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City Guide: Budapest, Hungary

 

Budapest in three words: Underrated, hipster, picturesque.

Chance of Hooking up: 3 / 5
Quality of Girls: 3 / 5
Nightlife: 4/5
Smoking tolerance level: 2 / 5
Livability: 4/5
City guide ratings explained

Costs €$£

Bachelor’s budget: $100 per day.

Beer: €2  a pint
Bed: Private rooms starting from €25.
Bud: €10-15 per gram.
Food: €5 for a hearty goulash.
Other: It cost €20 for a booze cruise
Currency Conversion

Overview

I’m a big fan of Budapest. On my 2nd visit, the city was just as beautiful and enjoyable as I remember, perhaps even more so. It also has a lot to offer, from city sites, to scenic booze cruises, to it’s famous thermal bathhouses—all of which are thoroughly enjoyable. It’s one of those places I’d return to again and again. It also has some of the coolest bars in Europe.

The Girls

Appearance: Hungarians are quite mixed. The original Magyar tribes came from the Ural mountains in Siberia. The average girl tends to be fair skinned with dark hair and eyes, but they can also be as blond and blue eyed as a Swede, or dark and sultry like a Turk.

Facial composite of average Hungarian woman.

There is plenty of beautiful women in Budapest, and if you’re coming from western Europe or North America you will think the girls are exceptional.

However, in my humble opinion they are decidedly average by Eastern European standards. If you’re coming from Poland or the east you will feel you downgraded. They have larger busts, but are a little more chunkier and plain-faced. Average female height is 164 cm (5 ft 4 1/2 in).

Demographics: The city has a population of roughly 1.75 million, 98% of which are white Hungarians. The city also attracts thousands of tourists from just about everywhere, including plenty of Asians.

Barbara Palvin, Hungarian model.

Attitudes: Male and Female interactions are en-keeping with the rest of Eastern Europe, but this is changing rapidly. Sexually, they seem quite liberal (I had one initiate a threesome with me a girlfriend). Most young Hungarians speak English and are interested in meeting non-Hungarian men.

Gaming Strategy: The pub scene here is great for chatting up women. Huge crowds hang-out outside in the summer and create a festival like atmosphere; it provides a great opportunity to meet locals and horny tourists alike. Aside from this nugget of advice, if you really want to get laid in Hungary, international playboy Kyle Trouble recently published a whole book dedicated to picking up Hungarian women! Click here for more information.

The Dirt

Accommodation: Privates room prices have gone up in recent years. I found the best deals on booking.com. Aim to stay in the inner city district.

Gym: Astoria Fitness is most central gym. Day passes are around $6.

Getting High: The police can be strict so be careful. I found a lot of people smoking on the marina. Expect to pay €10-15 a gram.

The Nightlife

Warm up for the night with a boat party. This is usually followed by an epic pub crawl. Otherwise, there are two great bars you should check out, both are suitable for picking-up girls and enjoying a pint. The last place is only for the summer.

Szimpla Kert

After returning a second time, this is easily one of my favorite bars in all of Europe. It looks like a cross between a junkyard and an art museum. It’s a little hipster, but the atmosphere is incredible. There’s  tons of people and so many different bar areas, nooks, and crannies, it feels like a hedonistic shopping complex. The drinks are well-priced too. Great place to bring a date or pick up. It’s also the most reliable venue midweek.

Zold Pardon

Great open-air riverside bar popular with locals and foreigners alike. Concerts nearly every night. I had an excellent time here.

* Honourable mention for Dokk beach near-by. Open air club (cap. 10,000!)

For a more comprehensive guide of Budapest nightlife, I would strongly recommend this datasheet.

Other Resources

Why not check out more cheeky City Guides?

For more info on Budapest or if you have any questions, check out the links below or leave a comment.

Best Budapest Datasheet on RVF

Budapest Bar Scene by Kyle Trouble

My Life in Budapest by RealMenAbroad.com

Prague vs Budapest on Naughty Nomad Forum

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38 Responses to City Guide: Budapest, Hungary

  1. sokol January 10, 2011 at 3:09 am #

    Sorry but i can’t agree with you on this.

