Hungary
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Travel Tips
Make sure you have an picture ID to visit the Parliament. It's obvious but it is unnerving if you have queued for a long time and realized you left it with your plane ticket back at the hotel.
Emilie Casper Strasbourg, France (Oct 05)
If you want to go the baths, bring a towel because you know without one you feel a little bit stupid. Oh, and in the Gellert baths, you get back some money if you leave between 1 and 2 hours after your entrance - you get back 700Ft. It's only 300Ft after 2 hours.
Charles Marcotte, France (Sep 05)
A great budget suggestion for all English speaking travellers in Budapest is to go on a free tour in the Museum of Fine Arts. Nowadays admission is free to the permanent exhibition and the Docent Program offers free 1 hr tours at 11am, Tuesday - Saturday. It is an excellent budget event and you are in for a cultural treat!
Anonymous (Sep 05)
Budapest: I definitely recommend going inside the Parliament building; it's free to European citizens (so I think a definite must for the budget traveller!) and is a stunning building. Turn up in the morning, with your passport, and then get your tickets for a predetermined time later that day (closed Mondays). While waiting we went into the Jewish museum (varying opening times so check) and synagogue, which was very impressive - biggest synagogue in Europe - as was the Silver Tree holocaust memorial.
Rachel Allen, UK (Sep 05)
I recommend that everyone tries Unicum - a Hungarian liqueur. Any bar worthy of calling itself one will have some in stock. Small bottles can be purchased for around €2 and large ones for about €12 to €15 depending on the shop. Great stuff!
Jordan Mitchell, Canada (Aug 05)
Heviz: I visited the largest thermal spa in the world and was assured that the smell would be fine in time. However, I smelt the 'egg' smell every second I was there and then for the entire day after. Be warned, wear dirty clothes there so that you can wash them afterwards. Also, if you're scared of open water then its best to rent a ring. Take flip flops too. I was there in the winter and although the water was warm, the floor was freezing.
Szeged: There is a new spa in Szeged which has just opened. Its very freindly with 2 sections, wellness and thermal. The thermal section has a swimming pool, spa, jacquizzi and saunas. The wellness secion has a Finnish sauna, bio sauna, aroma sauna, beds in the spa and jacuzzis. English is spoken and I was guided around by the English speaker for the entire time. He also gave me a tour of the whole spa. Also, drink some of the water from 'Anna' which is in front of the spa. Its spa water which people queue up to collect in buckets.
A must in Szeged is to Promenade along the Tisza river to the ugly statue dedicated to the victims of the great flood passing the very sad statue of the prostitute staring at the Tisza. Be warned, most attractions in Szeged are closed from new year until 10 January. The only thing open that I could find was the zoo.
Keela Shackell, UK (Apr 05)
Moving About
Going from the Castle Hill to Pest can be difficult at night at least but there is a new bus (Várbusz) that runs from the Moszkava Ter metro station to Disz Ter and back, stopping in different places along the way (Lutheran church, St Mathias etc..). It runs very frequently.
Emilie Casper Strasbourg, France (Oct 05)
Budapest to the airport - For two or more people, taking a fixed price taxi for 3900Ft is cheaper than taking a minibus for 2300Ft per person.
Dan Coplan, USA (Aug 05)
Some rather painful experiences we learnt from travelling on the metro: it is quite tricky to buy the correct ticket!! We bought the ticket valued 145Ft (sold at the ticket window) one day that took us from blue line to red line, but on the next day when we were also travelling from one line to another (only one change) with a new validated ticket that valued 145Ft (we were travelling in a single direction and we travelled in total four stops only), we were caught and told that the ticket was not valid for changing lines!! Due to the language barrier, we could not ask the inspector to explain the reasons and we had to give him 2000Ft per person for buying the "wrong" ticket!!!! I think it may be safer to buy the tickets directly from the ticket window and always make sure you have the right ticket. Things may be even easier with a travel pass.
Carrie Ng, Hong Kong (Mar 05)
Scams & Warnings
My friend and I caught an overnight train from Budapest to Sarajevo on Friday night and my friend had her camera, phone, MP3 player and money from her purse stolen. We are experienced travelers and know the dangers of catching overnight trains (neither of us wanted to, but there's no choice on that route), but think that you could put stronger warnings in your books about this particular route. We're traveling with the 'Europe on a shoestring' book, and took note of the strong warnings for traveling by train between Poland and Czech Republic especially, but there weren't the same warnings about Bosnia and Hercegovina and, after talking to the Police here, it seems to be a fairly common thing. We've heard it happens, but thought we were being careful enough, so we just want people to be aware of how easily it can happen.
Alison Howard, Australia (Aug 05)
Statue Park: Beware of the following scam. Once you get there, they sell tickets for the bus back to the city for 830Ft. If you buy the ticket directly on the bus, it costs 133Ft. So, buy the tickets on the bus!
Alvaro Ruiz Navajas, UK (Aug 05)
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