The Background

Another birthday, another excuse to escape abroad! It always starts in December, maybe it’s the BA sale or maybe it’s planning for the year ahead, but it’s always in this month that I get itchy feet and want to book a holiday. Deciding where to go is normally based on random criteria, but this year it needed to be somewhere close, relatively cheap, quite chilled as Sara had a baby on board, but not boring and somewhere we hadn’t been before…

The selection process was narrowed down very quickly, with the use of two websites; the Easy Jet inspire me tool and Hotwire. We found flights at £75 and a secret 4* hotel at £55pn, so Budapest in Hungary was the place to go. After chatting to a few people who had been before, mainly for stag dos, it certainly seemed that the fun box would be ticked, and it didn’t take long to discover that Budapest is well known for its spas – perfect for our chilled box!

The Best Bits

Top 10 things to do in Budapest.

• Eat at Vintage Garden – we loved the light and bright restaurant which was filled with fresh flowers, and had a very cute vintage-esque decor. The food was really tasty and the Prosecco was a great price too (about £3 a glass) – although that’s standard for Budapest (see our next point).

• Drink Budapest Prosecco everywhere! By the river in the afternoon is the perfect place to while away the hours, and if you’re pregnant they do some great Mocktails at Aqva lounge, Marriott.

• Snack on Fanki Donuts, we tried a different flavour everyday! The coconut one was my fave. There is also an amazing ice-cream parlour opposite called Fragola.

• Treat yourself to a chocolate massage at Mandala day spa. This was a really luxurious day spa, where we spent quite a few hours relaxing, drinking teas and chilling out between our incredible treatments.

• Experience the baths at Gellert, for a true Hungarian experience. There are lots of different pools, saunas and steam rooms. If you fancy a massage be aware that these are much more rough and ready compared to the day spas.

• Party at a ruin bar  -we went to Szimpla Kert. This is where all the cool kids party. It’s quite grungy but really fun, so get involved.

• Sip cocktails at the Rumpus Tiki bar. We were sure to sample the bar’s most tropical cocktails on my birthday night. There are lots of other bars and restaurants in this area to check out too.

• Cultural outing – visit the beautiful Cathedral.

• Stay in Pest, that’s where the party is! We stayed at the Queen’s Court Hotel & Residence. It was perfectly situated, had a lovely room, cute courtyard and a pool. Win, win, win.

• Shop at Raindeer, for cute accessories. We didn’t have enough space on our EasyJet Baggage allowance but there is an array of amazing homeware shops – head to Király Utca to check these out.

Tips!

• In March it was much warmer than anticipated, pack some light clothes for the day
• Take flip flops, you need these for the baths, you can buy them there but if you have them you won’t need to rent them
• Most things are walkable, heels are great for the evening but take some comfy shoes for the day
• Locally produced wine, prosecco and beer is super cheap and tastes great so take advantage
• If you have a sweet tooth, this is not a diet destination there is too much temptation

Fred the Flamingo rating

Fun

Relaxing

Cultural

Value for Money