    You rated Hungarian girls only average?And ALL neighbouring countries higher?This must be a joke or what.
    Ok,i know that Ukrainien girls are the most beautiful in Europe,it’s fact,but putting Romania above is pretty much a shame,really.I was there,so i have to know.
    The girls are skinny and slender there agree.But besides that Bucharest girls ain’t got shiznit on Budapest.The diversity of looks is pretty much unbeatable in Budapest,also the girls dress much nicer.Have something called style,they have class to them.
    Lots of “whorish” girls in Bucharest.

    I only can imagine you had a bad time in Budapest and none of the girls wanted to deal with you.Maybe that’a why you hooked up with some foreign pussy…

    • Naughty Nomad January 10, 2011 at 5:55 am #

      Firstly, overall I rate Budapest a far more enjoyable city over Bucharest. I love Budapest!
      Objectively however, in general the women in Bucharest are considerably more attractive than those in Budapest. I’m sure most well travelled gents would contest the contrary.
      I sense Bias.. where are you from? Hungary?

      • cereal killer July 12, 2016 at 11:39 pm #

        NN, maybe you heard about that atitude in Budapest. Usually hungarian people hate romanian because in their stupid knowledge about history, Transilvania was a part of Hungary and Romania steal that from Hungary.
        You not mention anything about romanian girls in the article and the guy already imagine that. I was many times in Budapest and there is full with whales and T-rex girls. Fat and with ugly faces….
        Anyway, hungarians are rare a travellers, they believe personal country are the center of the Universe, the hungarian language are the most beautiful from earth and shit like this kind.
        Definitely the Serbian and Ukraine girls are more beautiful, and also from Romania, specially in Moldavia area and in Bucharest. But the girls from Austria are even more bad than in Hungary.

    • chris July 2, 2015 at 9:13 pm #

      if you like busty, curvy latina types like this https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/95519113/m=900/9d7f64d285c5bcc954cae629b9632afa
      youl love Budapest. but if you like slim, flat chested petite girls youl find Belgrade a lot better. all depends on your type of girl.

      as to me Budapest most girls are 7’s/8’s see about 3-4 9’s a day in the day.

      met a guy that lived in Budapest for 6months told me Belgrade is much better but later realised he likes petite, thin/skinny girls like posh beckham.

      you can pretty much daygame all day and into guttergame most of the night.

      the main clubs open on fri and Saturday, mostly pubs in the week.

  2. sokol January 10, 2011 at 7:53 am #

    Actually German.
    But i lived a lot in Hungary to be honest so i know them really good and have a lot of friends there.

    But i really don’t get it why would somebody call the Romanians that attractive.
    I have my arguments as written,but on the Romanian “side” i see nothing but talking.

    But check this out it’s written by a foreign WOMEN who lives in Budapest:

    http://www.budapesttimes.hu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13298&Itemid=210

    And have a lot of other material from other travellers who would attest it.And have read about this topic(Beautiful women) a lot on the internet the opinions.And beleive Romania really isn’t mentioned THAT much as Hungary.But you should check it out for yourself.

    So i really think that you had not the chance to game there,and that ruined your impression.

    • Naughty Nomad January 10, 2011 at 11:56 am #

      That article was written my an women from my home country Ireland. If you grew up here you would think Hungarians are comparatively gorgeous too. Hungarian would of course be mentioned more as it much more popular for tourism and receives more outsider. Perhaps I’ve rated Magyars pre-maturely. Interestedly enough, many Romanians are of Hungarian origin. In general I found Hungarian women friendlier than Romanians, but Romanians are slimmer, more petite, have better upper arm circumference, stronger jaw lines. A superficial analysis it may be, but I respectfully disagree. I wonder what in view constitutes a women’s beauty and ‘chicness’.

