Howdy Kaptain Kenny readers,
Deary me – what have I done? I’ll tell you what. I’ve been living in Europe for the past 5 years and until this trip, I hadn’t ONCE made it to Budapest. Big mistake. Big, big mistake.
This city has ‘wowed’ me like I could never have expected. A few valid points below:
- It’s safe. Everywhere I walk (solo) I am never followed, spoken to or annoyed like I sometimes am in other European cities.
- There is a HUGE foodie and coffee culture here. The cafes and restaurants are laden with fake turf, blackboard chalk menus, jam jars with tea lights, fairy lights and frayed decorative flags. Basically if you are a design sucker like me, you’ll fall straight into Budapest’s culinary arms.
- It’s cheap. I earn Euros and in Hungary, I’m finding that most things are cheaper than back home in Germany – and Germany is already cheaper than a lot of European cities.
- The weather is good. I’m here during summer and so far it’s a much more reliable summer than what I’d been experiencing in Germany. What this means for any people who live in normal sunny conditions, is that Budapest is sunny in summer – as summer should be!
- Obviously this is a backpacker’s/student’s/young person’s dream city. So in light of this fact, I’d like to present to you 5 great ruin bars you should visit here in B-Pest.
These bars were showed to me by Andre – my personal tour guide! If you’d also like to do this tour, click on his ‘withlocals‘ link:
https://www.withlocals.com/experience/ruin-pubs-and-alternative-bars-7dac70e1/
This is the review which I left for him on the website:
“WOW – Andre took me on an incredible private tour of Budapest’s ruin bars. We visited so many locations which I would have never found on my own. Travelling solo as a female and wanting to check out the nightlife, I definitely felt safer walking around with Andre. He told me about the history of these places, spoke about Hungarian culture and helped me order the typical Hungarian drinks. I have to say that I book tours a lot and this was really one of a kind. I would gladly book him again if I came back to Budapest with friends anytime soon. Thank you so much Andre for your hard work and enjoyable experience!”
SZIMPLA – Budapest, Kazinczy u. 14, 1075
Why go here? It’s the most famous of the ruin bars, and visually, the most exciting and jaw dropping to look at. It’s packed with life, cheap drinks and there’s crazy stuff going on here. (Just in terms of decoration and vibes.) It’s also been voted the world’s 3rd best bar! Apparently Berlin recently opened a venue which was supposed to copy this.
Szimpla
Szimpla
Sorry about the photo being blurry but I really wanted to show you the perspective of looking down.
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
Szimpla
From outside, you’d have NO idea what was going on inside – Szimpla.
“Koleves” – KAZINCZY UTCA 41., BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, 1075
Why go here? Come here for an outdoor, beer garden with fairy lights vibe. It’s more of a sit-down place, not so much a standing place like back in Szimpla.
Koleves
Koleves
Koleves
Walking to our next venue, we passed by many other cute little no name places.
This place is right next door to Koleves.
“Ellato Kert” – Kazinczy utca 48
http://www.spottedbylocals.com/budapest/ellato-kert-ellato-garden/
Why come here? This is actually a taqueria and another outdoor, garden-type place. It was packed and had great vibes. I think you’d come here if you started at the first two places mentioned above and wanted a nice change of atmosphere.
Ellato Kert
Ellato Kert
Ellato Kert
“Fogas Haz” – Budapest, VII. Akácfa u. 49-51.
Why come here? Well welcome to the craziest hostel on the planet. If you look closely at the photos, you’ll see this hostel has been built INTO the ruins & into the trees. It’s like some sort of party hybrid between a beer garden and the movie Avatar. You’d come here to see the hostel guests sitting on their balconies, overlooking the madness taking place inside the courtyard. Live music was playing here which I’m not really a fan of, so we just stayed for a drink. Definitely a must-see and must-photograph though.
Fogas Haz – See how the hostel is built in amongst it all?
To date the craziest hostel I’ve seen – Fogas Haz
If you enter the inside of it, you’ll find other dance floors and bar areas.
These hostel patrons look pretty happy with themselves up there! Personally I don’t know how anyone is managing to get any sleep. I value my sleep.
“Instant” – 1065 Nagymező utca 38
Why come here? Apparently it’s Budapest’s biggest ruin bar/club. Like the others, it had crazy and random rooms with mismatched furniture. I think in total it has 16 rooms. We didn’t stay for a drink but it was still cool to check out.
Instant
Instant has some kind of underground tunnel or bunker thing with a dance floor.
Instant
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