Best Things to Do in Budapest, Hungary: Restaurants, Museums and Culture - Thrillist

When it comes to architecture, Budapest has a dramatic flair. The Hungarian capital’s eclectic style has long attracted the film industry, but it’s also an ideal destination for travelers who seek out cities rich with history, art, and culture. It's a compact city, and you can see the main sights over a long weekend, as much of the downtown area clusters around the Danube River. But Budapest's true charm lies in the places hiding in plain sight that can even take some residents years to discover.
It's a city that's been shaped by its complex history and isolated by a language that shares nothing in common with those spoken by its neighbors. Hungarian is unlike any European language (except, as a distant relation, to Finnish). It's a country marked by occupation, from the Ottoman Empire to the Habsburgs, and then later the scars of the World Wars, revolutions, and decades of communism. If you know where to look, you'll find its history written on the walls, from the Turkish bath houses to bullet-scarred walls left behind from the uprising against the Soviet occupation in 1956.
Tucked between the grand boulevards and palatial apartment blocks, you'll find small local galleries, bohemian hubs in dilapidated former factory buildings, and a vibrant cultural and culinary life. Whether it's history, art, food, nightlife, or a lively counterculture, Budapest has something for any curious traveler.
See: Budapest from the Danube River. Take a stroll along the embankments or take a boat trip to see the best of the city from the water.
Touch: Budapest's thermal waters. Budapest sits on more than 100 geothermal springs, each with its own mineral profile. There are more than 10 thermal baths, but the most spectacular are the Szechényi, Gellért, and Rudas baths, which incorporate a 16th-century Ottoman bathhouse. These spots are popular, so if you want to escape the crowds, try some of the lesser-known baths like the Lukács Baths or the Veli Bej, a former Ottoman bath house hidden inside a hospital.
Smell: A glass (or more) of Hungarian wine. Hungary has excellent wine, from bold reds from Eger to sweet Tokaj dessert wines. Sample some wines or go to a tasting, like with Tasting Table, which is run by a Hungarian-American married couple.
Hear: Budapest has an excellent music scene, from classical to contemporary. Try to take in a classical performance at MÜPA, a modern complex by the river with excellent classical concerts, or the newly opened House of Music in City Park. If you prefer something more modern, come in August when the famous Sziget Festival is in full swing.
Taste: "Whenever we think about a typical Hungarian dish, it's always paprika,” says Gabriella Andrónyi, a local culinary guide and the author of My Hungarian Cookbook. “The most important thing is to try gulyás soup and paprikás chicken because these are the iconic dishes we prepare at home."
Budapest offers plenty for the art lover to admire. Excellent museums are scattered throughout the city, like the Museum of Fine Arts and the Ludwig Museum, both of which are worth visiting. It’s impossible, though, to manage everything in one day. If you're looking for a mix of architecture, fine art, contemporary art, and classical music, get a feel for Budapest's vibrant cultural and artistic landscape with the itinerary below.
9 am - Grab breakfast at Kelet Gallery and Cafe. Art Nouveau architecture, independent galleries, cafés, and design boutiques characterize Béla Bartók Boulevard, and Kelet has been an institution here for over a decade. This café is known for its rich coffees made with beans from a local roaster and tasty breakfasts, and also features wall-to-wall books on the ground floor and an art gallery on the first floor.
11 am - Discover a hidden art gallery in the Castle District. Head to the Koller Gallery, a hidden spot in the Castle District that's free to visit. They deal in fine art from local contemporary and historic artists, with a selection that would fit in a museum. Visit their ivy-clad garden with surrealist sculptures and head up to the top floor for views over the Danube and the Hungarian Parliament Building.
12 pm - Enjoy modern Hungarian cuisine in a former 17th-century inn. The Pest-Buda Bistro claims to be one of Hungary's oldest restaurants, occupying a former inn dating back to 1696. The restaurant retains a Baroque tavern-like vibe and offers homey and comforting food, with a menu focused on signature dishes like gulyás, chicken paprikás, and stuffed cabbage.
2 pm - Learn about Hungarian photography in two small museums. Hungary is famous for its photographers, with emigré names like Robert Capa, André Kertész, László Moholy-Nagy, and Brassaï having Hungarian roots. Head across the river and up Andrássy Avenue and you’ll find two small but excellent museums dedicated to photography. On one side of the boulevard, there’s the Mai Manó House of Hungarian Photography, residing in a house once belonging to a former imperial photographer that now exhibits photography. Across the road, you have the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center which features a permanent exhibition on Capa and temporary press photography exhibitions.
5 pm - Grab afternoon tea at Café Zsivagó. Café Zsivagó is a bohemian coffee house around the corner from the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center that evokes a cozy living room from the 19th century. It's a popular spot with creative locals, notably for its selection of teas, alcoholic drinks, and homemade savory pastries and pies. Sometimes there's live jazz music here.
7:30 pm - Take in a classical concert at Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music is striking architecturally, decked out with Zsolnay ceramics, stained glass, murals, and lashings of gold leaf. The academy hosts inexpensive concerts that begin at 7:30 pm almost nightly.
It can be tempting to stick to the top sights you can find in most any guidebook to this city, but Budapest's charms lie