Budapest and Bratislava - Anyone been? My turn to ask for tips :)

[ŽižkovClaret]

Having a wander down to Budapest via Bratislava over Easter and looking for some tips.

Anyone been? If so whats your tips?

[TheFamilyCat]

Budapest was ******* freezing but it was February.

[CleggHall]

Budapest a very nice city, Puskas sports bars are good for food, drink and atmosphere. City Panzio Rings hotel was central and OK.

[IndigoLake]

Been to both. Absolutely loved Budapest - it was my first visit to Central Europe some 7 years ago. We went in summer and it was absolutely roasting. Anyway, my tip is to go to one of the thermal baths. We went to the Gellert Hotel Bath (you don't have to be a hotel guest) - have a quick look on Google - it's brilliant. We also just enjoyed the simple pleasure of wandering around the city - it's nice to walk along the river and we had several enjoyable pints in the Blue River Pub.

Only went to Bratislava on a day trip from Vienna - nice smallish city. We went up to the castle and had good views of the city. I seem to remember that the food and drink (mmm...beer) was extremely cheap there - probably even cheaper than Budapest. Anyway, hope that helps. Both very good places to visit but my tip is that Bratislava can be seen in just a day or two and Budapest can be enjoyed over more days as it's a bigger city.

[dpinsussex]

Budapest loved it went in jan 2 yr ago and weather was warmer than uk.
Cheaper further outside centre u go.
Pest is really good value but wrong side of river. That said very short walk over number of bridges.
If staying bude side easy bus or tube system despite the language differences. Get a weekend travel pass saves fortune

[starting_11]

Want some tips on Bratislava and see what you get for you money? Watch Eurotrip!

[thatdberight]

Two more good cities. Budapest is great. I spent 3 days just wandering soaking it all in. Bratislava was smaller but charming nonetheless. It has a lovely blue art deco church. You can't go wrong with either but Budapest is fantastic.

[Woodleyclaret]

Budapest is easy to get round get a Budapest card to get discount.The tube has two lines
.you get off at Moscow ter which is the centre .You can walk across the Danube via the Chain Bridge and walk into Buda and go the Castle and the Fishermans Bastion.
Public transport via tram and tube is cheap and quick.
There are some serious designer shop in three large shopping areas.And an old market full of quirky shops.
Food is cheap.
There are seriously gifted dentists in Budapest and I've got the teeth to prove it.Free estimates at Kreativ Dental near Stadion tube stop in Fogarisi it
Good luck enjoy.you might be able to take in a Frencvarvos game.

[ŽižkovClaret]

Want some tips on Bratislava and see what you get for you money? Watch Eurotrip!

Ha isnt that the one that is all actually filmed in Prague? Think my mate mad Chris is the krusty the clown lookalike in Vinnie Jones' mob haha

[piston broke]

Budapest is brill. Get a good map. 3 main areas for tourists. The castle and ridge, the main city and the area around the Szechenyi baths area.
Go up to the castle on the funicular, as you get off you are in a square where they do a changing of the guard parade( not sure of timings), once you've had a look around the castle head off along the ridge to the Fishermans Bastion, Church and museum alongside, easy walk back down to the river. The Parliament tour is excellent but we couldn't book in advance the first time we went, don't know current state of play?
We went to the Szechenyi Baths, outdoor but hot,38*, although all the thermal baths come highly recommended.Local to that are Vanyahunyad Castle the gigantic open air ice skating rink, seasonal, and Heroes Sq., a memorial.
The Great Market is a fine building, 3 floors, and is immediately across a bridge from the previously mentioned Gellert baths. The East side of the river is pan flat and easy walking.

As reported Bratislava is a two days at most city. The castle is excellent, the area behind the US embassy, from the river, is all quaint streets and too many food options to list. We went up to a Russian War memorial, that was moving, if you are into war memorials, good views but a bit of a hike up.
We stayed at the Hotel Devin, on the riverside, through booking.com. Highly recommended. pool and sauna in basement, perfect after a hard day.

