Must-see nightlife in Budapest

Budapest's first romkocsma (ruin pub), Szimpla Kert is firmly on the tourist trail but remains a landmark place for a drink. It's a huge complex with…

Considered the most beautiful cafe in the world when it opened in 1894, this neo-Renaissance-style place on the ground floor of the New York Palace Hotel…

Drop into this basement bar if you fancy a craft beer, of which it stocks a large range of Hungarian and international labels. Friendly staff are on hand…

The bare-brick interior of this relaxed corner bar gives it a bohemian vibe. A mixed-age crowd mingles at the bar or chats at the tables ranged around the…

Sharing the same building as the Hadik Kávéház and separated by just a door, the Szatyor is the funkier of the twins, with cocktails, street art on the…

This temple to craft beer, which takes its odd name from the slaughtered pig (note the wooden portrait on the wall) in the iconic Hungarian 1969 film A…

A low-lit 'speakeasy' serving expertly mixed cocktails (1950Ft to 5950Ft) using fresh juices and an educated selection of craft spirits. For something…

We love this ambitious, spacious and bohemian cafe-bar tucked down a backstreet off Rákóczi út. Food is available, from breakfast (990Ft to 2190Ft) to…

If you need to impress someone – even yourself – lead them up to this rooftop bar above the Aria Hotel. With your noses stuck into the dome of the…

This fabulous, recently relocated cafe is as close as you’ll find in 21st-century Budapest to the old-style intellectual hangouts that were so prevalent…

This grand one-time copper factory dating from 1907 sports a chilled ground-floor bar, a small venue downstairs and a fantastic garden courtyard, which is…

Arguably the best coffee on this side of the vaguely recalled Iron Curtain, this little place on two levels (look for the not-so-true sign proclaiming 'I…

This 'Shanghai-inspired bar' – but aren't tuk-tuks (like the one on the pavement outside) from Bangkok, we cry? – is an ever-so-Asian gay hang-out at the…

Brick-lined and candlelit, Doblo is where you go to taste Hungarian wines, with scores available by the 1.5cL (15mL) glass for 900Ft to 2150Ft. There’s…

Located on the northern side of Pest’s busiest square, Gerbeaud has been the most fashionable meeting place for the city’s elite since 1870. Along with…

What is probably the first kosher cake shop-cafe to open in Újlipótváros since WWII serves all the usual favourites, including the city's best – trust us …

The 'Snail Cafe' is a very popular, welcoming place alongside the Rákóczi tér market. The relaxed space on two levels, with battered wooden floorboards,…

This super-cool cafe moonlights as a used-book exchange on the ground floor and boasts a large, bright gallery with additional seating upstairs. There are…

A little Russian living room with lace tablecloths, wooden dressers, mismatched tea sets, hat stands and vintage lamps provides a relaxing daytime coffee…

This enormous venue with multiple rooms, including covered and open courtyards facing a huge brick smoke stack of what was once a pipe factory, does…