózsahegy utca / 2nd district

After the club

You didn’t catch a girl? Too bad, there are two choices for party animals like you. First one is to go on drinking outside of the disco, the other one is to go to a proper strip club. But please do not let the taxi driver bring you to a strip club you are on your way to get ripped off. Really this is the worst that can happen to you because these clubs will turn out to be more expensive than your complete trip. Here is one recommendation for each possibility.

Piaf

The Piaf is actually a rotten club in the center of the city but because everybody is drunk nobody cares about anything anymore. Here you will get drinks till early morning, if not longer. And for all of you who didn’t get a girl yet the chances are quiet high in Piaf even though you don’t want to wake up next to that girl.
Address: Nagymező utca 25 / district 7

Hello Love Chance

As you can imagine this is the strip club. This is one of the few clubs where you are not going to get ripped off. What differentiates this club from others is that you don’t have to pay a massive entrance fee (or let’s rather call it exit fee because you don’t realize when you step in) which is most of the time not less than 100€ per person. What is waiting for you in there? Well of course a lot of girls to watch (for free), beer for around 1500 Forint which is around 6 Euro and the chance for a private dance with the girls for 10.000 Forint which is around 40 Euro. So if you need to see girls on your weekend take this club.
Address: Király u. 65 / district 7

Recreation and daytime activities

Take a bath

You have a hangover? Well than you should do something relaxing to start into the new day. I recommend going to one of Budapest’s baths. There are more than 100 natural thermal water sources in Budapest which the baths use. In my opinion the best choice is the Széchenyi bath near hero square. The bath has an inside and an outside area and offers next to the pool a lot of different recreation possibilities like sauna, whirlpool and so on.
Address: Állatkerti körút 11 / district 14

Shopping

If you are fancy about some shopping tour I recommend two shopping centers to you. The first one is the West End City Center which is the largest shopping center in Eastern Europe. You will find many shops and all kind of brands there. Additionally they offer gaming rooms, a cinema, a food court, helium balloon flight and a lot more.
Address: Váci út 1-3 / district 6 The second large shopping center is called Mammut which basically consists of two connected buildings. Here you find as well a lot of shops, cafes, a cinema and a lot more. The Mammut is smaller than the West End.
Address: Lövőház utca 2-6 / district 2

Casino

Unfortunately I haven’t been to any Casino in Budapest so I cannot recommend any specific. But Budapest has a lot of Casinos so it is not hard to find one. I have not heard any negative stories about a Casino in Budapest so I guess you can go anywhere.

That’s it so far. As soon as I have new information or other interesting places to recommend I will publish them on Budapestagent.com, probably in the Blog under blog.budapestagent.com if they are braking news and of course I will update this document.
If you liked this document or the website please feel free to send me an email with a couple of sentences. The same you can do if you have any question about Budapest I will give my best to give a fast answer. Please feel free to publish and distribute this document but do not make changes. Additionally I am more than thankful if you tell your friends and family about Budapestagent.com and if you have link me on your website, blog, forum.
Enjoy your stay!