Tips for Travelers

I know a few of you out there are looking at or are travelling to Budapest in there near future so I have tried to think of some tips I can give you.  Unfortunately I have little knowledge on what Budapest is like in the later half of the year as it does get colder, and it does snow.  What I can tell you is that Hungarians love festivals and love Christmas so although the weather might not be as stunning as I have had - ha ha - you can still have a blast here.

Lonely Planet guide :

Pretty simple, just get one.  I got mine on Hungary not just Budapest and this still worked fine for the city.  I also managed to get it for pretty cheap from fishpond.co.nz.  However you can buy them here and of course you can buy smaller versions if you aren't going to be here for long.  Or consider using the Lonely Planet website on your phone a lot.  The book tells you great places to eat, things to see even if you are here only for a few days or here for a few weeks.  It also helps you work the public transport which is fantastic!  It also has all the maps you need!  Budapest isn't too big you can always walk everywhere if you need to.  I personally don't know what I would have done without it.  It gives you all the info on tipping here - who to tip and who not to.  Also informs you on some of the etiquette  which I will give u a quick run down of soon and this is important!

Transport :

Master it ASAP.  It is quick easy and reliable. You have the trams, the buses, metro and trains use them all!  Get a ticket for the whole time you are here it will be so much easier for you!  If you do have to buy a single ticket MAKE SURE U VALIDATE IT when you use it (stick it in the orange box and it will punch it).  I believe you can get a week pass, a month pass, and even a full day pass.  This allows you to use all the transport its want you want trust me!  On a side note, you can take animals on the forms of transport so no it isn't odd if you are seeing a dog on the bus or on the metro its normal, get used to it.  Another interesting fact for those of you from NZ this is very different from home, you can drink on all the transport and everywhere in the city apart from parks, so grab that beer from the 24-7 (they don't call them that here though) and drink it where ever you want!

Bring medicine :

If you are prone to being sick or coming at a time you think you might be sick.  BYO because you can't get much here.  They don't believe in taking drugs so the pharmacies are pretty limited on stuff.  Plus with all the public transport bugs get passed around like a joint at a Bob Marley concert.  My roommate wished she had known this!

Etiquette :

I said I would talk about this but the best info I can probably give you was given to us by one of our teachers in photo for so here it is:

Follow these.  It is important in any culture that you do the right thing.  Also you don't have to tip anyone that hasn't given you a service.  You only need to tip when something is served to you at a restaurant/bar so if you order from the bar and collect it from there you do not have to tip.  They say that between 10-15% is suitable to tip 10% if they didn't do the best job and 15% if you were impressed.  Learn some basic words, people really appreciate that you try even if you don't get it right.  Hungarian people are so proud of there language that they will treat you much nicer if you say szia and kosonom (hi/bye and thank you).  Even grab a small phrase book from somewhere and give the language a go it is said pretty much how it sounds and you will get better service!  I am more then happy to teach anyone how to order a beer or buy a ticket just drop me a note and I'll give you the low down.

Cash :

I had a real hard time knowing how I was going to use money over here.  They say most places accept card and this is true, restaurants and major shops will.  The markets won't.  The small tourist shops won't.  It is important to have cash on you at all times, most places don't include the tip to the bill so you need to leave money behind.  Which leads to another point of etiquette - it is rude to leave the money on the table.  Just don't do it.  Give it to the waitress when you pay (already have that sorted in cash) or find out if there is a tip jar, otherwise hand it to the person who served you on the way out.  One of the best things I had was a wee currency converted that Dad did for me on excel and printed out.  I kept it in my wallet and it was an easy way to see how much everything was in NZD and whether it was worth what they were asking for.  The thousands were hard to work with at first.  10,000 should be easily enough for one person for a day this will give you 2 meals and some spending money for shopping or activities.  But if you are doing activities find out how much they are before you go.  Also be aware if you are a student take your student card it works pretty much everywhere for discounts!

Funzine :

This is a free mag that you can find in cafes and all around the place.  Pick one up it gives you a low down on what happening the month in the city from gigs to festivals activities and so forth.  It also has coupons and discounts for places, maps and interesting Hungarian facts for travelers.  Well worth the read.

Sim cards :

So it is a bit of a hassel to get one of these.  I had to sign a few papers about it all and show my passport and so forth.  I don't understand why but it is a big deal here.  Once you have it though life is a breeze.  So if you don't have any international deals, bring your smart phone over and get on a deal.  I used Vodafone as I new they had an english speaking smart store I could visit.  I was on a deal that gave me 500mb of data for 2,000 ft and the card itself cost 500 ft and it lasted me my whole trip.

Things you must do :

Parliament.
 Now you don't have to go inside, just be there and take it all in.  It is a wonderful building and I gave the history of it that we were told on the tour and that is all you need to sound a little smart to whoever it is you are travelling with.  You can see parliament from all different angles all over the city. It is good close up, from the Buda side of the city and of course from Buda Castle which is my next must.

Buda Castle.
How could you not apart from parliament it is the only other building that sticks out like a sore thumb calling you in to go see it.  It like parliament is lit up beautifully at night so see it durring the day and then glance at it from the other side of the river at night.  You don't have to go inside it doesn't have anything worth seeing.  After they renovated it the inside was gutted so the best part is looking at it and walking around the town that surrounds it.  There is a secret hospital that however is worth the tour if you have the time - unfortunately I wasn't able to do this but if any one does get a chance I would like to know more about it.

Eat.
  Eat everything!  Eat the traditional dishes, eat the things they sell on the side of the roads (the round donut bread sticks covered in sugar, the breads etc).  You can a three course meal for $20 NZD so there is no need to go to the flashiest place.  We always aimed for somewhere that had mains for 1000-3000 ft per dish.  Eat at the city market.  the food is god, traditional and cheeeeap!  This is also a good place to get fresh produce if you are wanting to make your own food or are here for a loner period of time because the match stores aren't that great.

Drink.
Drink Unicum, it is nasty at first but it gets better.  It is a local favourite and you will fit right in if you are drinking it! Palinka - not my personal favourite but it comes in many different flavours and the locals love it too.  It isn't really meant to be taken in shot form even though it is given to you in small amounts just sip it - it's strong!  I believe this can grow on you as well if you drink enough of it.  Try the wines, wine is always good.  I may not think it is the fine wine of NZ but the people rave about it here so give it ago.  Any wines from Tokjai are meant to be very good.

Festivals.
 Get to any festival you can.  Look it up, google that shit!  And make sure you take advantage of whatever is happening at the time I am sure the Hungarians' will not let you down.  Of course if you are here for Sziget - do not miss that!  Heck no!  It is cheap and so much fun!

Baths.
  They say any bath is fine, and I have only been to one, Szechenyi Thermal Baths out of strict recommendation from those who had been to more then one and have been often.  So of course I am going to recommend this one.  Price is about 3,400 ft for the day ticket but you can also go at night for cheaper and I am sure it would look amazing lit up by lights.  There are many pools/baths here suitable for everyone no matter what temperature you like.  Just be careful to make sure you don't go on women only and men only days - could be worth checking.  You can take the level one metro right to the bath, the stop is even conveniently called Szechenyi Baths.

The City Market.
 I mentioned this earlier in food, but it is also the place to go for shopping!  If you are wanting Hungarian gifts or memorabilia you want to go here.  I strongly recommend it even just for the experience.  

I hope this helps for anyone wanting to visit Budapest, it really is a beautiful city and should be on everyone's bucket list.  I know I will be back that is for sure!