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Friday
5 p.m.
1) GET YOUR KICKS
Buda has steep hills, while Pest’s long boulevards are seemingly
without end. Get ready for legwork with new sneakers from
Tisza Cipo
(Karoly korut 1; 36-1-266-3055;
tiszacipo.hu),
the flagship store of a once-reviled Communist-era brand that
was revived as a modern line of streetwear in 2003. Though the
flashy colors, plush material and quality construction of
today’s Klasszik model (19,900 forints, or about $105, at 190
forints to $1) are unlike just about anything from the former
regime, no one will ever confuse the distinctively Eastern Bloc
retro vibe for a pair of Nikes. Your favorite souvenirs? You’re
wearing them.
7:30 p.m.
2) WINE KITCHEN
Home to the oldest classified wine regions in Europe,
Hungary
is also a fount of excellent Old World cooking. The two combine
splendidly at the seven-month-old
Borkonyha
(Sas utca 3; 36-1-266-0835;
borkonyha.hu),
or “wine kitchen,” an airy, modern bistro with a list of about
200 outstanding domestic bottles, many of which are available by
the glass. Homegrown fare like trout from the northern Hungarian
village of Szilvasvarad or braised Mangalica hog cheeks with
roasted carrots (2,350 forints) pair gloriously with unusual
local varietals like Zoltan Gunzer’s 2009 kadarka (980 forints
per glass), an elegant, dry red whose rich blackcurrant and
blackberry notes compare with those of a great zinfandel.
10 p.m.
3) GARDEN BAR
In warm weather, vacant lots around the city are transformed
into kert (“garden”) bars: grungy outdoor dives occupying a
middle ground between beer gardens and anarchist squats,
generally with a downmarket vibe. But one of the newest
manifestations of the trend,
Otkert
(Zrinyi utca 4; 36-30-413-1173;
otkert.blogspot.com), takes the idea upscale,
creating what the English-language news and culture blog
pestiside.hu
called the “first posh kert” when it opened last summer. Find a
quiet corner nook to chill out over a shot of pear or apricot
palinka (880 to 950 forints), the local take on schnapps, then
join the crowd of beautiful people for a spin on the open-air
dance floor.
Saturday
11 a.m.
4) YOUR STYLE
First, check the Our Style online store,
ourstyle.hu,
in case one of its fashion pop-up shops is operating somewhere
in the city. If nothing’s listed, head down to the area between
the Dohany Street Synagogue, the
Hungarian
National Museum and the Danube, where numerous small
boutiques like Black Box (Iranyi utca 18; 36-30-41-48-979;
blackboxconceptstore.tumblr.com) offer everything
from club wear to haute couture confections, all by local
designers, often at very affordable prices. At the nearby
Eclectick (Iranyi utca 20; 36-1-266-3341;
eclectick.hu),
colorful linen summer dresses, printed with
bird
motifs, cost 21,900 forints.
1 p.m.
5) ROCK HOSPITAL
Summers here can really cook. When the mercury rises, seek
shelter at the oddball
Sziklakorhaz
(Lovas ut 4/c; 36-70-7-01-01-01;
sziklakorhaz.hu), a former secret hospital and
nuclear bunker, hidden deep inside the mountain under Buda
Castle, that opened to the public as an unusual cold-war museum
in mid-2007. No matter how hot it might be outside, remember to
bring an extra layer, as the underground temperatures are always
under 64 Fahrenheit. Hourlong tours in both Hungarian and
English leave every hour on the hour, after which you can buy a
Marka soda (250 forints) and such bunker-worthy tchotchkes as
Communist-era military helmets and gas masks (1,000 forints).
3 p.m.
6) OFF THE LISZT
Expect to hear a lot about the local hero Franz Liszt — a k a
Liszt Ferenc — this year. An up-to-date Web site (liszt-2011.hu)
details the exhibitions, concerts and other events around town
in honor of the bicentennial of the composer’s birth, including
a “wine of the Liszt year” and even a Liszt-themed locomotive.
On a smaller scale, the Liszt Museum (Vorosmarty utca 35;
36-1-322-9804;
lisztmuseum.hu) has a single-room exhibition on the
composer’s relationship to his city, running through March of
next year, while permanent exhibitions recreate Liszt’s final
Budapest apartment with tons of his personal belongings,
instruments and furniture, including an original writing desk
with its own three-octave piano keyboard.