[TVC15]

Went on a lads do to Bratislava a few years ago. We all agreed that there was a dodgy atmosphere and that a lot of places did not like English lads being there - even though we caused no trouble.
A lot of the hostility was coming from the bouncers and club owners.
The most enjoyable day we had by far is when we went out in the country to play a cricket against the Slovakian national team - and it went down as a recognised fixture on their website ! The people in the country could not have been any friendlier and it was a very humbling and enjoyable experience.
For the record I got 2 wickets and the best bowling figures but we got trounced !!

[ŽižkovClaret]

Went on a lads do to Bratislava a few years ago. We all agreed that there was a dodgy atmosphere and that a lot of places did not like English lads being there - even though we caused no trouble.
A lot of the hostility was coming from the bouncers and club owners.
The most enjoyable day we had by far is when we went out in the country to play a cricket against the Slovakian national team - and it went down as a recognised fixture on their website ! The people in the country could not have been any friendlier and it was a very humbling and enjoyable experience.
For the record I got 2 wickets and the best bowling figures but we got trounced !!

Ha yeah im going solo so probably will be more pubs and beer gardens than clubs.

Can put you on to the Prague cricket types if you ever fancied another trip

[Cheshireclaret]

Went to Bratislava in 2005 on a Stag Do and it was absolutely superb - one of the best stag do’s I’ve ever been on.

We didn’t experience any of the feeling from bouncers mentioned above (Riga on the other hand was another story altogether) but to be fair it hadn’t really hit as a stag do or lad’s trip destination back then so that has unsurprisingly changed as the popularity has.

I remember very little other than an Irish bar and a nightclub on a boat on the river.

There was a place out in the sticks too, which I won’t go into detail about on a family message board like this, but the lady folk were absolutely stunning and it was very warm in there because they couldn’t even wear much clothing. I’ve no idea what it was called or where it was - just in the middle of nowhere.

This was all 12 years ago so probably no help whatsoever!

[ŽižkovClaret]

Can't knock it really, looking at 8 nights/9 days for roughly 250 quid accommodation and transport, possibly to be reduced if i see any bargains for accommodation

So 3 countries, 4 legs on the train, 15hrs aprox all in, and 45 quid or so all in. You lot should be rioting in the streets for what you pay

[Vintage Claret]

Been to Bratislava 3 times (twice in December for the Xmas vibe) and Budapest twice both great cities though obviously Budapest is bigger.

Can't add a lot to the good advice already given other than to say check out the 'ruin' bars' in Budapest and also have a look aroundt St. Margarets island.
Oh, and if 2 attractivs friendly girls approach you with a map pretending to be lost and invite you to "a bar they know", for a drink don't go with them!

Visit the castle in Bratislava for great views and stop off at The Castle Brewery on the way back to the centre for some excellent brewed on site beer.
Visit the Slavin memorial, go to the top of the UFO bridge, see the blue church and St Martin's cathedral, have another great beer or 2 at Bar 17, wander around the medieval old town.
Devin castle about 25 mins from Bratislava on the bus is also worth a visit and Brno is only 90 mins away by direct train or coach if you have time.

[ŽižkovClaret]

Been to Bratislava 3 times (twice in December for the Xmas vibe) and Budapest twice both great cities though obviously Budapest is bigger.

Can't add a lot to the good advice already given other than to say check out the 'ruin' bars' in Budapest and also have a look aroundt St. Margarets island.
Oh, and if 2 attractivs friendly girls approach you with a map pretending to be lost and invite you to "a bar they know", for a drink don't go with them!

Visit the castle in Bratislava for great views and stop off at The Castle Brewery on the way back to the centre for some excellent brewed on site beer.
Visit the Slavin memorial, go to the top of the UFO bridge, see the blue church and St Martin's cathedral, have another great beer or 2 at Bar 17, wander around the medieval old town.
Devin castle about 25 mins from Bratislava on the bus is also worth a visit and Brno is only 90 mins away by direct train or coach if you have time.

