Greetings from Bratislava

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, it’s a 2-2,5 hours drive from Budapest. It’s one of the four capitals along the Danube river. A charming town with Bratislava castle from the Middle Ages and the Baroque style city centre with colourful buildings, cobblestoned streets, little cafés, art galleries and great atmosphere.

I’d highly recommend a tour when you are in Vienna or Budapest, you won’t be disappointed. These are the pictures from our last tour, we were lucky with beautiful weather and clear blue skies.

 

A Must-See: Kazinczy Street Synagogue

The Orthodox synagogue in Kazinczy street was bulit in Art Nouveau architecture in the early 1900’s. The Art Nouveau characteristics are truly magnificent: the rose window on top of the facade, the various building materials including raw brick and colourful stone pieces, the floral ornaments, the stained-glass windows. The building is a masterpiece of the architects, Sándor and Béla Löffler.

The synagogue was badly damaged during WW2 and the building was restored after the war. It’s part of a complex where there are apartments, two kosher restaurants, a little design shop, a kosher grocery store and offices of the Orthodox community. The visit of the synagogue can be included in the Budapest Jewish district tour.

Another great wine tour in Eger

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.

Your reviews

Your reviews on TripAdvisor or on my website are highly appreciated and I’m always very glad to read how much you enjoyed your tours. This is a recent review from my TripAdvisor profile:

Julia is the best tour guide I ever had
Our PR agency spent one weekend in Budapest – a team of 5 people – we wanted to celebrate a challenging business year in this beautiful city so close (and connected) to Vienna. We contacted Julia as we wanted to get some really good insights for Budapest, yet we did not have so much time – so we booked 3 hours with her. Julia took us on an outstanding tour in Budapest – I have never met such a dedicated, experienced and in the meantime passionate tour guide / a person loving her home country – every minute with Julia was interesting and exciting, she gave us such a vivid impression of Budapest from its interesting history / culture / architecture – connecting to todays story .. To be with a tour guides like her is pure luck, thank you Julia for this wonderfuld day – we would book her again and can only recommend to anyone who really wants to get a great insight to Budapest.
Thank you very much!

Good morning Beautiful Budapest!

One of my favourite moments of the day is when the street lights of Budapest are switched off just a few minutes before sunrise. Eventually the best place to film it from is the very top of the Fisherman’s Bastion.

 

Looking forward to 2021

This time of the year I usually do some sort of summary of the most popular tours I delivered the previous year. Last year was special with mostly virtual and social distancing tours so I decided to put together a list of the tours I really would like to do more in the new year. Here comes my wish list for 2021

“THE GRAND BUDAPEST” WALK: a great introduction of Budapest to first time visitors or travellers who only have one day to see the main highlights and some of the hidden gems.

BUDAPEST ART NOUVEAU WALK: the most stunning Art Nouveau buildings and their mysterious secrets are to be revealed on this tour. A great option for architecture fans or first time visitors.

COMMUNIST BUDAPEST WALK: I grew up in the 1980’s so I can share with you a lot of stories from the Communist era which is still considered as one of the most painful periods of Hungarian history.

GYOR, SOPRON AND THE ESTERHAZY PALACE IN FERTOD: three magnificent examples of the greatest Hungarian Baroque architecture, the visit of Győr, Sopron and the simply outstanding Esterhazy Palace in Fertőd.

BAROQUE TOUR IN GÖDÖLLŐ AND HOLLÓKŐ BY CAR: I’m in love with Baroque style, on this tour you’ll understand more about both urban and rural Baroque architecture and about the lifestyle of Hungarian everyday people and royalty from the 18th century to nowadays.

Hopefully we can travel again very very soon and I can take you to the most amazing places in Budapest and Hungary you’ll never forget.

Budapest Christmas Markets before COVID-19

I’ve just had a look at the collection of pictures I took on Christmas Market tours the last couple of years and they literally warmed my heart. I could almost feel the taste of Kürtöskalács (Chimney cake) and the smell of mulled wine. I thought I’d share some of the pictures with you and hopefully it’ll help you to get into Christmas celebration mood. Also, I hope we’ll explore the Christmas markets together in 2021!

  • Budapest Christmas Markets Private Tour
  • Christmas Market at St. Stephen’s Basilica, Budapest
  • Budapest Christmas Markets Private Tour
  • Christmas Market at St. Stephen’s Basilica, Budapest
  • Budapest Christmas Markets Private Tour

Statues of Budapest: Little Princess

I’m starting a new series to introduce you the most famous statues of Budapest and some of the hidden gems, too. These are the beautiful monuments of Budapest we usually see on our walking or driving tours in Buda and Pest.

Another statue with a magical power, meet our Little Princess! She’s sitting near the Danube River at the Marriott hotel. She’s the one who can make all your wishes come true. Just stand in front of her, put your hands on her knees, close your eyes and make a wish!