Express Budapest

Take a bus out of town to the Statue Park - it's fantastic. Corr the Danube and take the furnicular to catch the tremendous views from Buda over the Pest skyline.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Public transport is good, clean and cheap, but be aware that the metro shuts down a little earlier than in many major cities, so check before travelling.

Hotel Baross lies behind a nondescript door, just off one of the city's busiest roads. A narrow corridor leads to a beautiful courtyard, and a glass elevator takes you to the hotel on the fourth floor. The reception is light and airy and there is a comfortable seating area as well as two computers with Internet access for the use of guests.

The rooms are of a high standard and spotlessly clean. While small, the rooms lack nothing and are very comfortable. The bathrooms are lovely and have the all-important heated rail - so useful when hand-washing!

Breakfast is served from 6am and is a buffet - the best hotel brekkie we had on the holiday!! Eggs, sausage, cold meats, bread, cheese, fruit, yoghurts, cereal and great coffee (and tea)!

Staff are friendly and helpful and can give advice on eating out, transport, etc.

The location is fantastic - ideal for the metro system yet within easy walking distance of many major attractions.

The Marquis de Salade is a restaurant any city would be proud to have. It is situated in a quiet street in Pest and although it is listed on many websites and in most of the guidebooks, we were able to turn up on spec and get a table with no problems.

There are a few tables upstairs but in the evenings the tables in the cellar are filled first. Down a stone staircase is a wonderful cave like room, the walls of which are covered in Azerbaijani woven rugs and blankets. In the main room there are just a few tables but there is another room further through which I believe can be hired for private parties.

The food is varied but is essentially Russian in influence with dishes originating from Georgia, Azerbaijan, the Ukraine and typical Russian dishes such as borscht. I started with a traditional Russian dish which appeared as a huge dome shaped mound -- on the outside was chopped boiled egg, under this was grated pickled beetroot and inside that was an enormous pile of the most wonderful pickled herring. My partner's starter was an aubergine dish, nicely spiced and beautifully succulent, the only problem came when he found a rusty nail in it. The waiter was most concerned and took it away for investigation but did not offer to give us a reduction for that course - it was quite a rich dish so my partner did not want a replacement because the main courses were on the way.

My main was 12 fantastic stuffed vine leaves -- Georgian style, but very similar to the traditional Mediterranean dish. My partner went for a fish dish, which he approved of wholeheartedly.

We skipped dessert, but there seemed to be a good selection of international sweets on offer.

There was an excellent wine list with a good choice of Hungarian wines as well as others from all over the world. Prices ranged from bargain basement to the top end. We plumped for a palatable Hungarian red for around 10 Euros.

Although not a vegetarian restaurant, I would recommend this place to non-meat eaters as the selection was wide and interesting, so often veggies seem to be forgotten and offered a pretty bland selection.

For the quality and range of dishes on offer, this place is remarkably cheap. We ate like kings for less than £20 each and came away more than satisfied.

Now, I'm not an expert on modern art (but I know what I like!!), but the posters advertising one of the temporary exhibitions here grabbed my attention. Entry is around 300Ft or (for us) free if you have a Budapest Card (from tourist offices).

Whilst the space is fairly big, there are not a huge number of exhibits, and although the gallery was started with the "long-term loan" of a good number of pieces by Peter Ludwig in the early '90s, there is not much in the way of a permanent collection. The nucleus of the collection consists of examples of 1960s Pop Art by Warhol, among others. You can also see Picasso's "Matador & Nude," which I liked very much, although I have read that it is not highly regarded.

The exhibition I went to see was one of contemporary Chinese art, and I loved it. Whilst very much evocative of China and things Chinese, it was an interesting take on the Western Pop Art genre. I especially loved the works by Feng Zhengie, which reminded me of those 1960s/1970s pictures of the green-faced ladies which used to hang in granny's living room and is now so kitsch.

The only criticism I have of the gallery is that some of the works are very large and you need to step back to appreciate them - or rather, you would if there was enough room. While the walls are long, the spaces are narrow.

I would certainly recommend you check out what exhibitions are on if you visit Budapest, but the collection is small, and perhaps you might want to give this museum a miss if you are on a tight schedule.

What a terrible thing it would have been if all the statues taken off the streets when the Iron Curtain was pulled back had been melted down or dumped on rubbish tips. Luckily, someone had the great idea of exhibiting over 30 of these works in one place and so the statue park was born.

From the city centre, it was a journey on two very busy buses; the park is located in South Buda and you should keep an eye out for it because it appears very suddenly and you could easily miss the stop and have to backtrack.

The entranceway is a huge brick wall containing two arches, each containing a statue; one shows Lenin in classic pose. You walk through the gateway and pay at the desk.

The rest is up to you. There is no set route and all the works are grouped around a central flowerbed which has been designed so that the bed, when in bloom, shows a striking red star.

The pieces range from straightforward busts and statues of Lenin, Marx, Dimitrov, etc., to more symbolic pieces dedicated to the Workers, Soviet Soldiers and the Republic of Councils.

Unfortunately, there is little in the way of information other than the names of the pieces or a brief mention of to whom the work is dedicated. This does spoil your enjoyment a little, but the statues are so impressive that you can still get a lot out of the visit without knowing exactly what each piece represents.

And just to add a little more authenticity, at regular intervals the sounds of the Red Flag and other Communist anthems are played over a loudspeaker. This makes the whole affair a little camp, I think, but is great fun.

Entrance is 600HuFt, but free to Budapest Card holders. You can also buy a special ticket from tourist offices which combines travel there and admission, saving a little.

On departure, you pass a patio area where you can buy T-shirts (Che Guevara, Lenin, Trabant cars), badges, fur hats, CDs of Communist anthems, books, postcards, and other kitsch bits and pieces.

Definitely worth a visit. We loved it - the highlight of our time in Budapest!