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Is Budapest Worth Visiting? Yes It’s an Interesting City

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Explore Budapest with insights from 36 years of professional travel experience. Discover Hungary’s captivating capital through honest, firsthand advice that will help you to navigate getting there, getting around and the beautiful historic city centre

From Buda to Pest—navigate like a local.

Have you been considering a visit to Budapest?

It’s somewhere that had been on my travel list for many years!

I travelled there as a solo female traveller and spent a couple of nights exploring the city.

Read on for details of my experience and to see whether it’s the city for you.

👇 My Favourite Budapest Travel Resources 👇

Is Budapest Worth Visiting?

Is Budapest Worth Visiting?

Budapest is well worth visiting. It is a historic capital city with plenty of interest. There are also interesting attractions, art museums, secret museums, and boat trips on the Danube river.

Budapest has been on my travel list for a long time. Many years ago I often tried to get a touring holiday that went to Prague, Vienna and Budapest but I was never successful.

In 2025 I was planning on attending a river cruise conference in the city but I couldn’t get flight times to work well with the conference timings so I cancelled my attendance.

However, I found a flight direct from Edinburgh Airport so I decided to do a 3 country 5 night trip starting in Budapest.

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary. The city has a population of 1.7 million people.

Budapest has experienced some political protests since I visited in March 2025 so I would strongly suggest checking the latest Foreign Office advice before planning a visit.

Is Budapest Worth Visiting?

Getting to Budapest

There was a great direct flight from Edinburgh Airport with Ryanair. The flight left at 5pm and arrived in Budapest at 8.45pm. The flight is 2 hours and 45 minutes long, with a 1 hour time difference.

The flight time meant I could drive down to Edinburgh in the daytime and that I didn’t need an overnight stay to catch the flight.

The flight was actually operated by Buzz Airlines and it was absolutely fine – everything on time.

There are plenty of other ways to reach Budapest, with flights from other airports.

There’s also the option of taking the train or bus, with Prague being particularly well connected by train to Budapest.

On arrival into Budapest I used the airport bus which was very easy to find and use. It went from right outside the airport and to the city centre.

It was contactless payment only which you pay as you are boarding the bus.

All the stops were shown in English along the way making it easy to get the right stop.

You might find my post about How to Get To Budapest from the UK useful – it details direct flight routes from the UK, bus and train options.

You can also check for flights to Budapest right here 👇

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You can also check bus and train options here 👇

🚉 Yes – Check Trains on Omnio 🡆🡆🡆

Is Budapest Worth Visiting?

When to Visit Budapest

I visited Budapest in March.

It was pleasant, with warm sunny days. Temperatures were around 15 to 16 degrees Celsius so it was lovely for walking around.

May to September are busier times because the weather is warmer.

Here’s the yearly averages for Budapest during the year.

is budapest worth visiting getting around budapest on the airport bus image

Is Budapest Worth Visiting?

Getting Around Budapest

Given I was staying fairly close to the river I chose to walk most places in Budapest.

I did do a lot of walking!

There is an underground system and also a great bus network as well.

The only thing I used for transport was taking a boat trip on the Danube and then I took the train from Budapest to Bratislava.

If you don’t fancy taking the bus you could always book your own transfer from the airport 👇

🚗 Yes – Get My Own Transfer 🡆🡆

Is Budapest Worth Visiting?

Is Budapest Safe?

I found Budapest pretty safe as a solo female traveller.

The accommodation I was in was a small apartment in a residential part of the city which I enjoyed.

The street to access the accommodation was pretty dimly lit at night but I still felt safe enough walking around.

In the daytime I didn’t feel uncomfortable in any way at all, nor did I when doing anything like going to the market, on the boat trip etc.

You can read more information in my ‘Is Budapest Safe?’ post

Is Budapest Worth Visiting?

Is Budapest Expensive?

I had heard much about Budapest being pretty cheap but I didn’t find that to be the case.

One of my first visits was to the market where I wanted to try Langos, which is a speciality in Budapest. I ordered Langos with cheese, cream, some onion bits, rocket and a coffee and it was about £12. The Langos wasn’t particularly good.

I had a Matcha Latte before going to the market and it was about £6.

I also had a chimney cake and it was about £8.

The only really organised activity I did was a boat trip on the Danube. I thought this was good value – it was £16 for an hour long trip.

