Budapest - Night And Day

Not satisfied with being bathed in history and romance and blessed with one of the world’s most beautiful riverside panoramas, Budapest is now cultivating a range of leading edge modern attractions to entice tourists young and old, energetic and below-par, day and night from East and West.

Right now, the city is laying on a special calendar of events for their ‘Budapest Winter Invasion (1 December to 31 March 2008) with 50 hotels offering free additional nights, and special car hire rates. The season’s being followed up with a ‘Spring Festival’ featuring classical and contemporary music, opera, operetta, musical, jazz and world music and art exhibitions .

Along with its array of museums, art galleries, churches, monuments, parks, concert venues, restaurants, bars, cafés and glorious Hapsburg era architecture, Budapest sprouts over 70 million litres of thermal water a day through 100 health-giving springs squeezed to the last drop by a string of clinics, spa hotels and private and public pools.

But what’s the point of all those cures if you haven’t qualified for them with some full-bodied self-indulgence? And Budapest can satisfy the hedonist’s every excess 24/7.


The Highlights
If you enjoy consuming supreme gateaux on marble tables, surrounded by lavish wood panelling, and rich brocade wall-coverings beneath huge and magnificent chandeliers, then the Gerbeaud café and its world-renowned Torta is the perfect starting point . Then off for a calorie-shedding jaunt through the following unmissable Budapest highlights: Statue Park featuring large stone versions of Lenin, Marx and other Soviet 'heroes' wrenched from Budapest streets after the fall of Communism. Stretching far further back in history a parade of gritty medieval statues glare down at you around Heroes’ Square.

The Museum of Applied Arts housing 17th century costumes, Italian Majolica and Augsburg Baroque goldsmith's artefacts. Yet more world class masterpieces are displayed at the Palace of Arts The chilling House of Terror museum commemorates the city’s dark 20th century suffering. More uplifting is St Stephen's Basilica - the city's largest church with a 96 metre high dome, fantastic walls and renowned artworks. The Hungarian Parliament on the Danube’s bank – is the biggest and most imposing of the country’s neo-Gothic buildings with ornate rooms, corridors and staircases. Keen walkers get to Castle Hill on the other side of the Danube by climbing the steps and winding paths for 147 metres. The faint-hearted go by bus or taxi, Peek behind the exquisite Matthias Church and you’ll see the Fishermen's Bastion from where you can gaze down at Pest and Buda. If the climb hasn't taken your breath away, the view probably will. The Castle District itself comprises three churches, six museums including the Budapest Historical Museum, a cluster of monuments and buildings, historic squares, intriguing galleries such as The National Gallery and the 203 roomed Buda Castle.


Hungry?
A burger for lunch? All right, you don’t come to Hungary for a Big Mac, but Macdonald's Restaurant by the Western Station must be one of the world’s most beautiful, with colossal chandeliers and large huge arched windows. A more refined choice would be Gundel in the City Park founded in 1894 and reconstructed a century later by Ronald S. Lauder, son of Estée and others who restored its fin de siècle atmosphere and revivified its Austro-Hungarian cuisine. During the evenings, 8-piece gypsy bands serenade, overlooked by19th and 20th Century Hungarian framed masterpieces. Eminent critic Egon Ronay called Gundel ‘Eastern Europe's Best Restaurant’Nearby is the charming Robinson Restaurant among whose specialities is crisp roast suckling pig with champagne-drenched cabbage and fresh fogas (fresh water fish) stuffed with spinach.


Stays
Seeking a top end hotel? There’s a dazzling selection of new and recent multi-starred lodgings ranging from the Four Seasons Gresham Palace, Boscolo New York Palace, Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal and not least the Kempinksi Hotel Corvinus a pebble's throw from the Danube with hi-tech amenities, soothing marble bathrooms in its 365 rooms and 29 suites some of which are furnished with Hungarian antiques and adorned with Herend Porcelain ornaments .With health and fitness front of mind how about the Danubius Thermal Hotel on the city’s Margaret’s Island (Margitsziget), the world’s first metropolitan spa hotel? This lushly comfortable establishment provides a range of treatments from thermal spring therapies, massage and mud packing to electrotherapy and diet consultations. Under the same vast roof is a complex of clinics offering cosmetic, dentistry, cellulite and collagen treatments, laser eye surgery, lymph drainage and many other health and beauty treatments.


Brightening smiles
You could also opt for one of Budapest’s many medium-standard hotel rooms for around €40-€50 a night, spend a small amount €8 for a decent local 3-course meal and spend the savings on your smile. Budapest has some of the world’s most advanced dental services. Scores of highly qualified practitioners and state-of-the-art equipment and techniques are attracting more and more tooth-tourists from all around the world. The high-tech Dental Travel Service clinic offers savings of up to 70% on many West European rates plus a range of free services including an initial consultation, panoramic x-ray, dental hygiene treatment and transfers from airport and hotel to clinic. This jewel in Budapest’s dental crown specialises in implants and metal-free cosmetic treatments. Their ‘Smile Rejuvenation in a week’ can create a set of natural looking permanent teeth within seven days for around €5100, which is proving particularly attractive to everyone from international diplomats and their families to ‘stag’ parties and pre-nuptial brides and grooms.


Night Life
With that newly-irresistible smile, it’s appropriate to take a bite out of Budapest’s pulsating night-life. Balazs Stumpf-Biro (a descendant of the inventor of the ballpoint pen) runs a jaw-dropping tour of Budapest’s glittering night-scene. But whether in an organised party or independently, you won’t go short of choice. Budapest covers all the bases. Gambling’s proliferating via over a dozen casinos, mostly located in the luxury hotels. Most insist on formal dress and all demand photo ID on the first visit.

Clubs usually open until around 3am and some until daybreak. The long-established Fat Mo's offers live jazz, dance floor, bar and restaurant. Piaf is popular with dancers too particularly with a bohemian inclination. The Old Man’s Music Pub is one of the city’s liveliest hotspots with live music from 2100 to 2300. More upmarket revellers can happily dive into any one of three of the city’s trendiest clubs: Dokk Beach, Buddha Beach and Bed Beach. Supposedly, offshore, the A38 Ship was converted from a Ukranian stone-carrying ship into a restaurant, roof terrace, lounge and club and employs big name DJs. For the uniquely Budapest atmosphere, try Szimpla Kert and Pótkulcs. And for a uniquely Hungarian drink try Pálinka served at the House of Hungarian Pálinka. For a classical night out, there are world-class performances at The State Opera House modelled on Vienna's and with equally world-class programmes.


The Morning After
A good work out in Budapest’s healing waters – placid or bubbling, hot or cold, muddy or mineralised - should help clear the head. For something steamy, try the 500 years old Rudas Bath where men and women bath on different days except Friday and Saturday nights when it is mixed and open till 4 in the morning.

The Gellért Spa Baths is probably the best known for a variety of cures. It’s often crowded, and no wonder. What other public baths do you know that is festooned with Art Nouveau décor, mosaics, marble statues and stained glass windows? Budapest insiders though will point you towards the more sophisticated Szechenyi Bath in the City Park.

For more information goto www.budapestweek.com or www.budapestsun.com.