BUD - Buda grows thru Pest

The Royal Palace Museum is a definite must-see, and the entrance fee is covered with the purchase of the Budapest Kartya transit card. Hungarian is the language used, and English isn't common outside of hotels. Communication is accomplished through a combination of verbal and visual interactions.

Quick Tips:

Make sure you have your hotel card with you. I thought I checked before leaving the hotel that I had the hotel card with me. I got separated from my partner and spent the night riding buses and trolleys, not knowing how to get back to the hotel until the morning, when I found the card in my pocket. I was then able to figure out which route to take to return to the hotel in the morning. Resources: 1. Budapest 2. Budapest
3. Budapest, MD Travel Health

Best Way To Get Around:

Public transportation works well--purchase your 48-hour Budapest Kartya for HUF 3,950 and activate it by filling in the month, day, hour, and sign. Carry it in a safe, easily accessible place. I was carded maybe seven times on the second day by fare checkers wearing red and yellow armbands in the underground metro system. There are stiff penalties if caught without proof of a paid fare.

A tout boarded the train one stop prior to ours and talked with my partner extensively about the hotel. The brochure looked good, but we didn't trust him since we didn't know him. They provided a free shuttle from the railroad station, but we declined the free ride because you could be taken for a ride someplace to be robbed. A voucher was provided for a discounted rate of HUF 15,000 instead of HUF 20,000 if you simply walked off the street.

They give you an apartment instead of a studio for the same price if you stay a minimum of 2 nights, which we did. The apartment came with finished wood floors in the bedroom and tiled kitchen/bath floors--non-slip, high quality. The apartment has a shared bath and kitchen with another adjacent apartment, which can each accommodate up to eight people. The door to the bathroom wouldn't open completely because of improper clearance of the door bottom. The front entrance to the apartment couldn't be locked, but the individual apartments can be locked. So the bathroom and kitchen cannot be secured from the outside.

Fortunately it was low season during our visit, and the bath and kitchen was all ours. The hotel reception is on the fifth floor after being buzzed in. There's also sometimes a man in the booth right inside the front door entrance off the street. The Hotel Baross name on the brochure didn't match the name plate on the hotel, Hotel Panzio, because it is owned by Panzio. The bathroom didn't have a shower curtain, so water got all over the floor.  

An all-you-can-eat breakfast is included for the hotel stay. Breakfast hours are from 7 to 11am, and they serve scrambled eggs with too much salt, deli-sliced meat, sliced cheeses, bread rolls and sliced bread, yogurt, cereals, cocoa, coffee, orange juice, tomatoes, and cucumbers. You may also ask for custom-cooked eggs. The staff is friendly and helpful. This hotel looks newly built, but unfortunately will probably fall to disrepair in several years time just because it's that type of culture/society.

The hotel is conveniently located near train station Keleti; Budapest district 7; Metro M2 (red line) station Keleti pu; bus stops lines nos. 7, 7A, 78, 73, 173 at Keleti; trolley bus nos. 73 or 76; and the terminal in Bethlen Gabor street, right next to and above a Pizza Hut restaurant.

There is 24-hour Internet access available at the hotel--30 minutes of use for HUF 400; 24-hour Internet access is also available right next the the hotel, as well as a 24-hour McDonald's restaurant. Ask the hotel to recommend a wash-and-fold laundry service that is one metro stop away. There's a supermarket near the laundry service, as well as a pastry shop right next to Kaiser Szupermarket's rear exit that has a very limited selection, but is really good.

Email: info@budapestpensions.hu

Website: Budapest Pensions

All-you-can-eat buffet. Select your uncooked meat, and the staff will grill your meat selection. There's also salad, pre-cooked foods, two soups, and desserts (drinks are included). Food is plentiful and adequate. Some dessert items are not worth eating, but the best dessert items are the rum balls. A good value for the money.

My partner noticed the customer in the next table ate some food, but kept ordering drinks for a long while. My partner ordered two coffees, which came as espressos, but when the bill came, it wasn't added on. We came to the conclusion that it's not just soft drinks that are included in their price, but all drinks, including alcoholic drinks, and that it wasn't just that the waitress forgot to include it on the bill.

Credit cards accepted.

Lunch noon-4pm, HUF 1990; Dinner 4pm-midnight, HUF 2990.

Kaisers
Szupermarket is where you can shop for groceries, but you need to bring your own strong bags or purchase theirs, a choice of two types: the lightweight, easy-to-tear kind, or the industrial-strength, fiber-reinforced ones.

I found an interesting item on the shelves--turkey liver pâté with pineapple bits, which intrigued me enough to want to buy some, but I couldn’t find crackers to put the stuff on.

There’s a really good pastry shop immediately exiting the rear of the supermarket, which closes at 7pm.
Open: Monday to Friday 7am to 8pm, Saturday 7am to 3pm
Metro: M2 Blaha Lujza tér/Trams nos. 4 or 6
Telephone: 338 3791, Fax: 338 4716.

Home furnishings, clothing, underwear, toys, and other goods (such as towels and kitchen accessories) dominate this centrally located store. Credit cards are accepted. Located above Kaiser's supermarket, it's where locals can afford to shop and where you get a flavor of the local shopping budget.

Macy's it's not, actually it looks kind of dismal and grungy--efficient, but unattractive fluorescent lighting seems to be the norm. There is a shopping mall next to the train station that Americans would feel right at home with. But the locals wouldn’t be able to afford to shop there, not even the employees of these shops can. I would guess they feel resentful about this.

Telephone: 338 4160.
Hours: Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 3pm
Metro: M2 Blaha Lujza tér/Trams nos. 4 or 6

This is a short 2-minute tram ride up or down the side of the hill, between the foot of Chain Bridge, and to the entrance of the Royal Palace. There's three sections in the tram--top, middle, and bottom--to enter and ride. I suggest riding it up the hill and walking down from the Royal Palace.

