Budapest

 We recently returned from 6-night trip that included 3 nights in Budapest. I am including our itinerary here along with links for those of you who have expressed interest. 

Day 1: We dropped off our rental car in Vienna, and took the train from Vienna to Budapest. The train was about an hour late, so we didn't get into Budapest until about 4 pm. We reserved train tickets on Trainline and didn't pay extra for reserved seats. The trip was only about 2 hours total, and we ended up not needing to move seats other than make room for other people that boarded stops after us in different towns in Hungary, but I would normally recommend reserving seats if you don't want the hassle of having to potentially move to other spots and potentially having your group split up. FYI- if you do book a train, make sure you book it to Budapest-Keleti, NOT Budapest-Kelenfold. Keleti is the central train station from which you can easily get a taxi or metro to the place you are staying. If you are traveling in a group, you can purchase a 24-hour group metro ticket at the train station (about $9 at the time of our travel), but make sure you go outside the train station and purchase it at one of the purple BKK kiosks, NOT inside the train station at the yellow kiosks- those are more for purchasing train tickets to other cities/regions. You can download the BKK app on your phone to also purchase tickets, but at the time of our trip, I was unable to purchase a group travel card this way. If you are purchasing tickets for just yourself, however, this is a good option, though the ticket kiosks are pretty easily and you can select English when making the transaction. Hungarian is a very difficult language and unlike many other places I have traveled where I could generally at least understand somewhat of what was being said, I couldn't understand a thing in Hungarian. Fortunately, we were able to communicate in English everywhere we went, so this wasn't a problem. Rhys still assumes that every language that isn't English is German, so he kept trying to speak German to everyone while we were there. 

If you have a cell phone with an EU plan, your phone will work just fine in Hungary. We had no issues with Telekom, and it was very necessary to use to be able to see which metros to take and to look at maps. Hungary uses the Hungarian Forint, but will also accept Euro in many places. However, I would recommend getting Forint from ATMs to have on hand for cash-only transactions, as the Euro price listed is significantly more than in Forint. Most places accepted credit cards, but there were some places where we had to pay cash. 

After we bought our 24-hour travel card, we rode the metro to the apartment we rented through Booking.com. The place we stayed was only about a 10-minute walk to Margaret Island, so we walked there for dinner and ate a Hippie Island which was fabulous- great lemonades, and the majority of the menu was a grilled entree with a side of seasoned potatoes, corn on the cob, sour cream, and salad. Lemonade is abundant and fabulous in Budapest- if you have been living in Germany for the past five years, you know that finding legit lemonade is difficult. Budapest does lemonade right- huge glasses, served with ice and slices of lemons, limes, and/or oranges, plus a variety of flavors to choose from. I tried lavender, green apple, strawberry, and elderflower. Dinner in Europe is a very different event than in the US, and there is no rush to get you out to pass your table on to another group, so we had the table for as long as we liked. This also means that food takes much longer to come out than you may be used to, but your drinks will always come out immediately once ordered. It was already getting late by the time we were done with our dinner, and we just happened to walk back during the fountain music and light show on the island, which was super cool. The fountain has certain periods of the day where it will put on a "show", but I have no idea what they are- we just happened to walk to it at the exact perfect time in the evening, and after that, bought cotton candy on a stick from a vendor for a whopping $1.50 that was approximately the size of a full-grown water buffalo. Somehow between the five of us, we managed to finish the entire pile of spun sugar before we even got to the bridge over the Danube to take us back to the apartment. 

Day 2: We aren't hardcore FOMO travelers because we don't enjoy running ourselves ragged to see everything, so we got a pretty late start to the day. Nate and I walked to a bakery and a grocery store around the corner to get breakfast. You MUST go to a Hungarian Bakery and just try everything that looks good, and it will taste good. Many of the pastries are filled with chocolate pudding. Hungary is a pretty cheap place to travel to, so we were able to eat everything. A carton of juice was about $1.30. We enjoy trying random things when we travel, so we went through the aisles and threw random things into our basket that looked interesting to try. We accidentally bought soy yogurt, and the kids weren't a fan of that. 

After being bums for a few hours, we headed out for adventure time. We walked around Hungarian Parliament which is one of the most stunning buildings in the world and took many photos. This place looks amazing at night when it's lit up. If you reserved tickets in advance, you can take a tour of the building and see the Crown Jewels, but we didn't do that this trip. We then walked to the Holocaust Memorial Shoes on the Danube which is located on the bank of the Danube River near the Parliament building. This is a memorial to the Hungarian Jews who were often made to take their shoes off and then were shot into the Danube River by members of the Arrow Cross party after Germany helped topple the Hungarian government and bring the fascist  and antisemitic Arrow Cross Party to power. 

We then took the metro to the Zoo Cafe for lunch. This was one of our kids' favorite parts of the trip- you are seated at a table and brought a variety of different animals to hold while you are eating your lunch. Yes, the animals are brought to your table at the same time your food is. No, this would definitely not be acceptable in the US. Each table has a bottle of hand sanitizer to use, so you can hold the snake for a while and then "sanitize" your hands before you take a bite of your sandwich. Miraculously, not a single animal relieved themselves at our table- not even the rabbit, that I was sure would leave at least a few poo pebbles. I do not consider myself a person who is fond of snakes, so I was surprised at how much I liked holding the snake that was brought to our table- he was very cute and sweet! It's a very popular place, and you MUST make reservations in advance, but can only make them up to a week in advance. I made reservations through email, and it was easy. 

