Budapest

DH has to meet a potential client there and I'm thinking we should tack on the weekend before to visit the city. Has anyone been and if so, what would they recommend? Also, I know DH would like to visit Bran Castle in Romania, has anyone done that?

Thanks! 

Oh my goodness, Budapest is a beautiful, amazing city! 

There's an incredible walk up to the top on the Pest side of the river. There's also some incredible arcitecture to wander around.   Try and take one of the boat cruises along the river- you'll get to see both sides of Buda and Pest. Oh its stunning...

There's a train up the side of the Pest side as well with amazing views.  Try visiting the open market, you'll get the most amazing paprika.

Lots of shopping.  The Terror Museum (about the Nazis and the Russians) is a great thing to see, very well done. 

Public transport in Budapest is excellent- trams run all over the place.  You can get a day pass and just hop on and off.   Easy to use as well,all colour coded. 

Ooh ooh ooh, I ADORE Budapest! It's my favourite city in Europe, and my fiance's, too, now. The food is absolutely out of this world - top notch cuisine. You can pretty much walk into any decent-looking restaurant and have one of the best meals of your lives.

And the entire city is built upon natural hot springs, so there's thermal baths all over the city. Hotel Gellert has the best interiors, but that's separated by sex, so if you and your husband want a long, hot soak together, I highly recommend the szechenyi baths, they're in a big park with about 20 indoor pools of various temperatures and sizes (one lozenge-shaped one has really strong jets that whip you around the pool, it's SO much fun!) and 2 or 3 huge outdoor warm pools. You get an entire cross-section of Hungarians, there, too - teenagers on dates, ladies wot lunch, old people, fat people, poor people, rich people. It's really refreshing and really cheap, too! Just make sure you pack your swimsuits so you don't have to rent one (ewww!).

I'm so jealous! We were given free flight coupons for our engagement and decided to go to Budapest again, but it'll be nearly a year before we can actually go, and we both really miss it there!

Oh, and top tip: Goodbye in Hungarian is pronounced exactly like "See ya". SO easy to remember.

Thanks! Sounds great. I told DH that I wanted to go and he thinks that we should save the money and go to Paris instead.  I, embarrassingly, haven't been to Paris, but I'm really afraid that I'm going to be disappointed. I have no expectations of Budapest and that's why I am sure I'll love it!

Budapest is MUCH cheaper than Paris.  If you are canny and flexible with dates it will also be cheaper to get there.

Vicky

Thanks! Sounds great. I told DH that I wanted to go and he thinks that we should save the money and go to Paris instead.  I, embarrassingly, haven't been to Paris, but I'm really afraid that I'm going to be disappointed. I have no expectations of Budapest and that's why I am sure I'll love it!

If you get there, you will LOVE it...  I agree with squirellypoo, the cuisine is amazing!

Paris vs Budapest - there's no contest there for me. And I really like Paris, and speak decent French... but I'd choose Budapest hands down every time. And yeah, it is really cheap (especially as they're not in the Euro-zone yet!).

I noticed how much cheaper it is. You can get a nice hotel for around €100 per night and because of DH's meeting, his flight would be paid for, along with Thursday night, in the hotel. I'm going to discuss it with him more this weekend.

Thanks for the tips! 

It's looking good for our trip to Budapest! Just waiting for DH to get his trip approved and I'll book my ticket.

Any restaurant or hotel recommendations would be great! 

Oh, I have to second everyone's recommendations about Budapest.  It's *such* a great city, with so much to do.  squirrellypoo is right on about the thermal baths.  They're so much fun, and you really do see a cross-section of Hungarian society there.  My favorite was the group of old men playing chess in one of the pools.

Bran Castle is also really interesting and definitely worth a visit, but it's a bit far from Budapest.  If you're only going to be in Hungary for the weekend, you would probably be better off sticking to the city.  Transylvania is definitely worth a trip of its own though, if you ever get the chance!  I spent a year teaching in Targu Mures (a few hours from Bran/Brasov), and try to talk it up whenever I can.   

Just saw this in the Telegraph and thought of this thread... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/citybreaks/5154381/Hungary-Bathing-isbest-in-Budapest.html

Have a wonderful time!

Yay! Budapest is my favourite place of all I have visited. It is so beautiful and there is so much history there. I hope you have a lovely time!

I've wanted to visit Budapest ever since I read The Historian

As for restaurant recommendations - you HAVE to go to Karpatia. It is utterly AMAZING food, and not terribly expensive, either. It's Transylvanian food, cooked to the original medieval recipes, and the interior of this place is handpainted and stunning. We make a point to go here every time we're in Budapest, it's our favourite restaurant in the world, second only to The Fat Duck. And a close second, at that.

Fun fact - last time we were there we were seated out on the terrace because a film crew was in the main restaurant. We enjoyed our meal, were treated to an amazing Hungarian string quartet, and thought nothing more of it.... Until Michael Palin's Eastern Europe series was on tv months later, and HE WAS IN KARPATIA THAT SAME NIGHT! He was the film crew! hahaha 

So yeah, go there. You won't be disappointed! (I highly recommend the cooling blackberry soup as a starter if they've got it on the menu that night)