Truly wonderful.
I’ve received this article from three guests of mine at different occasions – and thank you so much guys for your preparations before your actual trip to Budapest. I need to tell that most of the places recommended by The New York Times are both fun and nice, still, I have the impression I can show you so much more when you come to visit my beautiful city.
Feel free to ask for my special recommendations!
To show how much local people love the Széchenyi baths, I can tell you that we also have a nickname for it and call it simply ‘Szecska’. It opened in 1913 and has a total of 18 indoor and outdoor swimming pools. It’s one of the most richly ornate buildings of the city with an architecture combining Neo-Renaissance and Classicist elements. One really has to see the main foyer where both the statues and mosaics are all realted to water and bathing culture.
I only recommend going to the Szecska in the summer for those who don’t mind crowds but it’s really quiet and enjoyable in the winter. I can take you to the Széchenyi if you book the Baths of Budapest walking tour with me.
More information about prices and opening hours.
Budapest Baths Private Walking Tour 
Budapest Baths Private Walking Tour
We had the most exciting tour today about the Hungarian Samizdat press. I had the privilege to work with Kö
zgazdasági Politechnikum in this great project: Building Democratic Europe Together – http://budet.poli.hu/
My tour’s focus was the illegal, uncensored production, publishing and distribution of books and articles which couldn’t have been published in the Communist regime. It was all about conspiracy, clandestine operations and about how the state and state security tried to liquidate the entire movement, but more importantly my tour was about the desire to exercise free speech and free press, essential pillars of our new democracy.
It was great to see the enthusiasm of both students and teachers and I’m very proud to have been part of it.
Bathing and bathing culture have always been an important part of our everyday life. According to a survey I’ve just read 30% of the locals go to the baths regularly. It’s fun, very relaxing and has healing effects, too. I can show you some of the most authentic Budapest baths if you join me for a tour.
The Gellért bathhouse is the most elegant bath complex of Budapest. The building is one of the most amazing pieces of the Budapest Art Nouveau and opened in 1918. When you have a look at the richly ornate facade of the building its hard to imagine that before the construction of the elegant hotel, the place had been referred to as to the muddy baths, where both people and animals had their regular bath.
The thermal baths are fed by the mineral hot springs of the Gellért hill. The water is rich in calcium, magnesium, hydrocarbonate and sulfate. The water temperature varies from 35 °C to 40 °C.
Don’t miss the Turkish section where the walls are so nicely decorated with colorful mosaics. The bath can be visited throughout the year, if you happen to be in Budapest in the summer, you can also take advantage of the outdoor wave pool.
My two greatest passions are tour guiding and photography. I’ve been involved in photography in a way or another my entire adult life and I always try to catch the beauty I see walking around Budapest every day. Some of my pictures are on Instagram, too: – https://www.instagram.com/kravianszky/
Wishing you a very happy and prosperous new year from the top of the Fisherman’s Bastion in Budapest.
The truly amazing atmosphere of Budapest during the Christmas holidays, all the beautiful lights, gold and glitter of the city I love so much.
I’m the extremely proud winner of Travel and Hospitality Awards’ Private Tour Company – of the Year 2018 in Hungary. This is an award I appreciate a lot and it’s also a great feedback showing that my guests are happy with my services as their private Budapest tour guide. It’s time to celebrate!
Budapest is beautiful day and night, surprisingly it’s like a totally different town when darkness falls. I enjoy very much touring in the city when one can enjoy its amazing lights especially looking at them from the Buda hills. Join my “The lights of Budapest” tour, so that I can show you the nicely lit buildings and tell you more about the stories of my city.
Budapest’s largest, Hungary’s third largest church, the richly ornate St. Stephen’s Basilica. It had been built for 55 years and showcases the characteristics of three great architects’ favourite styles: Baroque, Neo-Renaissance and Classicism.
It’s the richest church of the city with exquisite red marble and 22-carat gold ornaments. It’s a working church with services, wedding ceremonies and organ concerts. You can walk up the steps or take the elevators to the top of the dome, so that you can enjoy an amazing view over the Pest side.
The Basilica houses one of our most important national relics, the 1000-year-old mummified right hand of our first king, St. Stephen. Let me show you the Basilica and its neighborhood, book a Pest walk with me.
The Budapest coffeehouse culture is over 150 years old. Cafés have always been the center of socializing and getting together, the place where idealism and dreaming overcame reality.
The most important Hungarian war of independence against the Austrians started with young enthusiastic guys enjoying a cup of coffee in one of the coffeehouses of Pest.
Some 100 years ago a Hungarian writer stole the keys of a coffeehouse and dropped them inti the Danube river to make sure the place is open 24 hours a day.
Enjoy our coffee, enjoy the special atmosphere of the Budapest cafés! Book a Foodie Tour with me, so that you can discover the best places of the city!
The Jewish quarter, the 7th district of Budapest is the most fun and creative neighborhood of Budapest. It’s hip and always busy, full of cafés, clubs and restaurants, charming little streets and monuments.