After the Zoo Cafe, we wandered around the Jewish Quarter, which is known for it's nightlife and places to eat, and saw the Dohany Synagogue. We actually had nothing planned- I had just read about the area and it was right near the Zoo Cafe, so we just looked at our Google Maps and walked to places that looked interesting. We wandered into a random gelato place, where I had the best gelato I have ever had in my life! I have no idea what the name of the place was- it was just a random shop on a side street in the Jewish Quarter. We also briefly saw St. Stephen's Basilica as we walked back towards our apartment. Tickets can be purchased to go inside Dohany Synagogue and St. Stephen's if you are interested, but we chose to just see the outside because the boys were started to get tired. We walked through Liberty Square, where there is a fountain, Holocaust Memorial, and a random statue of Ronald Reagan. It was pretty hot and the kids were tired, so we bought cold drinks at Aldi and headed back to the apartment to rest for a bit before dinner. For dinner that night, we ate at Mythos the Greek where we ate some of the most delicious (and affordable!) Greek food. Our total bill was only about $100 for multiple large lemonades, 5 entrees, and about 5-6 appetizers and the tip. One thing to note is that it is expected to tip 10-15% of the bill, but at some places, the service charge will be added to the bill, so you want to make sure to check your bill to see if it is already included so you don't accidentally stiff your server, who may possibly also be the owner of the restaurant. 

Day 3: After a gourmet breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios and leftover pastries from the previous day, we headed back to Margaret Island and spent that day at Palatinus Strand Baths. This is a great option for families, as many of the famous thermal baths in Budapest aren't a good choice for children, and may not even allow children in some of the baths. There is apparently both an indoor and outdoor section at the Palatinus Strand Baths, but we ended up just hanging out at the outdoor pools. There are a variety of pools heated to different temperatures, and free lockers where you can store your valuables. Inside the baths is cashless, so you can either top up your entrance bracelet with $$$ to have it scanned when making purchases within the bath complex, or you can use card. There are a variety of places selling food, including Langos and Chimney Cakes. When in Hungary, one must have Langos, which is basically a giant fried piece of bread (very similar to Navajo fry bread by the size of a dinner plate) and can be eaten plain, or with cheese, sour cream, or both. We have the opportunity to eat Langos quite a bit at the numerous festivals and Christmas markets near where we live, but it was still fun to eat Langos in Hungary. Langos are also fabulous with sugar, nutella or other sweet toppings. A warning to all fair skinned people- no amount of sunblock will be sufficient. I was completely slathered in SPF 50 waterproof sunblock head to toe and still got a nasty burn on my shoulders that is currently peeling. Even Nate burned and it's peeling just as bad as mine, and he almost never get a sunburn. Somehow none of the kids seemed to get very burned, surprisingly. As another warning- I would NOT travel to Budapest in July or August. The weather was in the low 80s while we were there (mid-June), and was just barely tolerable. Margaret Island tends to be a bit cooler than the rest of the city, and it does cool down nicely at night, but I wouldn't enjoy going to Thermal Baths and wandering around the city when it's 90+ degrees outside. Spring Break would definitely be a great time to visit. Christmas would also be nice, particularly for enjoying the thermal baths, as long as you bundled up. 

We went back to the apartment late afternoon and rested for a few hours before our dinner cruise on the Danube. I highly recommend leaving time in your scheduled for resting, particularly if you have kids. It made the trip much more enjoyable for everyone, and we all felt great when we were out exploring. We booked a dinner cruise that included a 3-course meal and traditional folk music and dancing through Silverline Cruises. There are TONS of different river cruises available, and you don't necessarily need to book in advance- you can just walk up and down the river and there will be people trying to sell you tickets to the various river cruises. Our cruise was 3-hours long and lasted from 7:30-10:30 pm. We booked a night cruise because we wanted to be able to see all of the beautiful buildings lit up from the river at night- it is absolutely stunning! This was definitely a splurge for us, and it was absolutely worth it. Drinks are not included in the dinner cruise price, so you have to pay separately, plus you will want to have cash with you to tip the servers and performers. My recommendation is to just google Budapest river cruises and look through all of the different options until you find one that looks interesting- there are even jetboat tours and a floating bus tour, which reminds me of the amphibious assault vehicle tours at the Wisconsin Dells. 

Day 4: We had an 8:20 flight from Budapest to Stuttgart, so we had to get up super early to get to the airport. We tried booking a taxi, but were having issues, so we took a bus. Our travel pass did NOT take us all the way to the airport- we had to take a bus to a specific stop, and then get on the airport bus (100E) where we had to pay an additional fee, but seriously, it was only a few dollars for all 5 of us. A taxi would have been nice, however, as the bus was standing room only and the airport is fairly far out from the city center. There is weirdly no direct train connection between the Budapest airport and the city center, so a taxi or bus are really your only options. I wouldn't recommend renting a car if you are just staying in Budapest- the metro is so easy and much more affordable, and as in any major city, parking will always be a hassle. If we had been able to book a taxi, it would have only cost about $30 for the five of us, which is a heck of a lot better than the $80+ for us to take a taxi to the Stuttgart Airport. The Budapest airport is not huge- probably comparable to the Stuttgart Airport, and definitely significantly smaller than Frankfurt or Vienna. 

One thing that really stuck out to us is that Budapest was very clean, and it didn't smell funky like some large European cities do. The tap water was drinkable and tasted good, and finding a toilet was pretty easy and they were fairly clean (very important when traveling with children!) If you do decide to drive to Budapest, another option is to stay at Aquaworld Resort that is on the outskirts of Budapest where it has free parking and take the metro into the city center. We were planning on staying here originally, but decided against it because we wanted to be walking distance to all of the sites and to eat at a variety of places (the resort is all-inclusive, so you would be eating most of your meals at the resort). Hungarian food is REALLY good- I love how it is  seasoned. Make sure you have goulash at least once while you are there! We will definitely be returning to Budapest in the future!