      Maybe on my return to Budapest I’ll have a different view 🙂

    • cereal killer March 23, 2015 at 3:54 am #

      yea, foget about that bulshit about hungarian beauty. a large majority of hungarian girls have incredible ugly faces and a lot of them are fat like whales. I am romanian and yes some girls are whore in Ro, and also there are whore in HU. Don’t foget definitely Hungary have one of the biggest porn industry in all the world, come on :).
      In my opinion, Budapest is a lovely city, and romanian girls are definitely not anymore like 15 years ago when there was full with princess in all the country, but american junk food changed this place almost completely. Bucharest is boring and too much stress inside, definitely Budapest is better.
      Still great look with also a good genetic have Serbian and Croatian girls, even if I am crazy with greek girls style and look.
      Good NN because you said what you think no matter what (as usually), even if in my opinion you present places where you go in a much shiny light than that places really is. Not fair to put when you present a country or a city some pictures with “Miss Uganda” or some. Put pictures with regular ones, no one who go will met the Miss there. But probably your intention is to see people traveling and be more open minded. Your articles must be with a temptation and attractive look to motivate all of us. Good!

  3. sokol January 10, 2011 at 7:59 am #

    And forgot to say that a lot of people think like you.
    I mean the
    “As easy the girls are and cheap the booze is, as good is the country.” way of thinking

    This view is very popular by men.But actually has nothing to do with the sheer beauty or chicness of a women.

  4. sokol January 10, 2011 at 2:53 pm #

    “That article was written my an women from my home country Ireland. If you grew up here you would think Hungarians are comparatively gorgeous too.”

    I know,but the question is,is it true what she wrote about the women or not?
    In mean in general:
    “they have perfect figures, great skin, healthy hair”
    I dont think you can interpret these attributes in different ways.I think this is pretty much obvious.
    I mean perfect means perfect and nothing else.

    “Hungarian would of course be mentioned more as it much more popular for tourism and receives more outsider.”

    Of course,but this goes for every other country.
    But all the countries have differnet things to be famous for.
    Countries can be famous for a lot of things:landscape,cusine,famous people,women etc.:
    Every country has different features.

    “In general I found Hungarian women friendlier than Romanians, but Romanians are slimmer, more petite, have better upper arm circumference, stronger jaw lines.”

    As i said slim,slender they are but stronger jaw lines makes often looks masculine.So that’s not the most feminine feature i think.

    “I wonder what in view constitutes a women’s beauty and ‘chicness’.”

    Don’t say you can’t differ people who are well-dressed or not.
    I mean how do the pieces fit together.
    I’m a bit exaggerating of course, but i think you can distinct a woman who has a topmodel look from one who wears pyjamas and hoodies.

    After all i think this will be undisputed,you had not the best experiences.But be honest,if you don’t engage much of them it’s pretty difficult,and after all i think a few days aren’t enough to make comprehensive verdict.

    Peace

    • Naughty Nomad January 10, 2011 at 3:52 pm #

      Peace! haha 😉

      • Randy September 22, 2014 at 3:11 pm #

        Haha someone has their panties in a bunch huh? I mean I see where Sokol coming from but it seems like he’s kind of a pus (argumentative) about it. Really though everyone knows the only real contenders for 5/5 beauty in the region are.

        1. Kiev
        2.Belgrade
        3. Riga

        Belgrade has the best by far because of these reasons.

        1. Damn near every possible target speaks English.
        2. Belgrade is cheaper than the other two 5/5 options.
        3. Women are easy to meet (harder to fuck but not too bad after 3 dates)
        4. It hasn’t been discovered by western stag parties.
        5. Nice lake in the summer
        6. My boners
        7. How do you say no in German? Nine! (s) are aplenty.
        8. They party hard.
        9. They eat great food. (including my Italian-american sauseege)

        Before everyone gets all riled up this is just my opinion. It’s cool if you disagree. That being said I’ve been to a few dozen countries so it’s not a local guy point of view.

  5. sokol January 10, 2011 at 4:02 pm #

    Note:

    I just found out you rated Glasgow the same for girls as Budapest.
    I “thought” western european girls aren’t that much attractive as eastern europeans,or are the scottish girls just that much hotter then in your home country?

