36 Hours in Budapest
New
bars, Michelin-starred restaurants and indie boutiques are enticing,
but so are age-old attractions, like Buda Castle and Turkish-era thermal
baths.
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One of the largest cities in Europe,
Budapest is a regional powerhouse in terms of art, design and cuisine,
home to a dynamic fashion scene and more Michelin-starred restaurants
than any other city in the former Eastern Bloc. Of course, the Hungarian
capital boasts a rich and lengthy history, starting with early Celtic
settlements and the later Roman city of Aquincum, before hitting a high
point during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But fans of contemporary
pleasures will also find far more than a weekend’s worth of new
attractions here. Most of the action lies in Pest, east of the Danube,
with scores of compelling new bars, restaurants and boutiques in
neighborhoods like the Inner City, the Jewish Quarter and the Palace
District. Across the river, stately Buda Castle and renewed, Turkish-era
thermal baths reward travelers in hilly Buda.
Friday
1) 5 p.m. ART SEEN
For years, Hungary’s art scene was known for being relatively unknown, though several new galleries are working to improve things. One of the best is the 2014 arrival Art + Text,
housed in an Art Nouveau building whose ornate 1903 architectural
details contrast stunningly against the contemporary artworks on
display. Exhibitions focusing on emerging artists and modernist works of
the post-World War II era change roughly every month. Get here early:
Like many other Budapest galleries, Art + Text is not open on weekends,
and only welcomes visitors on Fridays until 6 p.m.
2) 6 p.m. LEARNING CURVE
Relax over a glass and a bite at Tasting Table,
a cool, casual wine shop and bar that became one of the city’s favorite
destinations soon after it opened in an atmospheric Palace Quarter
cellar in late 2014. Owned by the American food writer Carolyn Banfalvi
and her Hungarian husband, Gabor, Tasting Table stocks over 200 wines,
which you can compare in flights of three glasses (3,900 forints, or
about $15.40), while you sample local cheeses, charcuterie and other
snacks. Placemat-size maps illustrate the geography and varietals of the
country’s main wine regions, making it easy to justify another round in
the name of your ongoing oenological education.
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3) 10 p.m. DOMESTIC DISTILLATES
Years ago, Budapest led the way for cocktails in Central Europe, with favorites like Boutiq’ Bar appearing on several global “best bars” lists. The new hotness: Good Spirit Bar,
which opened last year in the Inner City with more than 350 kinds of
whiskey and some 700 spirits overall, including takes on the domestic
distillate palinka, made with beet, celery root and carrot. Relax at the
spacious, L-shaped corner bar over a relatively obscure Japanese
whiskey like the 12-year-old Togouchi (3,700 forints for a dram of 4
centiliters, or about 1.35 ounces), or make your way through the
cocktail list, which bounds from classics like the Sazerac (2,400
forints) to such custom creations as Fig in Japan (Nikka All Malt
whiskey, fig syrup, sherry vinegar and a dash of espresso, tobacco and
bacon bitters; 2,400 forints). The list also includes creative,
nonalcoholic drinks like the Sage Stage (sage, cardamom, lime, pear and
tonic; 1,100 forints).
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Saturday
4) 10 a.m. RUN AND RIDE
Thanks
in part to European Union development funds, many of Budapest’s
once-rundown parks, sidewalks and squares have been spruced up in recent
years. The riverside Nehru Part south of the Inner City reopened in
late 2016 with new running tracks, basketball courts, workout equipment,
playgrounds and a new skate park hidden under Petofi Bridge, offering
great views of the Danube. Afterward, head north to check out the Bálna (or “Whale”) Building, a modern shopping mall partially composed of restored, 19th-century warehouses.
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5) Noon CHEAP EATS
The
Jewish Quarter offers historic sites, trendy shops, amazing night life
and an array of excellent (and cheap) ethnic restaurants. Prepare for
your tear through the neighborhood with a hearty bowl of noodles at Ramenka,
a minimalist, Japanese-style ramen bar. The house special (1,690
forints) pairs fresh noodles with a savory, pork-based broth adorned
with tender slices of braised pork belly, boiled egg, sprouts, chives,
carrot matchsticks and wood-ear mushrooms, while those following the
neighborhood’s more traditional dietary strictures might prefer the
pork-free, miso-based version (1,690 forints).
6) 2 p.m. IN THE FRAME
Take
a snapshot of the ornate facade of the Rumbach Synagogue, a stunning
Moorish Revival building from 1872, originally designed by the great
Otto Wagner and currently undergoing a much-needed reconstruction. Then
head across the street to shop for handmade souvenirs at Printa,
a “zero-waste” print shop, cafe and boutique where you’ll find unusual
T-shirts (4,500 forints) and posters (8,000 forints) bearing an
illustration of the city’s various bridges over the Danube, as well as
“Printa’s Jewish Quarter” (2,800 forints), a frame-worthy map of the
neighborhood.
