When Barb and I travel we usually take a couple of tours but leave some days for us to explore the area on our own. However our stay in Budapest was limited to 5 days so we opted for less time to explore and for more time filled with tours.
The history of Budapest can be viewed on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest) Briefly, Budapest today is a city divided by the Danube River. Buda, is the older and quieter city with Pest be the more modern with nightclubs and higher end shops. Buda was once the place of residence for the Hungarian Kings who chose this side of the Danube for strategic reasons. The Castle Hill in Buda is the 1-km long plateau that contains the city’s most important medieval monuments: the Buda Castle, the Fisherman’s Bastion, and Matthias Church. A world Heritage site, the area is a lovely pedestrian zone small enough to be discovered by foot, with houses dating back to the 14th century, cobblestone streets, souvenir shops, cafés, and restaurants. In Buda you get that real feel of old, medieval streets and can easily imagine yourself riding in a carriage. From the Buda side you get excellent view s of the Parliament that is especially beautiful at night.
We stayed on the Buda side at the Novatel. We were disappointed that for the first time in our travels a continental breakfast was not included in the room price. For an addition $20.00 per person we could eat in the hotel. We ate breakfast there once and were very disappointed to say the least. The best part of our hotel was the view of the Parliament and closeness to Castle Hill.
We did enjoy a little restaurant about 2 blocks from the hotel that specialized in Hungarian savory palacsinta that are pancakes like French crepes, Polish naleśniki or Serbian/Croatian palacinke. With hundreds of choices I settled on the cinnamon pancake which cost around $1.00 and was delicious. Most morning this was our breakfast with a coffee Americano.
Buda Castle Walking Tour with an Entrance Ticket to Matthias Church
Budapest Late Night Dinner Cruise on the Danube
Danube Bend Tour from Budapest
Walking around Buda near our hotel