Budapest Christmas markets

Holiday Ratings
Recommended days	3
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

I’d been to Budapest before but it was about 15 years ago so this time we visited together, with the intention of sightseeing and enjoying the Christmas markets. The flight was the usual Easyjet bargain, booked months in advance so it cost less than the parking for the car while we were away! We stayed at the Hilton City this time, last time I’d stayed in the Hilton on Castle Hill.

Unusually, we had a late flight booked and weren’t leaving Heathrow until 18:30. Being OCD, I decided we had to leave at 1 so we were there in plenty of time. Pretty damned lucky because we spent an hour sat in a queue because of an accident that, when we passed it, had cleared but two lanes were still coned off to maximise frustration.

I spent the flight catching up on iPlayer viewings before they expired and then we caught the shuttle to the hotel. We didn’t see any landmarks as the bus took a lot of back streets which, on a Saturday night in the centre was quite interesting!

Hilton Budapest City

The hotel was excellent and we had an upgrade to a suite with a bottle of champagne waiting in the room, it’s going to be a shame to lose my Diamond membership next year! It was 11PM by now and I’d been up since 4AM so we just dumped our stuff and went to bed.

Chain Bridge and Buda Castle

I actually slept until 7.20, very unusual. I didn’t bother with the gym for a change and we went down for breakfast and had a waffle so large I couldn’t actually finish it! The weather was just above freezing and cloudy so we headed out to walk to Buda Castle.

This took longer than expected but it was nice to eventually see the familiarity of the Chain Bridge. We were intending to take the funicular to the top of Castle Hill but the queue was so long we opted for the less glamorous shuttle instead.

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Buda Hill was a typical central European district, lots of German influences, slightly shabby but in a nice way. We walked around the outside of the Royal Palace and then headed to the two stars – St Matthias cathedral and the Fisherman’s Bastion. The light was pretty dull so the photos were largely junk (took 227, kept 31) and there were lots of other people there, selfishly getting in the way!

Fisherman’s Bastion and St Matthias

Fisherman’s Bastion is a 19th century folly – looks incredibly pretty but is just there for the looks. St Matthias is a gorgeous medieval cathedral that was totally redecorated inside at the end of the 19th century in a Hungarian art noveau style.

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We walked from here to the Mary Magdalene Tower and I climbed to the top whilst Deb waited below. The first 3 floors were fine but the last two were an open wrought iron staircase – not good for vertigo! The views were good and the history of the city as a battleground between the west and the east (in the form of the Mongols and then the Turks) was fascinating.

We walked back to St Matthias and took a few more photos as the sun was slowly breaking through the cloud cover. We went inside St Matthias and it really was breathtaking – ever surface was decorated in a riot of secular romantic art.

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Danube

We were intending to take the shuttle to the bottom of the hill but in the end we walked, crossing the Chain Bridge again and then walking along the banks of the Danube. We passed the ‘Shoes on the Danube‘ exhibit – a memorial to those who were executed by militia in 1944, being made to take their shoes off and then shot before their bodies were thrown into the river. We then walked past the Parliament building and eventually to our hotel.

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We were both pretty hungry by now so, being skint, headed to the Executive Lounge for free food. The girls there were great and when they saw me looking for dessert they went down to the kitchens and bought me up three cakes. Combined with the other food, free beer and tequila it made a lovely end to the day!

Monday started well with a nice early morning gym visit whilst Deb slept off the effects of the vodka, gin, tequila and champers! We then went for a late breakfast and ate far too much as we were both too weak to make choices so we ate everything!

The weather was pretty dull but we walked the 30 mins or so to Heroes Square. The city has some beautiful 1920’s art deco architecture but so much of it is run down and crumbling. It really is a contrast to immaculate Vienna where we were last month.

Vajdahunyad Castle

From the square – a typical Soviet era memorial – we headed into the park and past an ice skating rink. There was a small Christmas market there, in the grounds of a mock medieval castle and we had a wander whilst sipping cherry vodka.

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From here we were intending to go back to the hotel for a pause but we ended up walking down to the river, via a couple of cafes. We also had a stop outside the Terror Museum and looked at the memorial to those killed in the 1956 rising against the Soviets as well as a section of the Berlin wall.

We did join the queue for the Jewish Museum but when we saw how much the tickets were, we left. It was probably quite interesting but cost more to enter than every other attraction we had visited so far put together! Like most other people, we stood outside the fence and took pictures.

Vorosmarty Square Christmas Market

Next stop was another cafe where we had a rest and waited until it started to get dark before heading to the main Christmas market at Vorosmarty Square.

This market was superb, far and away the best Christmas market we have visited. A good mix of stalls with some very different items, decent prices and a lovely location. I indulged in a cake but that was it, no other purchases! From there we walked down to the Danube and I did some photos of the Buda bank before we got an extremely welcome taxi back to the hotel.

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What can I say? Another lovely break and 2 days away seems a different world. Bargain prices, Budapest is a lovely city to walk around and lots to see and do as well as the Christmas markets. It is small enough to cover in a short time and all walkable which means no need for a hire car or taxis.

2018