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7) 4 p.m. HASHTAG HUNGARY
Along with several of its neighboring countries, Hungary is coming into its own in terms of fashion. Find apparel and accessories at Punch, launched in 2017 by a consortium of several up-and-coming designers just off Andrassy. Inside you’ll find Anna Amélie’s large purses, made of hydrophobic leather in dynamic colors (around 62,000 forints), velvet bodysuits (24,000 forints) by Anna Daubner and funky women’s hats (59,000 forints) from Vecsei. Not far away is the new flagship store of Nanushka,
a cult Hungarian brand hashtagged by style-conscious women around the
world. Although the brand can be found in boutiques from Paris to Tokyo,
this is currently the only stand-alone Nanushka store, stocking the
widest selection of items like “Cascade” skirts with the brand’s
distinctive knot in faux leather (74,990 forints) and tank tops with a
similar motif in silky “technical” satin (59,100 forints).
8) 7 p.m. BEER BEAST
Craft beer has hit the capital hard in recent years, appearing at stylish new restaurants like Bestia,
across from St. Stephen’s Basilica. Inside the spacious dining room
you’ll find beer from local producers like Mad Scientist, Hedon and
Horizont, paired with excellent modern pub cuisine: massive beef marrow
bones topped with bread crumbs and dried horseradish, accompanied by
fluffy, focaccia-style toast (3,850 forints); tender, sweet-and-sour
barbecue chicken wings (2,050 forints for six); and truffled macaroni
and cheese (3,050 forints). Plan to stay a while: The list of draft
beers runs 12 deep, and like many places in town, there’ll probably be a
club-worthy D.J. playing top-shelf funk and house tunes, or another
type of musical performance.
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9) 9 p.m. THE RABBIT HOUR
Craft beer gives you plenty of options for the night, with sleek arrivals like 2017’s First backing up established bars like the sprawling Eleszto,
a “ruin” pub in a former glass works that opened with more than 20 taps
of craft beer in late 2013. Other must-sees for beer fans include the
labyrinthine Kandallo, the intimate Lehuto craft beer and tapas bar, and the ten-tap Hopaholic.
Almost any of these pubs will provide entertainment. However, if a
local offers to get you into a late-night private cocktail club like Her Majesty the Rabbit — which does not list an address — by all means drop your pint and take them up on it immediately.
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Sunday
10) 10 a.m. NEW AWAKENING
Soak away the excess at the Rudas Baths,
one of the city’s most atmospheric thermal pools, originally built
during the Ottoman occupation in the mid-16th century. Though it retains
much of its original Turkish architecture, a 2014 reconstruction added
modern spa facilities, a Turkish-Hungarian fusion restaurant and a
panorama pool on the rooftop terrace. Normally reserved for men, the
Rudas Baths welcome both sexes on weekends. Don’t forget your swimsuit,
and if you don’t have a spare towel, pay for a sheet (700 forints and a
1,500-forint deposit) along with your ticket (3,700 forints).
11) Noon GOING DOWNTOWN
The original Costes
restaurant earned Hungary’s first Michelin star some eight years ago.
But many locals prefer the restaurant’s newer and less stuffy second
location, Costes Downtown,
which brought a lighter atmosphere when it opened in 2015 — and which
quickly picked up its own Michelin star. The top-shelf Continental
cuisine highlights many of Hungary’s renowned products, like goose
liver, prepared as a buttery terrine and topped with cubes of fresh pear
and quince and a honey-ginger sauce (6,000 forints), or Mangalitsa pork
medallions (9,100 forints), which are topped with earthy Jerusalem
artichoke chips and dense droplets of savory black garlic purée. Leave
enough time for a final glass before you rush off to the airport: The
wine list features celebrated producers from regions like Badacsony,
Eger and Villany, many of which you’re unlikely ever to find anywhere
else.
LODGING
Guests
looking for excellent yet affordable views of St. Stephen’s Basilica
can book one of three rooftop suites (called “apartments”) at 12 Revay Hotel (Revay
utca 12; 12revay.com; doubles start at 92 euros, or about $113), or
chose one of the 53 smaller rooms at the hotel, which opened in 2015.
Ten years after the arrival of the posh Callas cafe and restaurant, Callas House
(Andrassy ut 20; callashouse.com; off-season doubles start around 82
euros) opened directly upstairs in 2016, offering 25 beautiful rooms and
suites on Pest’s most stylish boulevard, next door to the Budapest
Opera.
If you do plan a trip to Budapest, check out these suggestions on what to pack from our Wirecutter team.
Editors’ Note: March 31, 2018
An
earlier version of this article included a reference to the Shoah
Cellar Museum. After publication, several readers and experts in Jewish
history raised questions about the background of the museum; that
reference has now been removed.
Correction:
An earlier version of this article included a restaurant that is no longer operating. Beszallo closed on March 1.
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