With sunshine forecast for the immediate future, it’s an ideal time to dine out in the open – with just a little bit of preparation, we can make this happen by grabbing some old blankets, treats, and sports equipment with our family, friends, or partner, and head to our favorite urban green area to have a spontaneous picnic. Here are some useful tips for choosing the perfect location and on what to fill our baskets with.

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Where to go?

In our spring roundup, we described our favorite urban oases in detail. The most evident locations for picnics are Margaret Island, City Park, Normafa, and Kopaszi Dam, but we recommend places like Makkosmária, Kőhegy in Budaörs, the Philosopher’s Garden, and Árpád Lookout. Fortunately, more and more people gather on the grass amid downtown parks as well, like Károlyi Garden or Orczy Park.

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What to put in the basket?

We can assemble a picnic basket by ourselves after a trip to the convenience store, but let’s face it: sometimes half of our stuff remains uneaten, because we pack completely unnecessary things. Instead of furiously cooking and shopping the day before the picnic, there are some services offering ready-to-go picnic baskets. Such is Piknik Járat, with six types of picnic baskets currently offered. For example, their Brooklyn basket includes two baguette sandwiches, two croissant sandwiches, two mixed salads, chocolate chip cookies, and mineral water, all for 5,490 forints. They also accept customized orders from companies or larger groups. Fortunately, in addition to ordering via Facebook, now we can find them at the city’s largest outdoor cinema, as well. Popcorn is fine for watching films, but not necessarily better than a delicious sandwich from Piknik Járat.
We can also rent a picnic basket from Holdudvar, for a deposit fee – for two or larger groups with an individual selection of foods from the menu. We can easily put together a basket for two with cheese sandwiches, BBQ beef, and beer under 5,000 forints. However, if we would still like to stick with our own basket, we can also visit a special delicatessen for some unique treats.

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What else to pack?

However, there is more to picnics than food – we have to bring along some practical items, as well. The most fundamental of these is a large, dust-repellent blanket, on which we can lay down and relax. For example, we found two really cool sets in the webshop of Hellobubu. We had better pack all non-food-related things in a separate bag, for which the backpacks of YKRA are more than ideal; and for trash and smaller items, we can bring some stylish paper bags from CUCC. From Karcsi’s Paper Shop in Projekt Showroom, we can choose some patterned straws and muffin liners. A corkscrew, pocket knife and matches are a must, too, as are some games like a badminton set, a ball, or even a set of cards or a board game. We especially like the board games of Marbushka.