When I heard that the bank holiday weekend in August was the UK’s last long weekend til the end of the year I knew I had to make the most of it.  My friend Kelly is currently jaunting around the continent so Kate and I decided to meet her wherever she would be – which turned out to be Budapest!  I have to confess that it would not previously have made my Top 10 list of places I wanted to go in Europe, but I was impressed with the beautiful architecture and awesome vibe of the city.

We flew into the city on a slightly grey Saturday and immediately headed out to explore.  We stayed at an Air BnB apartment in the centre of town – it was the first time I had used the site and I was very impressed with the apartment, its brilliant location, and the price!

We made the most of our central location and spent the afternoon exploring the centre of Pest.  Budapest was split into three distinct areas; Buda on the west bank, Pest on the east bank, and Obuda to the north-west, before they were unified in 1873.

But first, lunch.  I was determined to taste the Hungarian specialty of dumplings and got my chance straight away.  It appeared that salad was not a big thing in Budapest, but I was happy to carb-load with delicious beef goulash – yum!

Stomachs sated, we headed through town to one of the focal points, St Stephen’s Basilica.  It took 58 years to build as the dome collapsed completely at one point, and was finally completed in 1905.  Fortunately it was still looking pretty solid!

The Basilica’s interior is opulent, with gold and ornate decoration on every surface – it was quite something!  As it was a Saturday there were weddings going on inside while we looked on – very special.

As I’ve mentioned before, I love to view a city from high up to give me a bit of perspective and a different appreciation of the landmarks.  It’s possible to climb to the top of the dome in the Basilica for a small entry fee, so we powered up the 350-odd stairs.  There are also two lifts, although one was out of commission on the day.

The views at the top made the climb well-worth it, as we looked over to the Danube, the Castle, and out to the City Park.

After all that climbing we definitely had room for a little sweet something, and we were lucky enough to stumble upon Gelarto Rosa just a few steps from the Basilica.  Here they craft beautiful roses from delicious gelato, something I’ve never seen anywhere else.  The finished product looked almost too good to eat… almost!

Not only were the gelato beautiful, the flavours were really tasty and it was easily the best gelato I’ve had outside Italy.

After all the wandering and gelato eating we had to have a bit of a rest before heading out to check out Budapest’s Saturday nightlife.  I noticed that a major target of Budapest’s tourism website is stag and hen nights, and we certainly saw plenty of these, both on our flight and around the city.  But they all seemed pretty well-behaved, and we had a great time at a couple of Budapest’s ‘kerts’, also known as ruin bars.  Based on the few that we saw during our time there, I would describe them more as garden bars, with atmospheres ranging massively from a casual backyard hangout to a full-on bar.

The best-known is Szimpla Kert, the pioneer of ruin bars.  With a huge back garden area complete with old cars as well as at least four bars, and an upstairs area, Szimpla packed us all in and gave us lots to look at, fun music and delicious cocktails – all the ingredients for a great night!