Budapest Parliament Building is one of the most iconic landmarks in Europe, offering stunning views from various angles. Admiring a building from different angles unveils new perspectives and highlights details often overlooked from a single viewpoint. Each shift in position allows for a deeper appreciation of its design, offering unique opportunities to capture its beauty in fresh, unexpected ways.

One of the best perspectives is from the banks of the Danube River, where you can capture the full grandeur of the Gothic Revival architecture with the water reflecting the building’s majestic silhouette. A boat tour along the river (I highly recommend Danube Legend) allows for a unique shot from the water, giving you an intimate yet sweeping view of the Parliament and its surrounding bridges. Another fantastic viewpoint is from the Buda side of the city, particularly from Fisherman’s Bastion, where you can beautifully frame the Parliament.

For a more panoramic shot, head to Gellért Hill, offering an elevated vantage point with a wide-angle view of both the Parliament and the sweeping cityscape. A great time to capture the building’s beauty is during golden hour, when the sunlight casts a warm glow on its intricate details, making it shine against the sky. Nighttime photography also offers magical opportunities, as the Parliament is beautifully illuminated, providing a striking contrast to the dark sky. From Margaret Island, you can frame the Parliament against lush green landscapes, making for a peaceful yet grand shot.

Book a private tour to experience the building up close, so that I can reveal hidden details and offer exclusive perspectives that will leave you in awe of its true magnificence.

You might have noticed that the Eger Wine Tour is one of my favourite daytrips from Budapest. I love Eger, it’s a charming little town with beautiful Baroque architecture and its castle is still considered as a national symbol of Hungarian patriotism. The tour is topped by wine tasting both in the city centre and in the Valley of the Beautiful Woman, where you can taste Bull’s Blood, the local cuvée.

The weather is getting more and more beautiful day by day so we enjoyed our time in Eger in beautiful sunshine and I can tell you that everybody loved the red wines we tasted. I hope I’ll have the chance to go back to Eger many times this year.

A new museum opened in the City Park of Budapest, the museum of Hungarian Music. We had a private tour in the museum last week and were truly impressed by both the design of the building and the museum’s programmes and exhibitions.

The building was designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, to me it looks like an extremely ornate spaceship abandoned in the woods. For example I love the 12m high glass windows and panels and the hundreds of golden stylised leaves decorating both the interior and the outside. As a result it looks like a huge forest of gold, which is even more beautiful in the sunshine when the lights are nicely reflected on each and every gold leaf.

In the sound dome you can enjoy a unique audio-visual experience with sounds and music coming from all directions. I loved when all the sounds and music came together by the end of the show. It really felt like as if we witnessed a special chemistry experience in a musical laboratory. As an addition the permanent exhibition offers a musical journey in space and time. You must take some time to explore it, because you can easily spend hours in this underground musical maze. Music lovers should plan to spend some 2-3 hours in the building. Visitors can expect to get a better understanding of Hungarian music from the different periods of our musical history.

(On a personal note I have to add that I’m very much against all new constructions in the second largest public park of Budapest. The reason is that I think we should preserve and enlarge the green spaces in the city. However, I like the modern approach and the fact that the building is supposed to use sustainable and climate-friendly solutions.)

Last week we had the chance to meet and cook with chef Zita from BORGANIKA. Zita has an amazing gastro space in Klauzál market in the Jewish district. She offers cooking classes, all sorts of gastro events and she also hosts private dinners. She is amazing and is truly in love with Hungarian culture and food, all of my guests were fascinated by this unique culinary experience.

We cooked green pea soup, chicken paprikas with nokedli and strudel, it was a lot of fun, we enjoyed cooking and eating together and we also tasted some great Hungarian wines.

It’s a great experience for smaller and larger groups and her enthusiasm and professionalism will most probably brighten your day and contribute to an amazing Budapest experience.

Private cooking class at Borganika
Private cooking class at Borganika

Merry Christmas from Beautiful Budapest! #merrychristmas #boldogkarácsonyt #budapest#beautifulbudapest #christmas

 

Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas

Days are getting shorter and nights are getting longer and this is how Beautiful Budapest looks like with all the amazing lights.

Beautiful Budapest by night
Beautiful Budapest by night

Sometimes it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning but by the time I get to downtown Pest for a tour I’m the most grateful to live in the most beautiful city of the world.