Biking in Budapest

Last Updated: September 25, 2020

I arrived in Budapest yesterday afternoon and crashed at my hostel. Although I usually try to get out and do something to fight the jet lag, I just wasn’t up for it. The hostel, Budapest Bubble, I’m staying at is really small and personable. After grabbing some coffee at the hostel, I headed up to the Deak Square for a city bike tour. I had a little extra time so I grabbed a yogurt, banana, and water at the supermarket. Budapest is slightly cheaper than I thought it would be. :)  The bike tour ended up being a lot of fun. Highly recommended. We peddled all the way down Pest’s “Champs-Elysees” to Hero’s Square and City Park, stopping along the way to look at notable buildings like the House of Terror, Opera House etc. Then we rode back up past the Opera House to St Peter’s Basilica and the Parliament House, crossed the Chain Bridge over to Buda, before starting the quad workout of climbing Castle Hill. It was such a steep climb, almost like taking 4 spin classes back to back!

After circling around the hill we zoomed down the west side of the hill and back over the bridge. I was starving after biking for 4 hours, so I tried find a felafel’s place from the Lonely Planet book, poor choice when I was hungry, as it’s closed for the month of August! So I ended up walking back to Deak Square and going to a vegetarian cafeteria style restaurant. The food wasn’t fantastic, but it was a fun opportunity to point and choose traditional Hungarian food without worrying about there being meat in the dishes. After lunch/dinner, I walked back to the hostel and chilled for the rest of the evening. Olga, the Hungarian girl who runs the hostel knew a jazz band that was playing so the entire hostel (only 2 rooms) went on a group outing to check out Budapest nightlife. It was really fun getting to find some local places and see Hungarians instead of just other backpackers. Budapest is such a neat city! And amazingly walkable.