Our Arrival Into Budapest, Hungary

Budapest is one of the largest cities in Europe and one steeped in history and culture!

I was looking forward to visiting long before we’d even booked tickets to go though I wasn’t expecting to be in awe of the city as much as I was upon arrival.

First things first, things in Budapest are quite cheap if you live in the UK. You can stay in 5 Star hotels, eat at the best restaurants at a fraction of prices you’d pay in London.

This just makes Budapest one of the best places to visit on holiday.

Safety-wise, we never felt out of place or unsafe at any point (not that we were expecting to). What else?

Oh yeah, pack some comfortable shoes – this is a city best seen on foot and here’s what we go up to! (I was going to try to fit everything in one post but it ended up being way too many photos for one post so look out for the second installation of this in a few days!)

Right, where was I?

That’s right! At the start, upon arrival in Budapest, we booked a stay at the Corinthia Hotel which was pretty swanky (so swanky I wouldn’t even dream of booking the same hotel in London) and we also booked private transfers from the hotel in an equally swanky Mercedes (complete with suited and booted chauffeur). I wanna pretend that I’m used to always being picked up in chauffeur driven cars from hotels when I travel but my pile of airport bus and train tickets would indicate otherwise. (Yes, I keep most of them as souvenirs) Anyway, we arrived in Budapest and were whisked away to our hotel straight away!

In the hotel, I stopped for a quick change, a Facebook “Yay! We’re in Budapest” update including photos of my self looking comfy in a hotel room.

I was going for comfy though I appear to have pulled off a constipated look instead. Oh well…

Took a little tour of the hotel!

Finally hit the streets to start exploring the sights! First off – The Hungarian State Opera House – pictured below. In fact, for this post, let’s just go with the general assumption that whatever I talk about will be shown in photos below. 🙂

Next off went to see St. Stephen’s Basilica… Pretty impressive inside and outside!

Stopped to get the umbrella out as it started raining shortly after leaving the Basilica. I probably should have checked that umbrella before packing it. The umbrella was pretty rubbish but it was keeping me dry so I didn’t really mind. (And see, told you I went to the hotel to get changed!)

Next off, headed over to see the famous Chain Bridge and the Danube River.

I always remember listening to The Blue Danube waltz growing up and being there just brought memories of that song to mind…

Stopped over at the Hungarian Parliament (this is the view of it you probably never see – the view from behind)

…before walking over the bridge and taking in the sights of the Hungarian Parliament, Chain Bridge (in the distance) and Danube River.

Slowly, things started to get dark and the city started to get even prettier as it lit up in the dark…

The rain, however, picked up a lot more but that did nothing to damped the beauty nor out enthusiasm! We trudged along to see more of what Budapest had to offer.

TRIVIA: Budapest is made up of two parts, Buda (on the west bank) and Pest (on the east bank) – hence the name Budapest! 🙂