You can read more in my ‘Is Budapest Expensive?’ post including details of all my expenditure when I visited

is budapest worth a visit image showing entrance to opera apartments

Is It Worth Visiting Budapest?

Staying in Budapest

I stayed in a small apartment in Budapest. I chose it because it was fairly close to the main things I wanted to visit, such as the river and the market hall.

The owner of the apartment sent the most fantastic booking information through which included everything about how to get around, things to do, changing money and more. It was incredibly useful.

I enjoyed being in a more residential area of the city and seeing a bit more of the local life.

You may like my detailed review of the Opera Residence Budapest, including what’s nearby

You can search for hotels in Budapest using the search boxes below 👇

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You can also search accommodation in Budapest using this map search 👇

Is Budapest Worth Visiting?

Things to Do in Budapest

Here are the main things I did when I was in Budapest. I was only there for a couple of night and really only 1 full day.

is budapest worth visiting image showing budapest market hall

Budapest Market Hall

I visited the market hall in Budapest which was housed in a lovely building by the river. The downstairs part of the market was mainly produce stalls which were interesting to browse.

I always like to see local produce. Upstairs there were some food stands and more tourist orientated goods. If I was going back to the food hall I would go to the Italian food stand at the top right hand side front part of the hall and avoid the stalls next to it.

You can also do a tasting tour of the market, check out the details below 👇

🚲 Check Activities on Get Your Guide 🡆

is budapest worth a visit image showing shoes by the danube

Shoes by the Danube

This was an essential stop for me on my visit to Budapest. The story of the shoes is very moving and not what I had assumed. The shoes were very detailed and all around them were tributes of flowers and items left by people in memory of those who were killed.

is budapest worth visiting image showing hungarian flag and view of th danube from back of a boat

Danube Boat Trip

I loved my boat trip on the Danube. There was a bit of a limited choice given it was March. I chose a boat trip that gave guests the opportunity to visit Margaret Island.

It was pretty quiet so I just headed down to the reception on the pontoon, paid and jumped on board. The boat was nearly empty so it was great to be able to sit outside and enjoy the views.

Tea was included in the cruise and it was delicious – fruity and sweet and served in a tall glass cup. It was also served to the seat which I thought was pretty impressive on a boat trip and quite a logistical feat. I would go back just for the tea to be honest – it was that good.

I hopped off at Margaret Island and spent an hour or so exploring the island. There are a couple of hotels there, alongwith a snack bar, walking paths and a cute pond. There is very limited vehicle access so it’s a pleasant place to walk. You could also hire bikes at the snack bar.

You can find out more about a boat trip on the Danube here 👇

🚲 Check Activities on Get Your Guide 🡆

katalin kariko mural in budapest

Katalin Kariko Mural

It was International Womens Day while I was travelling and I wanted to fit in some visits that fitted in with learning more about women during my trip.

Katalin Kariko is a Hungarian scientist that was responsible for much of the work that enabled Pfizer to produce a Covid19 vaccine. She experienced some challenges and discrimination in her career but stuck with it. Interestingly she did have a huge mural that was around 5 stories high dedicated to her. However, that has now been painted over and a man’s mural placed there instead. Katalin Karo now shares a mural with an image of a male research partner – an interesting sign of some of the changes in Hungary.

You can find more activities in Budapest on Viator 👇

🚶Check Activities on Viator 🡆

Budapest Surprises

As I mentioned before I didn’t find Budapest to be particularly cheap, it was on par with costs at home.

The main surprise for me was the lack of walking available alongside the Danube river. I headed down to the riverside by the Market Hall and walked along to the Shoes by the Danube memorial. There was little or no path for most of the route.

There was also lots of trip hazards, uneven ground and in places a busy road right beside a very narrow part of the route.

This is perhaps because the Danube floods. You can walk and look over the river from an area which was higher up and the other side of the road.

Is Budapest Worth Visiting? – Conclusion

  • Budapest is definitely worth a visit. Depending on your interests a couple of days is probably plenty.
  • Budapest is famed for ruin bars but as a non drinker these didn’t really appeal to me.
  • There are a number of ‘secret’ museums and galleries. There was a selfie museum which I intended to visit, as it was something right out of my comfort zone but I ran out of time.
  • The market is interesting to visit but you probably don’t need more than an hour there.

👇 My Favourite Budapest Travel Resources 👇

More Resources

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My Hungary Travel Inspiration Page

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