  6. Brad Branson March 27, 2011 at 6:27 pm #

    Hello fellow playboy!

    I just found your site through the rooshv.com topic.
    It’s nice to see that i’m not the only one who travels around and shares his “experiences”.
    I just got bookmarked your site.

    🙂

    However,tastes differ,i have to say the guy is somehow in right.

    By the way here’s my experinece so far:

    http://www.bradbranson.com/top-5-cities-in-europe-to-meet-women/

    I also did my fair share of travelling throughout europe well,not everywere yet but i think i hit some of the hot spots.
    I thought the hungarians had the most diversity of “beauty” considering all the places so far i’v been to.
    It was bit strange to me.People there told me it is because of the countries history.
    The place was kind of a chessboard where empires clashed,so the population was wiped out a few times,making it to what it is
    nowdays considering the gene pool.
    So far ,i did not saw anything like this anywhere.(Of course to european standards.)

    Also it was Hungary up to date where i saw the hottest mean average for glorious 10’S in any club i’v been to(including clubs in Stockholm and Tallinn).
    It was like 20 of them in a single club.
    A bit of surreal scene too.

    Only thing sucked,the language barrier,not much of them spoke english,but they made it up with a plenty of dinglish…

    🙂

    Anyway good luck for your further tour of hunting.
    Your plan to visit all the countries is valiant,but hey,one day you could come out with one.
    I think it would be a hit.

    I wish you all the best,

    Brad

  7. James August 11, 2011 at 5:46 pm #

    Hey Nomad,

    As always love your input, but can you give me some info on where you booked the booze cruise?

    I havent been to Buda for a while and looking forward to heading back…for me i’d recomend on my last trip club Rio (summer club)!! i got lucky but this was 3 years ago

  8. UKR_SLUG December 22, 2011 at 3:05 am #

    I agree with the pimp on this…Budapest girls aren’t all that. I been to budapest twice (most recently in september) and there were only maybe 4-5 girls that really turned my head. By no means are they ugly, they just seem very plain. I cant speak for women in romania, BUT i HAVE been to the red light district in amsterdam on more than one occassion (haha) and majority of the girls i ended up with there actually turned out to be romanian. And seeing is i chose them because they looked GOOD, logically tells me they look good in Romania. Definetly looking forward on going to Romania (Timisoara is on my mind)

  9. Sourcecode May 21, 2012 at 2:52 am #

    Hey man..You’re sheet on oslo helped me out a couple weeks ago.
    Im compiling a bunch of shit on budapest.

    Could you give more detail on the cheap cruises?
    What did you take?

  10. Rudebwoy August 7, 2012 at 2:54 am #

    I have been too Budapest and like someone stated I saw about 6 girls who were head turners. The city is awesome but the women were lacking, I have a feeling the sexy girls are from the smaller cities.

    Romania is clearly superior when it comes to women.

    Not sure why Sokol is making a big deal of this.

  11. Mister D May 18, 2013 at 4:20 pm #

    I just returned from Budapest. I can’t believe there are guys out there saying women in Budapest aren’t good looking. It was full of hot women, dressed well and besides that, they really show interest if they like you, even when you are walking on the street in the middle of the day !!! And no, I am not a goofy guy with a bad taste. My friends tell me I am way too picky.

    I can’t judge whether Romania is better as I haven’t been there. I have been in Krakau last august and I wasn’t impressed by the quality of girls at all. But maybe it has to do with the fact that Krakau is a student city and I was there in august.

    I would definitely advice people to go to Budapest. I will return, that is for sure.

  12. Kris July 10, 2013 at 10:36 am #

    The funny thing about the women here is that they almost all smoke & they dress very slutty. There isn’t much left for the imagination and they cone off as easy and under educated. If your looking for a girl to say nothing and only want smokes and sex then Budapest “women” are for you.

