Kosice, Budapest, Bucharest in December?

[Brit]

Totally random. What should we see? Any good side trips?

After we scrapped Zambia due to the rainy season, we booked tickets to Eastern Europe for Christmas-New Years holiday. Totally random, I know zero about these places except that I have never been, I'm on a mission to see 'everywhere', and we could get business class award travel for next to nothing. So..?

I know about that children's train in Budapest, which sounds neat, pending more research. After that I have nothing. These places were totally not on my radar until H booked tickets the other night.

[GilliC]

Budapest is fantastic. It's becoming a real trend among the expats here because of the low prices. There are some great restaurants and spas, and it's obviously amazingly cheaper than things here.

I have a bunch of friends from work in Budapest, and one of them recommended that we visit Statue Park and take the guided tour. I think it was a great suggestion and thought it was very interesting (and surprisingly amusing for a tour of a bunch of Communist-era statues).

Also, be sure to visit the baths. There are a few, but we went to Széchenyi since it's the biggest and one of the most historic. The buildings have that lovely old-world luxury, and it feels a little like being a 18th- or 19th-century aristocrat coming to "take the waters."

On the "straight from the guidebook must-see list" front, there's the Castle District and the Great Market Hall, which is a great place to pick up some of the fantastic Hungarian sausage.

The House of Terror is tragic, but very well done, and it really underscores how tough the 20th century was for Hungary. They were so relieved to make it out from under Nazi rule, but things ended up just as bad if not worse under the Soviets.

If you have a free evening, see if you can book tickets for the opera. The opera house is incredibly gorgeous, and like so much else, it's quite affordable. We splurged on box seats and felt like royalty.

I've heard that Parliament is also worth seeing, but we didn't have the chance to go in.

There are a gazillion great restaurants. My favorites were Bock bisztró and M, but we really didn't have a bad meal. And we didn't even make it to any of the Michelin-starred places.

Hungary also makes some great wine, and there are lots of restaurants and wine shops around Budapest where you can try them. Tokaji is probably the most famous internationally, but I'm not a big sweet wine fan. I prefer the dry reds from Villány, so we made an overnight trip down to visit some of the wineries there.

[Brit]

GilliC - Awesome, thank you for some great recommendations! You have me so much more excited about Budapest than I had been. :-)

[echo]

Budapest is great.don't know if it will still be going on while you're there but they do have a Christmas market...you can probably check online to see where/whene.l personally do not like bucharest at all.it is one of the places I hope never to go to again.the typically the Romanian people are so generous and friendly that the brusk, don't give a care attitude of bucharestians just puts meoff.there is also a lack of costumer service inmost places.if you have specific questions, pm me.I grew up in romania (not in the capital) but iwould be happy to answer any questions. ...

[wanderlustfoodie]

I second almost everything GilliC said. We also loved Bock Bistro, the Szechenyi baths, the Castle District, the great market hall. We also visited the Dohaney Synagogue (the second largest in the western world, I believe), which was gorgeous and had a very thorough tour, as well as St. Stephen's Basilica. We enjoyed the Parliament tour very much. Margaret Island is supposed to be nice to wander around.

We did a day trip to the tokaj region since my husband loves the wines and it was one of the best experiences of our trip but there are other closer towns to visit as day trips, too.

[Deleted]

Add me to the list of people who LOVE Budapest! it is a fabulous, fabulous city. I have nothing new to add because when I was there I was a broke student and didn't eat out very much, but the history, architecture, etc is very cool. The Parliament Tour was great, and also we did the baths which were fun.

Have a great trip!

[scout8]

I was in Budapest in December one year. It was cold, but still very fun. They had a nice Christmas market that we really enjoyed. Definitely go to the baths.

[Brit]

Dec 7, 2013 18:05:47 GMT -5 scout8 said:

I was in Budapest in December one year. It was cold, but still very fun. They had a nice Christmas market that we really enjoyed. Definitely go to the baths.

It is going to feel so freaking cold coming from Dubai! I have been freezing my tail off when the temperatures drop into the mid-seventies at night.

[jennybee1018]

Dec 7, 2013 21:49:14 GMT -5 Brit said:

Dec 7, 2013 18:05:47 GMT -5 scout8 said:

I was in Budapest in December one year. It was cold, but still very fun. They had a nice Christmas market that we really enjoyed. Definitely go to the baths.

It is going to feel so freaking cold coming from Dubai! I have been freezing my tail off when the temperatures drop into the mid-seventies at night.

This becomes a problem with living in the ME :-P You'll quickly become a wimp when it comes to actual cold weather :-)

We're off to Europe as well (cruising from Cologne to Basel). We spent last Christmas in Montana so we're prepared with the cold weather gear at least! I've only heard amazing things about Budapest. Have a great time!!!

[bettyfinn]

Add me to the list of those who love Budapest. I've been a few times. I don't really have much to add - my must dos were already recommended above (House of Terror, Statue Park, Castle District, Great Market Hall, a bath) but will add that if going to the opera isn't your thing, you can tour the opera house during the day. We are not opera fans but loved seeing the beautiful theater. Also, you can order tickets online for a Parliament tour (worth seeing, gorgeous building) so that you don't have to wait in the cold. And yes, it will be ridiculously cold. One of my trips was in December and I thought I would die (I'm a Floridian) but the Christmas markets and their amazing alcoholic punch and wine made it all better.