Anyone who visits Hungary’s capital instantly senses the city’s unique vibe, deriving from its mesmerizing beauty and enchanting attractions... but for those who want to go beyond the ordinary urban spectacles, Budapest offers plenty of appealingly peculiar experiences citywide. From lounging in downtown cafés surrounded by chameleons and other critters, to partying within crumbling edifices amid surreal settings, to devouring weird meals – like rooster-testicle stew or sausage-flavored ice cream – Budapest presents an astonishing assortment of outlandish activities.
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Lounge in a pet café
How about sipping glassfuls of soul-warming potables with a chameleon in hand and a rabbit on your lap? Animal aficionados cherish the idiosyncratic Zoo Café, which certainly qualifies as a minuscule petting zoo. Here anyone can hang out with colorful birds, exotic reptiles, or furry friends like guinea pigs, while enjoying refreshing lemonades, a mug of hot chocolate, or various snacks. Those with an affinity for felines can head straight to the city’s freshly opened Cat Pub in Budapest’s District VI, a “purrfect” hangout that is home to four different four-legged friends that help provide a playful atmosphere amid the city’s constantly buzzing scenes. While cuddling with the pub’s resident pets, guests here can sip cleverly named cocktails, like CATmopolitan or CAT on the Beach, among several other types of alcoholic drinks.
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Immerse in bizarre bazaars
Whether displayed in hidden downtown nooks or spacious alfresco markets, an unbelievable assortment of vintage knickknacks is available for purchase across Budapest, and the best thing about these unique bazaars is that we never know what merchandise we might come across there. From historic Hungarian banknotes to WWII gas masks to vintage pocket radios to antiquated furniture to various Soviet-era relics, we find a great pile of stock oftentimes presented being mounted atop one another. Popular retro havens in town include the recently opened Szimpla Design Shop (Budapest 1073, Kazinczy utca 14) located right next to Budapest’s most revered ruin pub, the longstanding Ecseri Flea Market (Budapest 1194, Nagykőrösi út 156), and Antik Bazár (1071 Budapest, Klauzál Street 1.), found on Klauzál Street within District VII.
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Have a pálinka shot as a morning booster
The local’s high-spirited fruit-based tipple is pretty much considered as a liquefied source of national pride, and if you are offered a shot and try to turn it down, this might be regarded as a semi-serious offense by your host – even when such an occurrence comes up with the rising sun. From plum to apple to apricot, pálinka is available in many flavors, and bottlefuls are kept as sacred relics at the majority of Hungary’s households. While an ordinary day in Hungary does not kick off with chugging down a few shots of the aromatic drink, when guests are around the house this potent potable might be flowing all day long. Those who don’t have a chance to enjoy the drink with local companions can try a variety of pálinka specialties in many of Budapest’s bars, including 5 cl on downtown Budapest’s Kazinczy Street, but such drinks are poured in profusion at any of Budapest’s ruin pubs or .
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Visit Budapest’s mysterious museums
Beyond ordinary exhibition halls introducing Hungary’s history and arts, urbanites can explore lesser-known museums that provide unconventional displays hidden across town. Those who crave mysterious moments can immerse in a magical world at the recently opened House of Houdini in Budapest’s Castle District, where visitors are presented with numerous original tools that once belonged to legendary Hungarian illusionist Harry Houdini, like antiquated handcuffs and lock keys, while the collection includes a selection of vintage posters that promoted the escapologist’s stunning shows, plus several original props from the recent “Houdini” miniseries on the History Channel. Within the city’s Újpest neighborhood, a secluded room of a private house is home to a colorful collection of pinned-up butterflies that once soared around the fields of Hungary, while many of them derive from faraway lands, including Venezuela, Cuba, and Kenya. Inside the Museum of Butterflies (Budapest 1041, Dessewffy utca 26), glass-covered displays are mounted side by side, holding colorful winged-creatures in all sizes, shapes, and forms, while this mini-museum also displays other intriguing artifacts, like minerals, sea snails, or African tribal masks.
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Devour daunting dishes
While Budapest has been experiencing a great gastronomy boom in recent years as new international eateries pop up citywide, we can still relish a variety of traditional Magyar meals. Those who dare to go beyond ordinary local gastronomy can immerse into some of the nation’s most eerie eats: Wekerle restaurant serves rooster-testicle stew with dill and cottage cheese; Laci Konyha at the corner of Király Street and Izabella Street cooks pig-feet stew; and treats daring guests with fish innards, like fish milt and eggs. From time to time, also offers a selection of absurd treats – the restaurant’s dessert menu recently included a bizarre ice-cream selection of tobacco-, goose foie gras-, and sausage-flavored confections, while they often organize “Bizarre Dinner” events, when guests are served a selection of scary specialties. Bon appétit!
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Hang out in crumbling buildings
A hodgepodge of surreal objects surrounds city dwellers in many of Budapest’s ruin bars, where guests can spend dreamlike moments amid a mix of vintage furniture, old toys, or converted vehicles that are displayed around the abandoned rooms and hallways of dilapidated edifices. Guidebook-superstar on Kazinczy Street boasts a huge crowd on any day of the week, and guests at this rundown apartment building can sip intoxicating drinks amid eccentric retro relics; at we can let loose at a variety of concert performances or dance the night away until sunrise under psychedelic installations, including a giant white owl and myriad rabbits that are suspended from above; besides giving shelter to casual travelers from all over the world, ’s tree-shaded patio is also an ideal hangout for tripping out amid otherworldly scenes. Those who are after slightly more sophisticated ruin-bar experiences can drop into – a café surreally adorned with broken toys and creative graffiti across the walls – just a few steps around the corner from Astoria, or they can cross the river to visit Buda’s , a colorful community space filled with all kinds of puzzling props, spanning from a race car to grandma’s antiquated decorations.
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Get soaked in beer
Imagine entering a hop-scented world, where you can submerge in a wooden tub filled with suds and let the natural extracts that are ordinarily used to brew beers work wonders on your skin. As the fusion of malts, hops, brewer’s yeast, barley, and healing thermal water provides muscle-melting joy, guests can immerse in intoxicating pleasures by imbibing unlimited glasses of beer available on tap within reach from the tub. BeerSpa is found beneath Budapest’s renowned in , and this haven for beer aficionados boasts tubs where two people can soak in each of them at the same time, making this high-spirited facility ideal for hanging out with friends or for a memorable first date.
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Sign up for weird walking tours
Discover Budapest off the beaten path through thematic walking tours that introduce concealed – and oftentimes seemingly haunted – segments of the city’s history. Bupap offers a mystical trip deep into the Buda Hills for those who want to witness the ethereal environment of Sváb Hill, a now-peaceful zone that was the scene of many tragic events during World War II, when most of the hotels, villas, and subterranean shelters scattered around the area were taken over by Nazi officers to become impromptu facilities of torture and execution. Beyond Budapest takes travelers on an otherworldly stroll around an abandoned Jewish cemetery, where the group can admire the shrines and mausoleums of the graveyard. And for those who want to learn about the underbelly of high society, Imagine Budapest takes city visitors to get glimpses of the Buda Castle’s sights through the eyes of a pickpocket, who will lead the group around the castle’s historic sights, while sharing stories about past crimes, executions, and many of the secrets that the surrounding buildings hide.