  13. Aaron July 23, 2013 at 3:58 pm #

    I have been living in Budapest for a year or so , and as a guy who was born in NYC and been around i seen much better cities out there you can believe me that. the Hungarian folks are pretty off especially the old folks, young guys and gals are OK i guess but it seems like their communist roots are running deep and they can not contact with people who are not Hungarians as well . the night scene is pretty buzzing especially during the summer time. the biggest problem for me is to find a good source to buy some weed Bcuz it’s been forever since i puffed me some and i really don’t know anybody in the city that i can consider a friend whom i can trust ,while I’m not a one to run around town and ask around .
    i followed up on the disco (wtf ?? are we in the 70’s ?? ) boat tip. all they sell there are hard drugs and X and so called “Designers drugs” which is really not my cup o’ tea. i Followed a tip i saw in other website about some Arab so called “Jimmy” who was street-hustlin’ in Keleti station , but they rip me off there and all i got a hand of wheat grass or whatever it was for 60 Euro – so my strongest tip to you is – Don’t go there !!

    anyone knows about other places or can give an Updated tip on getting weed in Budapest ?

    in anyways, i wish all that planing a vacation in Budapest to go out and have a good time, the prices are really cheap , food is great and Alcohol is usually cheap and good.
    Njoy 🙂

    • löller November 5, 2013 at 5:19 am #

      As a guy from Budapest, I think you have been extremely unlucky Aaron. Not just pot-wise, but your whole impression of the city seems off to me. Its sad to read youre unhappy here. If you are still in the city, I think I can change your mind in a hartbeat. If intrested, feel free to contact me.

      • ontobuda December 12, 2013 at 1:08 am #

        I see you are from budapest! We are going this friday!
        Where should we go to find good bars and clubs thats not a rip off? I hope il get answer back!thanks!

        • Danny January 16, 2014 at 9:49 am #

          Ontobuda hope you enjoyed Budapest!!!
          I arrive on the 30th of January can you recommend any good places for a good beer, meal and of course the women!!!

          Thanks
          D

      • Ungvári Vanda June 5, 2014 at 9:57 pm #

        löller, do you actually can help with getting weed or something else? do you have contacts or something? if yes, you could help me too!

    • AndreCheese July 30, 2015 at 8:06 am #

      it you need buds, contact me at sartoman94@gmail.com

  14. Jack August 5, 2014 at 5:21 pm #

    löller if you truly have the hookups on the weed front help a brutha out. Here for four more days and have had zero luck this far trying to get bud. I was meant to have a contact here but he is out of town and I got shit down at the train station from the Egyptian/Arab guys. Peace

    • vortex December 5, 2014 at 11:49 am #

      Hi, If you had any luck here, please let me know. I have been living in Budapest for over a year now and have had mixed success in finding any decent weed over here.

      I am looking for a stable hookup.

  15. mike-aus November 6, 2014 at 9:26 am #

    1. Hungary is in Central Europe, not Eastern Europe
    2. The girls are more Westernised and not at all like say Serbian girls

    • timothy April 29, 2016 at 4:19 pm #

      Mike

      Unless you are Hungarian descent, you will realise that Hungary is Eastern Europe though Magyars bang on about Central Europe stuff. I lived there for a year.

      I agree that they are actually easier to chat to than even Poles.

      Well they have ta and a overall but you can find skinny girls too if that is your thing.

  16. LRC January 20, 2015 at 12:54 am #

    I lived in Budapest for a month and agree with the author… Hungarian girls were a big disappointment… I was expecting so much more.
    I had just come from the holy grail of gorgeous girls (Belgrade) and took the train up to Budapest and it was a major step down in terms of quality and quantity.
    Plus the Hungarian girls seemed very unfriendly.

  17. Daniel June 20, 2015 at 2:59 pm #

    Hello great guy!!

    I’m brazilian and I wanna know what’s the best time to go to Budapest. DO u know?

    And about university cities, do you know anywhere that have parties every day and there are easy going girls??

    Thank you !

  18. guy October 22, 2016 at 2:44 pm #

    this barbara palvin chick is smoking!

  19. albanian boy March 6, 2017 at 4:13 pm #

    Are you albanian sokol?

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