Day 6-8 Budapest 8/9- 11 2025

Budapest Part 1

On Saturday, August 9 after having our leftover apple strudel for breakfast in our room, we checked out and took a taxi to the train station. We had reserved seats which we didn’t really need to do. It was a clean and comfortable trip to Vienna which took about 2:50 hours, before switching to a 2nd train that would take us to Budapest. We grabbed some pizza for lunch and waited for our train. We almost missed it as they switched tracks less than 30 minutes before departure, but Tom was ever observant and we made it just in time. The 2nd train was almost as nice, we had a compartment for 6 to ourselves. Our train was delayed a bit due to a train ahead of us that was having technical difficulties and so we arrived about 40 minutes late. It took some effort to get a taxi as we were advised by our hotel to avoid taking a taxi that was operated by a freelancer. Thankfully, we were able to call an Uber via the app which we are comfortable doing in the states and we took an “Uber taxi” to the hotel.

We arrived close to 7pm and checked into our hotel. We loved our room immediately. More on that later. We quickly found a restaurant nearby called “Tapassio” which was a spanish/hungarian fusion sort of place. We ordered a few of the usual spanish tapas we enjoy but in addition we ordered the Hortobagy paprika chicken crepe which turned out to be our favorite. We then returned to our hotel after a long day of travel, and it is quite hot right now, in the 90’s. Back to our room, we’re staying at the Aria Hotel in the Pest region of Budapest near the basilica. The hotel is amazing. The employees are ever so cheerful, helpful and thankfully, speak perfect english. We have a balcony, there’s a/c, plenty of bottle water and a huge bathroom. Plus the room is totally electrified in terms of turning on lights, bringing down the shades, etcl.. We settled in for the night and were overwhelmed with how comfortable the bed and pillows were, so much so, we may be purchasing the pillows at shoparia.com, they are THAT good.

The next morning, we had (included) breakfast at the hotel. Quite delightful. They had freshly squeezed orange juice, Hungarian sparkling wine, a perfect way to start the day with a mimosa! They served hot breakfasts made to order and had a wonderful assortment of other items, it really was lovely. We woke up early so we could get an early start to the baths as we heard they fill up fast especially on the weekend. We took a taxi and arrived just before 8am when they opened. Taxis by the way are fairly inexpensive here. We purchased tickets ahead of time online and we quickly gained entrance into the Szecheny thermal baths. They are over 100 years old and they have a smooth operation. They provide you with a wrist band that will allow you to use a locker to store your stuff. They also have cabanas you can rent that are like a large changing room, but they were already sold out for the day. The lockers were more than adequate. We brought towels with us and flip flops/plastic sandals are a must as you are required to wear them everywhere and leave them just at the edge of the pools. If you plan on doing laps in the lap pool, a swim cap is also required. We grabbed some lounge chairs and headed into the first large outside pool. It was heaven. After traveling for almost a week, our bodies needed this pick me up and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here. We went to the “adventurous” outdoor pool which had a lot more jets and in the center , there was a whirlpool effect that was quite enjoyable, you’ll have to try it! We then ventured into some of the indoor pools. They had helpful maps that indicated the various pools and what temperature the waters were in each of the pools. a walk to see if we could find a power cable for Amy who forgot to pack it at MediaMarkt; about a 25 minute walk from our hotel. It was hot, in the mid 90s but we walked in the shade whenever possible. We weren’t able to find a power cable, but did enjoy walking through the city. On our way back to the hotel, we tried a chimney cake cone that they filled with nutella and ice cream. It was delicious but extremely messy. We then showered and rested a bit before heading downstairs for cocktails. Also included in our stay they serve wine and cheese from 4-6pm each day. We thoroughly enjoyed this as they had someone playing the piano. Later, we had dinner at Pork & Prezli which was okay. Amy had chicken paprika with dumplings and Tom had duck in a cranberry sauce that was served over croquettes. Towards the end of our meal they had live music with a 5 person band including a cimbalom which looks like a piano that is played with cushioned drumsticks. The music was a bit chaotic sounding. We then returned to our hotel after taking a walk and checking out Bubbles where we’ll be doing our laundry tomorrow.

The next morning, Monday we got up a little later and again enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. We then walked about 25 minutes to the Central Market, which is a large indoor market. We did a lot of price comparisons on paprika and purchased quite a bit. We then walked along the Danube river and saw the Viking ship we’ll be boarding tomorrow! Viljelm is the name of the ship and it was positioned in between 2 other Viking ships. We sat at a bar and had a coke zero with ice while we rested and admired the Viking ships. It’s only about an 11 minute walk from our hotel, so we’ll walk to the ship tomorrow. We headed back to the hotel, grabbed our dirty laundry and headed to Bubbles, a laundromat that’s about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. It was rather busy and with a broken down dryer, we were a little bit delayed but we got it done in about 2 hours. We both showered and headed down for the cocktail hour. They have an assortment of cheeses, grapes, nuts with slices of sour dough toast to accompany the wine, yu-um! We then headed out to Reztek, a neighborhood Hungarian restaurant. Tom had the hortobagy starter again, which is sometimes translated as a “meat pancake” but honestly, that just doesn't give justice to that wonderful dish. Tom also had the chicken paprika and Amy meatballs. We noticed, this being our third dinner in Hungary that just before they bring the check, they bring us a shot of something. Tonight’s shot was “Palinka” which was 50% alcohol! It’s described as a fruit brandy. Amy was wanting to try some today at the market and buy some. Fortunately, we got a free tasting and realized that she’s just not a big strong alcohol drinker. We then headed back to the hotel to start packing for the next leg of our trip, a Viking river cruise along the Danube in a longship!