Hours: 7:30am to 10pm, closed every even Monday
Budapest card invalid for any discount.

This is a laundry wash-and-fold service right near Kaiser's Szupermarket. They charge by the weight of your laundry. Normal turnaround is next-day service. If you need it sooner, ask if they will get it back by end of day, which they did for us when we brought the load in around 10am. Inquire if they will do your laundry within an hour.

Open: Monday to Friday 7am to 6:30om, Saturday 8am to 1pm, Sunday closed
Telephone: 36-1 338 29 24; Metro: M2 Blaha Lujza tér/Trams nos. 4 or 6

There's another location at XI.
Telephone: 36-1 385 22 22, ext. 356

We went to Café Capella (tele: 06 30 545 3039) at midnight for a drag and transvestite cabaret show. We were each handed a drink card and warned not to lose it because we would have to pay a hefty fine.

 

There are three levels in this narrow and tall building, but we just stayed on the bottom level. I was sleepy, and our view was blocked by other people standing in front of us. From the little I could see, the quality of the performances varied and lay in the eye of the beholder. The locals enjoyed the performances, but I was only mildly impressed. Most of the men in drag didn't look appealing as women.

We were approached by a young, pushy man who introduced himself, sat down at our table, smoked up, and wanted to avail my partner of his services for HUF 50,000. I wasn't pleased he was pushing himself in our faces and charging a sky-high price, and my partner was not impressed either, by him or his fee. Another person, nicer looking but not English-speaking, quoted us HUF 10,000. At this point, my partner was turned off and wasn't interested at all, so we left to pay and return to the hotel. The person at the door wanted HUF 1,000 fee for me, but no fee for my partner. My partner explained to him that I am a man, not a woman. The bartender looked at me closely for several seconds, scratched off what he wrote on the bar ticket, and wrote something else indicating no fee. Apparently a lot of straights come to this bar, so they alternate the nights they charge cover: one night will be no cover for men, and the next night will be no cover for women. However, it's too expensive for most local Hungarians here.

This is a small gay bar with two levels that is open daily from 7pm to 4am. My partner ordered coffee and began browsing through guidebooks.

I wasn't in the mood to do anything except return back to the hotel, so I left the bar alone. I got lost, crossed two bridges, rode the no. 6 bus back and forth a few times, rode a drafty tram, and passed a railway station. By this time I was wondering if I'd be able to find my own way back to the hotel before the next morning, when we were supposed to return to Prague. Eventually I found the map and my hotel card. The metro had started running, so I got off the tram at the railway station, caught the metro, and transferred to another train. Then I got confused and went back and forth a few times before finally arriving at my destination.

I got carded several times by fare-checkers during my long trip on the metro. There's an honor system of paying for your fare, but if you're caught without a ticket, there are stiff fines and penalties.

Király Bath is a municipal Turkish-style bath that dates back to the 15th century is not a gay bath. Massage service is available for a fee, and you decide when paying your fee at the entrance. You're issued proof of payment and exchange this for your closet key and towels with another person. An attendant motions you to a vacant closet to go in, disrobe, and lock up your street clothes and whatever valuables you brought with you. Shower first to wash the dirt, grease, and oils off your body before entering the pools of cold, warm, or hot water. There's a major beautiful chamber with a large warm pool where one can relax. After relaxing in the pools, if you paid for a massage, go into the queue to wait for your turn. The massager on duty didn't speak any English and was a little rough, so I wouldn't do another massage here again. Men's days are Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and it's busy with lots of men in late afternoon. There's some discreet mild action in the smaller pools.

We opted for the massage service at the beginning upon entering. After using the pools, you queue up by lying down on a line of cot beds for the next available masseur. One customer before me getting massaged didn't like the way he was being massaged and abruptly left. The masseur didn't speak any English, his hands callused, the massage was a bit rough as were the towels. If you don't like being handled like a piece of large meat, then I suggest passing on this service.

Open: Tuesday, Thursday 0630-1800, Saturday 0630-1200 for women; Monday, Wednesday, Friday 0900-2000 for men.

Transportation: M2 Batthyány tér; Bus 60, 86

Phone (0)1-2023688

Rác Bath is not a gay bath, though most of the clients happen to be gay. There's activity in the saunas and octagonal pool. It's especially busy with gay action on Saturday afternoon, but also be aware that a lot of hustlers frequent this establishment.

Open 0630-1900. Monday, Wednesday, Friday for women; Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday for men

Transportation: Tram 18, 19; Bus 7, 7A, 8, 78, 86

Phone: 356 1322

Pólus Center is a large shopping center with lots of different stores accessible by a complimentary shuttle bus from from M2 Keleti pu. The shuttle bus dropped us off short of the shopping center, or else we got off too soon. It took about 20 to 30 minutes of brisk walking to reach the shopping center. Check when the last shuttle bus returns and where the stop is if you can manage. We found out that the shuttle bus had stopped running by asking at one of the stores. Another customer behind us fluent in English overhead us and offered us a lift back to our hotel. That was very nice of him, and we conversed while riding back. Though this was very convenient and nice, it's also possible that it could have gone bad. It went quite well for us in this instance. The people aren't well off here, so bad things are possible, but I didn't experience anything bad from the people.

Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday to Sunday 10am-7pm.

Tel: 36 1 415-2114
Email: info@polus.hu

TESCO is a large British supermarket chain offering one-stop shopping. It has top-notch meat and cheese counters with lots of expat-friendly goodies. There is high quality and fresh produce, electronics, and clothing available.

Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday to Sunday 10am-7pm

Tel: 36 1 419-4003

Complimentary shuttle bus from M2 Keleti pu