Budapest
This grande dame of a traditional cafe dates back to 1887. Awash with leather and dark wood inside, it's also a great spot for people-watching. It serves…
Must-see nightlife in Budapest
Budapest
This place has brought history back to Bartók Béla út. The Hadik is a revived old-world cafe that pulled in the punters for more than four decades before…
Budapest
Design-led decor and excellent locally roasted coffee make this little cafe, down a tiny pedestrian alleyway, a great place to pause. Go across the road…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
Vittula is a great studenty cellar bar (not club!) covered in graffiti, where hedonistic folk and bearded men drink late into the night accompanied by…
Castle District
This diminutive cafe dating from 1827 is the perfect place for coffee and cakes (550Ft to 750Ft) in the Castle District. Be warned: in high season it’s…
Budapest
The 'Rocking Horse' (with appropriate decor) is a two-storey affair with Czech beers on tap, friendly bar staff whose eye you can catch and DJs some…
Castle District
Dark, wood-panelled, underground bar specialising in an extensive range of Belgian beers. There are just under a dozen on tap and a much more extensive…
Budapest
This small but comfortable cafe on the ground floor of delightful Bedő House is tailor-made for fans of the Secessionist style, with sinuous art nouveau…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
This huge tree-filled complex, with courtyard and eight bars and four dance floors in two buildings, hides a warren of good times, including live music…
Budapest
As chilled a place to drink and nosh as you’ll find in south Buda, the Tranzit has made its home in a small disused bus station, put art on the walls and…
Budapest
Children and adults alike are treated to a warm welcome at this basement rabbit warren attached to the Élesztő ruin pub and cluttered with teddy bears,…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
This bar on the roof of what was once the fashionable Paris Department Store eight floors above Andrássy út 39 offers nothing extraordinary in the way of…
Budapest
In fair weather this little cafe called the 'Silent Partner' sets up a terrace around the gates of peaceful Károlyi kert and serves coffee, wine and light…
Budapest
This big boozer known as the 'Plum Blue Tomato' in Hungarian is like something out of the old American sitcom Cheers, especially the ground-floor bar and…
Budapest
For a place housed in a communist-era kiosk dating back to the 1970s with a bizarre flyaway roof, this DJ bar and cafe is very hip and has a great terrace…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
This Spanish restaurant/bar/club at the southern end of the Gozsdu udvar is a one-stop-shopping night out in Budapest. Arrive mid-evening and grab a seat…
Budapest
This popular cafe by the edge of the lake in City Park dating back to 1895 is a great place to relax, watch rowers on the lake and have a coffee or…
Budapest
Central and always heaving, DiVino is Budapest's most popular wine bar, as the crowds spilling out onto the square in front of the Basilica of St Stephen…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
One or two of your fellow elbow-benders in this convivial neighbourhood boozer might just be Hungary's next big star as this is a favourite of the nearby…
Castle District
This lovely new cafe on the top floor of the one-time Batthyány tér covered market takes its coffee very seriously indeed, with blends from Colombia to…
Budapest
Not the original branch of this 'august' 1870 institution, but it is the most central and convenient one. Take a seat within the opulent interior and…
Budapest
This throwback thirsty, with flowers in its hair, peace signs emblazoned on the walls and cringy slogans ('Don't worry, feel hippie') is a comfortable…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
Owned by the tour agency of the same name, the Yellow Zebra cellar pub is meant for cyclists. It has a half-dozen Czech and Hungarian craft beers on tap,…
Budapest
A favourite new watering hole in Buda, this pint-sized pub (though there are three tiny floors) has some 55 craft beers available from Hungary's five…
Budapest
Dating back to 1854, 'Plan' (as in the communist five-year variety) is a retro-style cafe-bar on two levels, decorated with photographs of Hungarian…
Castle District
The decor is cinema-inspired (Hollywood memorabilia on the wood-panelled walls, leather director's chairs) and the beautiful crowd often act like they’re…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
Supposedly Budapest's largest outdoor beer garden, this achingly cool, grown-up courtyard pub surrounded by seriously ruined buildings has monochrome…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
Named after a dark-skinned variety of wine grape that originated in Hungary, this buzzy, modern wine bar serves a dizzying array of varieties (mostly…
Budapest
At the southern end of City Park, Kertem is a wonderful beer garden, filled with multicoloured chairs and trees strung with fairy lights. By day it's an…
Castle District
Located in Swan House, a remarkable example of Hungarian 'organic architecture', this friendly place welcomes 'wanderers, lovers, artists' and more. There…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
A calm little teahouse (and now cafe too) on a busy street, with a lovely upper level where you can grab a piece of chalk and leave your mark while you…
Castle District
Anyone who takes their chai very seriously would be advised to visit this 'tea shop and lab' whose owner sources the best and most exotic leaves from…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
OK, so what's not to love about a tiki bar, with those fake coconut trees, palm-frond huts, colourful idols and mai tais (2350Ft) that go down like water…
Budapest
One of the original bars on the IX Ráday utca nightlife strip, this place has a coffeehouse feel to it with old sepia-tinted photos on the walls and pool…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
Diagonally opposite the Hungarian State Opera House, the 'Artist Coffeehouse' is an interesting place to people-watch (especially from the shady terrace),…
Budapest
In a small courtyard off lower Váci utca, this is the place to go if you want to sip a soothing blend made by tea-serious staff and relax in a Japanese…
Óbuda & Buda Hills
This teensy bar just over Margaret Bridge, which opened a quarter-century ago, hides an Aladdin’s Cave. It's filled to bursting with antiques and a host…
Budapest
Squeeze into this minute coffee shop (there's just a bar to perch at and tables in the quiet open-air inner courtyard), where you can sample well-poured,…
Budapest
Covered decks below the southern foot of Széchenyi Chain Bridge on the Pest side form the more sophisticated (but less fun) of Pest's two new fair-weather…
Budapest
The Caribbean-style food here is missable, but you should definitely taste master mixologist András Lajsz's incomparable American-style (hi, LA!)…
