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Free time activity in Budapest
Hi! We have a lot of free time in Budapest - we are extending the trip by 4 days and are researching options. Has anyone used monsteroller e-scooters to tour the city? It looks awfully fun but I need some reassurance.
Thanks!!
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We took a tour with Viator of the Danube Bend which was excellent. Also toured the Jewish synagogue which was very interesting and unique. Also saw the Great Market on our own and with Tauck. Lovely architecture.
Yes on the synagogue and all the memorials behind the synagogue. There is a connection with Tony Curtis to one of the memorials, the one that looks likes leaves. I believe he donated it. Also visit The Shoes on the Danube memorial. Tauck just spoke in general about what happened there. We hired a Jewish tour guide that went into grand detail about the synagogue. You can also go to one of the grand bath houses and indulge in mineral bathing.
Both the synagogue and the Shoes on the Danube were included in our Tauck land tour.
Also, there's a small, but interesting museum on the grounds of the Dohany St symagogue (upstairs, as I recall).
No experience with the scooters, but sounds like a fun way to see the city.
Thank you all !! We have ready hired a private guide for the Jewish heritage (AndreaM who was recommended by another Taucktourian) .. and the Jewish museum, shoes monument,and Great Market are in our plans. Also Hospital of the Rock and nuclear bunker, Strudel making class and interior tour of Parliament. We will have very full days - I think the scooters will be fun!
Ooh, strudel!
The Parliament interior tour was also part of out land tour. One of the most beautiful buildings (inside and out) I've ever visted. Sounds like this cruise is little more than transportation between cities.
Forgot to mention that we also went to a Jewish bakery. I also picked up skincare made in Budapest, Omorovicza. Are you going to Romania because I picked up more European cosmetics and perfume in a pharmacy that cost far less than in the states. I had to double and triple check that I was calculating the exchange rate correctly.
Our Travels: cruise is from Prague to Budapest. I still have drawers filled with Korean cosmetics from a prior trip! Do you have name of the Jewish bakery?
BKMD: I’ve been looking to find a strudel tasting tour!! No luck so far! I have researched the best strudel — apparently it’s at the cafe in the Schonbrunn castle. We may need to depart from the tour a bit early! We added 3 days on the front end (Prague) and 4 days at end (Budapest). In between, lots to see: Salzburg, Vienna, Slovakia and Bratislava.
NancyCohen,
For traditional Flodni, a multi-layered cake/pastry made by Hungarian Jews for Purim, I was going to direct you to Frohlich's in the old Jewish Quarter but I see that it did not survive the pandemic. Hopefully, you will stumble upon other bakeries that offer this very unique, but heavy, delicacy.
Yes, that is the exact name of the pastry. You can ask your guide you hired to find a bakery that serves that delicacy.
Kfnknfzk and Ourtravels34,
Thanks for it!! Will add Flodni to my list of must-dos!
You might not be able to ride that scooter afterwards!
Kfnknfzk—so true!! We will order 1 to eat among the 5 of us!!
If you are interested in the history of Hungary (and particularly Budapest) in the late 40s and into the Revolution of 1956 and following, there is a fascinating museum called the "House of Terror." You can get further info on the internet. This was a dark but very informative museum and I had a much better understanding of Hungarian history after visiting here.
It’s in the plan!! Thanks for the suggestion.
Dear Nancy. Hi, hope your doing well .
Here are the most see in Budapest I would recommend:
Buda Castle area:
-Mathias Chuch up @ The Buda Castle - Beautiful
-Fisherman's Bastion
Pest area:
I would NOT! visit the House of horror, knowing your ethnic background, it can be a raw reminder of the terrible events the Jewish community experienced, you only have to see the outside of the building to get goose Bumbs. - It's not as the exhibitions in Prague-
Mil: thank you for the suggestions. However I will visit the House of Horror. For me, it is important to bear witness to the atrocities of war. And say Never Again.
I agree with you Nancy. I have been to the Museum of Terror and found it to also be focused on the Communist rule of Hungary. Very eye opening and worthy of a visit. for that alone.
Me too. I always hire a private guide to tour the local Jewish ghetto when I travel for the same reason.
Nancy, you’ll love this cruise. We took it in 2014 and enjoyed it immensely. I wish we were able to stay in Budapest longer. Guess I’ll have to go back! 😊
Historically, Hungary has been on the wrong side of every war.
We are doing the music - centric version in October from Budapest to Prague. Is the Andrea M guide mentioned above on Tours By Locals? And does anyone have a Prague guide to recommend. We are just adding one extra day on each end of the trip.
maitcarmom - I would love to read about your experiences on the classical music tour. Please consider posting a review afterwards. I hope to take this tour with a couple and their daughter who has aspirations of attending a music conservatory once she graduates high school. I can't help you regarding the private guide, but I'm sure someone else can.
Check out Prague Walker- recommended by Rick Steves (can see owner with Steve in his Prague video). We had Tereza, one of their guides for tour of Prague Jewish Quarter and a full day trip to Cesky Krumlov. She was superb!
Based on Alan’s recommendation, I just hired Tereza from Praguewalkers.com for the Jewish Heritage tour of Prague. There are lots of others but Alan seems to know what’s up!! We also have her for Cesky Krumlov…when in —-, do as Alan does.
We also hired a guide for the Jewish Heritage tour. It was excellent. If you can believe, it was never discussed that I had distant family members perish in Terezin (my grandmother's siblings) until I came back from that river boat tour so I never had the chance to look them up. My parents never spoke about it.
The Jewish quarter in Prague it's Amazing, the synagogues and the cemetery not to be missed.
Cesky Krumlov it's beautiful and Karlovy Vary another town that it's a Jewel, great movie festival early July and tons of classic street concerns all summer long.
Nancy, I understand the importance of the house of horror as well as many other museums etc.. about the horrible atrocities... but I just cannot take it. I saw when in Israel the Holocaust Museum, in Prague too, but this house of terror I couldn't.
Karlovy Vary it's an easy day trip too.
😃 😀
Nancy, thanks for the vote of confidence! FYI, a few months prior when first making arrangements for our private excursion to Cesky Krumlov it started out for just four, but friends of friends who were also on the tour ended up joining us for a total of 7- me and my harem🙄. At least once we departed Prague, Tereza took over herding the cats 😀. She had arranged for a great driver and comfortable 9 passenger Mercedes touring van.
Tereza was very educated, extremely knowledgeable, and spoke near perfect English- and she was Jewish of course.