Hehe thanks! stopping off at Brno for 2 nights on the way back

[Vintage Claret]

Hehe thanks! stopping off at Brno for 2 nights on the way back

Good plan

I've got 2 good internet links to some excellent pubs/breweries/ craft beer places in Bratislava and Brno, I'll try and post them on this thread when I'm back on the laptop tomorrow.

[cricketfieldclarets]

Budapest is the better of the two but should be given size.

Never had a bad trip to Bratislava but every time ive been weve tended to move on to the next place quicker than we expected. Its fairly compact. Preferred Budapest, Vienna and Prague from that area. That said always had a good night there.

Got bladdered in one pub on some shots they kept feeding us and fell into the pub fridge and knocked all the beers over and smashed them. Two huge bouncers come over, looked at the mess, started laughing and pulled us some pints and apologised to us

Budapests great. Neither remind me of prague tbh. Both different imo. Budapest reminds me more of London than Prague.

Plenty to see and do there. If youve time though id go to Belgrade over any of those.

[nil_desperandum]

Bratislava is fine, very pretty in parts, but small, and doesn't really compare with other cities like Prague, Berlin, Budapest, Krakow etc.
However the one thing that is REALLY good about it is its proximity to (rather expensive) Vienna.
Much cheaper to fly to Bratislava, possibly book into a hotel in Bratislava and then take train or bus into Vienna. (Each is about 1 hour journey and bus is v cheap).
We had 5 days there in total but spent 2 nights at a Vienna hotel instead of commuting daily.
(There's a shuttle bus direct from Bratislava airport to Vienna centre.)

[LawsCanalJump]

I went to Bratislava in July 3 years ago, was fantastic
Food and drink very cheap, €1 for a good pint
Went on an organised bar crawl, no issues with being English etc
All very nice

[Rileybobs]

Seems like I’m on my own but I wasn’t a big fan of Budapest. Very run down and the locals were probably the most miserable of all the places I’ve visited.

[Vintage Claret]

Bratislava pub links (Google translate required unless you speak Slovak)

http://opive.sk/toto-je-10-najlepsich-k ... ratislave/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brno pub links

http://brnonow.com/pubs-and-breweries/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (again Google translate is your friend)

Enjoy!

[ŽižkovClaret]

Seems like I’m on my own but I wasn’t a big fan of Budapest. Very run down and the locals were probably the most miserable of all the places I’ve visited.

Eastern Customer service aint what we are used to, and does take some adjusting to ha

[vargai]

I live in Budapest, so maybe i could help.

You could visit one of our thermal spas. Most of the tourists love them. Here is a great article about them:
https://www.danubiushotels.com/budapest ... s-budapest

And of course you should visit the margaret island. It has an amazing feeling in the center of Budapest. You can easily spent a day there.
https://www.danubiushotels.com/budapest ... xperiences

I hope it's helpful!

[Woodleyclaret]

Budapest is great.I had my teeth fixed at the amazing Kreative Dental near the football ground.We travelled on the tube and getting off at Moscow Ter puts you in the middle.Get a Budapest card and if you get withdrawal symptoms Tesco is near Stadion the football stadium

[piston broke]

Seems like I’m on my own but I wasn’t a big fan of Budapest. Very run down and the locals were probably the most miserable of all the places I’ve visited.

Try Warsaw for miserable locals. The absolute worst.

[Vintage Claret]

Try Warsaw for miserable locals. The absolute worst.

Booked a 4 day city break there this December!

[cricketfieldclarets]

Booked a 4 day city break there this December!

Fantastic place. Highly recommend. Very very underrated.

[piston broke]

Booked a 4 day city break there this December!

We loved it but they are miserable devils. Have fun.