Is Budapest Worth Visiting? We Gave It a Month and We Are Going Back
We went to Budapest for a month. Not three days, not a long weekend squeezed onto the end of something else. Thirty three nights, in one apartment, with a washing machine and a supermarket and all the unglamorous furniture of actually living somewhere.
I am telling you that first because it is the only reason my answer to this question is worth anything. Anywhere is charming for three days. The real test is whether a city is still good on day nineteen when you have run out of sights and you are just going about your week in it.
Budapest passed that test more comfortably than anywhere else we have been in eleven months of full-time travel.
Is Budapest Worth Visiting, My Quick Answer
Yes, and I would put it in the top handful of cities in Europe for a first-time trip.
It is beautiful without being exhausting, it is genuinely cheap, it is flat and walkable, and the food is better than it has any right to be. We finished our month standing in front of Parliament at night saying we would be back, and I meant it.
The Case For: Five Things That Actually Make It
1. It is beautiful in a way you do not have to go looking for
This is the thing I did not expect. In a lot of cities the beauty is at the sights and everything between them is just city. In Budapest the walk to the supermarket is lovely.
I spent a month unable to get over the buildings, specifically the balconies. I kept saying I wanted to live somewhere I could walk out onto one like that. The Opera House stopped me dead from the street often enough that I eventually went inside just to see the staircases.
2. The food is the best I have found anywhere
After eleven months of full-time travel across a lot of countries, Budapest is the best city for food culture I have been to. I say that on camera and I stand by it here.
Not because of one famous dish. Because of the depth of it: proper langos at Retro Langos, the best cinnamon roll I have ever eaten at Rolly, an entire pistachio-themed brunch at Pink Pistachio that was unlike anywhere else, the best cookie I have had at Cookie Beacon, courtyard tapas at Arquitecto Pitpit. Everywhere we went we found something.
The full list is in where to eat in Budapest, because it did not fit here.
3. It is genuinely cheap, and not in a way that costs you anything
A$114 per person per day all in, and that includes accommodation, everything we ate, everything we did and a fair amount of shopping.
The number that still surprises me is A$3.64 a day on transport across a month in a capital city, because Pest is flat and we walked nearly everywhere. And the best value ticket we bought anywhere was A$8.70 to sit in the Metropolitan Ervin Szabo Library, which is a working library inside a former palace.
4. The free version of the city is as good as the paid one
Our favourite evening in an entire month cost about six dollars: a takeaway pizza from Crudo, eaten on the riverbank watching Parliament light up.
And the single best thing we did anywhere in Budapest was free. Fisherman's Bastion at half past five in the morning, with the sun coming up behind Parliament and almost nobody else there.
5. You can be in another country by mid morning
We booked a train to Bratislava at about ten on a Thursday night, from bed, after seeing a TikTok. We were there by ten the next morning.
That is the bit about Europe that still genuinely amazes me, and Budapest is well placed for it. The full day is in Budapest to Bratislava.
The Case Against, Honestly
I am not going to pretend there is nothing.
Some of the famous stuff is a let-down. The Central Market Hall is on every list and we found it a little underwhelming, mostly souvenirs and dupe clothing. Worth ten minutes if you are passing.
New York Cafe is genuinely overpriced. It is also the most beautiful building I have had breakfast in, so I still say go, once, at seven in the morning. But you are paying for the room and not the food and it is worth knowing that going in.
Gellert Baths closed on 1 October 2025 and will not reopen until 2028. We got in a few weeks before. If a beautiful indoor art nouveau bath was a big part of the appeal for you, that specific thing is not available right now, and most guides have not updated.
It is hot and busy in peak August. We were there from 15 August and the first couple of weeks were noticeably warmer and busier than the September half.
And if you want nightlife beyond the ruin bars, I cannot help you. We went out, we had a brilliant night, but we were living there rather than partying and we only really got to know Szimpla Kert. That is a gap in what I can tell you, not a criticism of the city.
Who I Would Send, and Who I Would Not
Go if: it is your first proper trip to central Europe, you like walking, you care about food, you are travelling on a budget that you would like to feel generous rather than tight, or you want a base you can settle into for longer than a week.
Think twice if: you need beaches, you want a city that stays up all night as a matter of course, or you are only interested in headline landmarks. Budapest has plenty of those, but the reason to go is the texture between them.
If we talked you into it, this is where we would book. Neither is where we slept, because we had the apartment. Both are where we tried to and could not.
Hotel Oktogon Haggenmacher
Central Pest. One of the two we tried to book for a night while we had the apartment, and could not get in. The architecture is the reason.
Prestige Hotel Budapest
Also central, also gorgeous, and also full when we tried. If you are only in Budapest a few nights, this is the sort of building to stay in.
So Would We Go Back?
We finished our last night standing in front of Parliament while it was lit up, and I said on camera that we had had the best time and that it was an until next time, because we will one hundred and ten percent be back.
That was not a sign-off line. Budapest is the first city in eleven months where we both said, independently, that we could live there. We stayed a month and left wanting more of it, which almost never happens.
If you are deciding whether to go, our full planning guide is here, and everything worth doing is here.
Watch Our Budapest Vlog
A month in one city, including the sign-off that this article ends on.
Watch our Budapest vlog on YouTube
Still planning? Here is how we would plan the whole trip and the 14 things we would actually do.
FAQs About Whether Budapest Is Worth Visiting
Is Budapest worth visiting?
Yes. We spent thirty three nights there and left planning to come back, which is not something we say often. It is beautiful, cheap, walkable and the food is exceptional.
Is Budapest better than Prague or Vienna?
I cannot answer that honestly, because this trip did not include them. What I can tell you is that Budapest is the first city in eleven months of full-time travel where we both said we could live there.
How many days do you need in Budapest?
Four nights. Three covers the main things, and the fourth is the one where you stop moving, which is the point of the city.
Is Budapest expensive?
No. About A$114 per person per day all in for us, including accommodation, and transport was A$3.64 a day because we walked nearly everywhere.
What is Budapest famous for?
The thermal baths, Parliament on the river, Fisherman's Bastion and the ruin bars. The things we actually rated highest were the sunrise at the Bastion, a day at Palatinus and the Ervin Szabo Library.
Is Budapest good for a first trip to Europe?
It is one of the best. It is cheap enough to be forgiving, small enough to walk, easy to get around, and it does not overwhelm you the way a bigger capital can.
What is the downside of Budapest?
The Central Market Hall is underwhelming, New York Cafe is overpriced, and the Gellert Baths are shut until 2028. Peak August is hot and busy.
Would you go back to Budapest?
Yes. We said so on camera on the last night and nothing since has changed my mind.
Want your Budapest itinerary planned in a couple of clicks?
Tell it how long you have got, and it lays the days out from everywhere we actually went.
- Two lengths, a short trip or the full week
- Only places we actually went, never a generic list
- Walking times, and when the tram is worth it
- Share it to your notes or send it to whoever you are travelling with
