Central Budapest

General Facts

• Country » Hungary
• Population » 1,696,128 (2007)
• Time Zone » Central Europen Time (CET), which is GMT/UTC+2 (Summer) and GMT/UTC+1 (Winter)
• International dialling code » +36
• Budapest area code » 1
• Long distance calls within the country » 06
• Climate » Continental temperature, average -1 C in the coldest month (January), 21.3 in the warmest (August).
• Area » 525.16 km²
• Currency » Hungarian Forints (Ft), listed as HUF on currency exchanges.
• Weights and Measures » Metric (cm and litres), European sizes for clothes and shoes. Weather in centigrade.
• Electricity in Hungary » 220 Volts. Bring European (continental) plugs.
• Visas » EU citizens can stay in Hungary as long as they like. US and Canadian citizens for up to 90 days. Citizens of other countries generally need a visa.

Lifestyle

• Cafes/Bars » Budapest has a continental style cafe/bar culture, where many exist somewhere between cafes and nightclubs, depending on the time of day.
• Restaurants » You can get pretty much everything now Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Russian or even Hungarian.
• Shopping District » There's a healthy consumer culture and a lot of the big, designer names have descended on Budapest over the last few years. Andrássy snd Váci are the main shopping streets for foreigners.
• Geography » Hungary is slightly larger in area (93,036 km²) than all of Ireland. North to south, the greatest distance is 268km; east to west, it's 528km. The landscape consists mostly of plains in the east, low hills to the west, and small mountains to the north. Hungary's two main rivers are the Danube and the Tisza. There are natural thermal springs across the country.

Central Budapest Tourist Site Seeing Map

• Emergency number (police / fire / ambulance) » 112
• Ambulance » 104
• Police » 107
• Fire service » 105
• Inland enquiries » 198
• International enquiries » 199
• Auto club help number » 188
• 24 hour medical service » +36.1.318.8212
• Airport Information » +36.1.296.7155
• Bus Station » +36.1.252.1896
• Train station » +36.1.461.5400
• Taxis » +36.1.211.1111
• British Consulate » +36.1.266.2888
• American Embassy » +36.1.267.4400
• Canadian Embassy » +36.1.275.1200
• Tourist Office » +36.1.488.8700

Public Holidays

• 1st January » New Year's Day
• 15th March » Anniversary of 1848-49 Revolution
• Easter Monday
• 1st May » Labour Day
• Whitsuntide Monday
• 20th August » St Stephen's and Constitution Day
• 23rd October » Anniversary of 1956 Revolution
• 1st November » All Saints' Day
• 25th-26th December » Christmas

Accomodation

• Accommodation in Hungary in English » www.hotelstravel.com
• Apartments in Budapest » www.dunaflat.com

Travel

• Budapest Airport Flights » www.bud.hu
• Airport transfer, Hotel room booking, Wellness » www.flyandbus.com
• Complete travel services in Budapest and Hungary » www.1bigeurope.com

What's On

• Offical Tourist Information Guide, available in 6 languages online and a further 11 languages in print (pdf) BudapestInfo.hu.
• Events and what's on guide, fortnightly. Also available in print around town » www.budapestfunzine.hu
• Official Hungarian tourist web page in English » www.hungarytourism.hu
• Budapest Cityguide » www.budapestby.com
• Vendégváró in English » vendegvaro

Money and Finance

• Exchange rates » Exchange rates
• Best source (in English) for Market News » Portfolio.hu
• Realdeal.hu is fairly new and as yet not very helpful, but this might change » Realdeal.hu
• Another source for Market News, but you have to pay for some content » Budapest Business Journal

Food and Drink

• Dining directory » Caboodle.hu
• Top 33 Restaurants » Chew.hu
• Local guide » Budapest Sun restaurant guide

Weather

• Local Weather » Budapest Weather
• Yahoo Weather » Budapest

News Sources

• Budapest Business Journal Generally OK, but far behind the Hungarian press.
• Budapest Sun Parochial, small town news that doesn't report anything that might hit its ad revenue. Boring and predictable, but the pack leader (go figure!).
• Budapest Times Generally OK, but lacks muscle and a bit lost amongst competitors.
• Caboodle News is pretty good for an english language site. Lacks energy, though.
• MTI English For a state run operation the news is pretty diverse. Read it here before the rest of the pack regurgitate it pretty much word for word.
• Portfolio Patchy and unpredictable (in a bad way). Could be good with a better editor.