7:30 p.m.
7) OVER THE TOP
Budapesters groaned when
Prague
became the first post-Communist capital with a Michelin-starred
restaurant in 2008. But the Hungarians pulled ahead this March,
with the four-year-old
Onyx
(Vorosmarty ter 7-8; 36-20-386-9157;
onyxrestaurant.hu) earning their city’s second French
asterisk, after the stylish Costes, on Raday Utca. Jaded diners
might find the gold-on-black walls, heavy armchairs and
oh-so-formal table service somewhat over the top, but dishes
like goose liver torte with strawberry jelly and kolache (4,000
forints) and confit of beef shoulder with creamy carrot purée
(7,000 forints) come across as remarkably accomplished,
effortlessly bridging the traditional flavors of the country
with contemporary international culinary techniques. For cheap
dates, the lunch menu, served Tuesday through Saturday until 2
p.m., features much of the same excellent cooking at much lower
rates, with three-course menus for 3,990 forints.
9:30 p.m.
8) ANCHORS AWEIGH
For years, the biggest exports from Hungary’s contemporary
music
scene have been D.J.’s and electronica acts like Yonderboi and
Neo, but the country’s indie rockers are starting to make
themselves heard. Just steps from bustling Deak Ferenc square in
Pest, the spacious, year-old Anker Klub (Anker koz 1-3;
36-70-505-5480;
facebook.com/ankerklub) hosts intimate concerts from
new-folksters like Kistehen Tanczenekar, a k a Little Cow, and
charmingly atmospheric singer-songwriters like Norbert Kristof.
11:30 p.m.
9) UP ALL NIGHT
Some of the best new bright spots here echo the glories of the
city’s interwar period. A legendary fashion center when it first
appeared in 1926, the giant Corvin department store is now
better known as
Corvinteto
(Blaha Lujza ter 1-2, enter from Somogyi Bela utca;
36-20-77-22-984;
corvinteto.hu), a club and after-hours lounge that
has taken over the building’s top levels. Inside, concerts of
dub, drum ’n’ bass and electroclash run year-round, but if it’s
going to be a really late night, the enormous rooftop bar — open
only from spring to autumn — might just be the best spot to
watch a sunrise over the city skyline.
Sunday
Noon
10) TASTE TO GO
On Sundays, trendy locals and expats meet at the second Pest
branch of
Culinaris
(Balassi Balint utca 7; 36-1-373-0028;
culinaris.hu),
a lunch counter with a separate specialty-foods shop that opened
near the neo-Gothic parliament building in 2008. First, grab a
loosely wrapped burrito (1,590 forints) or Cobb salad (1,490
forints) at the cool and bright counter. Then head around the
corner to the shop with a collection of cheeses, cookies,
crackers, pastas, wines and beers so extensive it could be a
costly mistake to gawk on an empty stomach. Before you leave,
think of a typical airport meal. Then order a to-go
ham-and-cheese, custom-built on a fluffy, house-made black-olive
loaf (1,790 forints), for a final taste that will stay with you
at least as far as the departure gate.
IF YOU GO
Design hotels can sometimes feel insubstantial. Not so the
Palazzo Zichy (Lorinc pap ter 2; 36-1-235-4000;
hotel-palazzo-zichy.hu), a stylish, chic 80-room
establishment that opened in 2009 in a restored 19th-century
mansion, whose thick walls lend a sense of solidity. The mix of
original, neo-Baroque stairwells and modern minimalist décor
probably shouldn’t work, but it does. Prices vary based on
occupancy, though high-season doubles generally start at about
80 euros (about $112).
Closer to the action in Pest, just off touristy Vaci utca, is
the new La Prima (Pesti Barnabas utca 6; 36-1-799-0088;
laprimahotelbudapest.hu), a self-styled “fashion
hotel” that opened this spring. A Web search for mid-August
found double rooms with breakfast at 95 euros.
A version of this article appeared in print on July 31, 2011, on
page TR4 of the New York edition with the headline: Budapest.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/travel/36-hours-in-budapest.html?scp=1&sq=budapest&st=cse
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