After visiting the world’s second largest synagogue in Dohány street we take a walk around the synagogue triangle. I’ll take you to the famous ruin pubs and will also show you around local pastry shops and cafés. I’ll show you the monuments commemorating the victims of WW2 when the Jewish quarter was the ghetto of Budapest. I’ll show you a piece of the ghetto wall, will tell you about the time when the neighborhood witnessed so many dark memories and will also tell you about the well-known and lesser known heroes who had saved the life of tens of thousands.
We finish the tour by the moving Shoe memorial at the Danube river.
The Jewish quarter is the center of the Jewish community and walking around it is fantastic cultural experience too, we’ll see great design ateliers and the most amazing examples of Budapest Street Art. Come and join me for a walk in the Jewish quarter, so that I can show you and tell you more!
This is of course a very subjective lists and is based on my own experiences and on my guests’ feedback. There are hundreds of great restaurants in Budapest and it’s very hard to pick only 5 as I keep discovering new places all the time and show them to my guests on my Foodie tours.. These are the places I’d recommend to my guests and where I would go with my family, too. I only selected places with Hungarian meals, so that you can taste the best dishes of our cuisine.
Aszu restaurant: great food, great wines and cozy atmosphere with live cimbalom music. My favourite is the Chicken Paprikás.
Budapest Bistro: such a nice place near the Parliament with very special and modern Hungarian dishes and live piano music. My favourite is the Hungarian Bistro plate.
Pest-Buda Restaurant: is in the heart of the Buda Castle District, a classy little place with red and white checkered tablecloth. My favourite is the Goulash soup.
Rézkakas Bistro: an amazing mix of the authentic Hungarian dishes and international flavours topped with great wines. This is one of the very few places where vegeterians can have a fantastic selection, too. My favourite is the Lajosmizse “terrine de foie gras”.
WineKitchen: yes, it’s a Michelin-star restaurant, still the prices are reasonable, the staff is friendly and they offer fresh and creative daily menus every day. My favourite is the Fresh fish from the market.
+1: Strudel House: a place where you can actually see the strudel making and you can try the best sweet and salted Hungarian strudels. My favourite is the sweet cottage cheese strudel.
Many of my guests participate in a rivercruise starting or ending in Budapest. The rivercruise companies offer a general sightseeing tour in Budapest. My guests contact me very often whether I can show them more without duplicating what they see duiring their tour.
You have to believe me when I say that there is so much more to see. I know excatly what is included in a local tour as I guide those tours, too. I can recommend one of my thematic tours, a trip to the countryside or I can send you a plan fully customized according to your needs. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further details.
Drifting ice on the Danube river, view from in front of the Buda Royal Palace.
The State Opera House is one of the most impressive buildings of the Andrassy avenue, Budapest’s Champs Elysées. The building’s extremely richly ornate façade and arched main entrance both present an imposing sight from the outside but you really have to walk inside because the interior of the building is equally beautiful. No wonder that the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph found the idea that this building was actually more richly decorated than the Vienna Opera House outstanding and irritating, too.
The Opera House can of course be visited, there are guided tours in the building every afternoon and if you’re lucky, you might also book tickets for the evening performances, such a nice and unique experience when you visit Budapest. You’ll of course learn all the funny and dark secrets of the building and its statues if you choose to join a “Pest Walk” with me.
Full Day Budapest Private Driving Tour 
Budapest State Opera House 
Best of Pest Private Walking Tour 
Budapest State Opera House 
Budapest State Opera House 
Budapest State Opera House
I’d like to wish you happiness, peace, love and harmony, I hope all your dreams will come true in 2017.
I’m looking forward to seeing you and to showing you around my beautiful Budapest!
Christmas in Hungary is celebrated with traditions similar to those found in other Central European countries.
The holiday season starts with Advent, the period of expectant waiting for the birth of Jesus. We celebrate 4 Advent Sundays before Christmas lighting one candle on the Advent wreath each Sunday.
Christmas Eve, the 24th is a private family holiday. The family members decorate the Christmas tree together – except the kids because they believe the tree and the Christmas presents are brought by the baby Jesus, they can enter the room with the Christmas tree only when the bells ring three times.
On the 25th and 26th the whole city calms down a little bit, people visit their relatives and friends and of course it’s the best time of the year to taste the very special Hungarian Christmas treats.
Merry Christmas – Boldog Karácsonyt!
The 20th of August is always very special for Hungarians, not only because we celebrate St. Stephen, the founder of the Hungarian Christian state but also because our country’s “birthday cake” is introduced. The cake is selected every year by the panel of reputable master confectioners, the applicants are to create innovative and creative cakes reflecting traditional Hungarian tastes and the cake should also have to be connected to the 20th of August holiday.
And now, please meet the “Green Gold of Őrség”, this year’s winner. It comes from a small Salgótarján cake shop and has the colours of the Hungarian flag (red-white-green). The layers of the cake are: pumpkin seed oil and almond flour sponge cake, white chocolate ganache, crunchy pumpkin seed praline, raspberry jelly and pumpkin seed jelly.
What can I say? We’we just tasted this beautiful cake with my guests today in the Ruszwurm cake shop near the Matthias Church and it was delicious. Enjoy!