News Feeds

• Budapest Blogs via Google
• Budapest News via Google
• Budapest News via Yahoo!
• Budapest Weather

Other Sources

• Budapest Funzine An list of events and what's on type of stuff. Basically a platform to sell advertising space.
• Budapest Index Essentially useless.
• Search4.hu Just useless and ugly.
• XpatLoop.com Limping along, occasionally makes an effort when forced to, but generally not worth checking in on.

If you're paying a brief visit then knowing just a few words and phrases will help you get by.

If you learn nothing else, just learn the words for 'good day' and 'goodbye'. When you enter a shop, meet someone, enter/leave a carriage on a train... just say these two phrases and you will create a great impression.

Words and Phrases

• Good day (or afternoon) Jó napot (kívánok): Yo NOP-ote (KEE-van-oke)
• Goodbye (See you later) Viszontlátásra: VEE-son-laat-aash-ro
• Yes Igen: EE-gen
• No Nem: nem
• Please Kérem: KAY-rem
• Thankyou Koszonom: KUR-sur-nurm
• Excuse me! Elnézést!: EL-nay-zayshd
• Sorry! Sajnálom!: SHOY-naa-lom
• Hello/Hi! Szia!: SEE-ya
• How are you? Hogy vagy?: HODJ vadj
• I'm well/good Jól vagyok: YOL vadj-ak
• I like it! Tetszik nekem: TET-seek NE-kem
• Less kevesebbet: KEV-esh-eb-bet
• More tobbet: TURB-bet
• That one Azt: OZD
• This one Ezt: EZD
• That's it! Ez az: EZ oz
• Can you help me? Segíthet?: SHEG-eet-het
• Can I help you? Segíthetek?: SHEG-eet-het-tek
• How much is it? Mennyibe kérul: MEN-yi-be KAY-rool
• I don't understand Nem értem: NEM AYR-tem
• Pardon? Tessék: TESH-ayk
• Could you repeat that? Még egyszer?: MAYG EDJ-sayr
• Once more/Same again Még egyszer: MAYG EDJ-sayr
• I'm English/American Angol/Amerikai vagyok: ON-gol/AM-er-ik-o-i VODJ-ok
• Cheers/To your health! Egészségére: EG-aysh-ayg-ay-re
• Bon appetit! Jó étvágyot!: YO AYT-vadj-ot
• I'd like to pay Fizethetek: FEE-zet-het-ek
• Here you are (when giving something to someone) Tessék: TESH-ayk
• Beautiful! Szép!: SAYP

Other useful links and guides to the Hungarian Language

• English-hungarian Dictionary
• Single Serving of Hungarian

These are pretty much all in Hungarian, apart from Budapest Zeitung (which is German, if you are really that slow).

• 168 óra (hu)
• Budapester Zeitung (de)
• Business Hungary (en)
• FigyelõNet (hu)
• Hungarian National Press Agency (en)
• HVG (hu)
• Index (hu)
• Magyar Hírlap (hu)
• Magyar Narancs (hu)
• Magyar Nemzet (hu)
• Metro (hu)
• Napi Gazdaság (hu)
• Napi Magyarország (hu)
• Népszabadság (hu)
• Népszava (hu)
• Reuters Magyarország (hu)
• The Hungarian Quarterly (en)
• Világgazdaság (hu)
• Budapest Portál (hu)
• Budapest.com (hu)

There's a wide variety of blogs out there, some inane, some insane. Obviously I don't agree with all the stuff they choose to write about, or their opinions, but maybe you will.

For a more complete overview of the blogosphere check out the Central Budapest Newsfeeds

• Budacast podcast Good quality podcasts.
• Chew Food related features.
• Contemporary Nomad A group of peripatetic writers, writing about writing.
• Csíkszereda Musings From Hungarian-speaking Transylvania.
• Hungary Economy Watch Lots of stats and data, with the occasional crystal ball gazing. Written by Edward 'the bonobo', a Catalan economist of British extraction based in Barcelona.
• Hungarian Spectrum written by Eva S. Balogh, from New Haven, CT, USA former lecturer at Yale University. Mainly politics and social economics.
• Pestiside.hu Cheap, nasty gossip. These days it's a communal effort. Pretty much essential reading.
• *frappáns klisé cím itt Written under the nom-de-plume Varangy, meaning 'Toad'. Argumentative, in its full meaning.