Cousins Trip to Europe - Budapest/Eger/Bratislava/Vienna [May 2024]

Decided to take a girls trip with my cousin E while R was on a trip with his dad. I had three ideas to choose from and she chose Budapest/Bratislava/Vienna. Once we selected the destination, I got to work building a spreadsheet, a map and reading my Rick Steves book.

We met at DFW and had one last taco meal before boarding the plane. I booked the flights on British Airways, but we flew on an American Airlines plane between DFW and London for both long-haul flights.

mask up to keep sickness at bay!

The flight was quite full. We learned that the plane we were on had smaller overhead compartments over the middle seats (3-4-3 economy configuration) compared to the window rows. We had to turn our bags sideways. For the trans-Atlantic flight there, we were on a window row that just had two seats.

They gave us a very heavy pour of wine. I guess they do that now rather than handing out the cute little bottles. I watched 3 movies to keep me entertained and to catch up on films I had wanted to see: Mean Girls 2, American Fiction, and The Holdovers. 

a very heavy pour

sleepy breakfast

We were in Terminal 3 at Heathrow and I had my smoothest transfer ever. Going back through security was quick! I know, at Heathrow?! We had breakfast and walked around until our gate was announced. After seeing tons of tiny bags at the gate, we decided to check the bags. I had a fear of getting on and our stuff not fitting. In the end we would have been fine. It was only us in our row to Budapest and we both crashed after not really sleeping on the long flight at all. 

Once we arrived in Budapest we obtained a new passport stamp and snagged our bags. Then we purchased a 72 hour transit ticket and caught the 200# bus towards town. Then we took the metro to reach the stop close to our hotel. We met a kind British man that gave us some tips in our sleepless stupor - remove the luggage bag tags and when at the stations, swing your purse/backpack in front to try to repel thefts.

Our hotel, Crowne Plaza, was basically part of a huge transportation station and mall. After dumping our bags in the room around 2p, we set out to explore until it was time for an early bedtime. First we walked to the Parliament building. It is gorgeous. From there we started a Rick Steves (book) walking tour. We paused in the 1956 revolution memorial. 

The bronze shoes along the Danube are a monument to Hungarian Jews that were shot and thrown into the Danube by members of the fascist Arrow Cross Party in 1944. 

It was time for an afternoon pick me up so we stopped in a Spar. This became a regular thing for us as it was cheap and quick. I grabbed a croissant, banana and a Coke. Once we finished, I attempted a handstand for old times sake at a monument with a water feature. My skills are rusty! Back in 2005, I did a handstand in Grand Central Station on the cousins + moms trip to NYC and I got in trouble by the staff. Apparently handstands were not allowed in such a busy place. 

handstand

We looked at the lovely exterior of the St. Stephen's Basilica. I forgot how many HUF it was to enter, but we decided not to at that time. 

We then walked to see the famous Chain Bridge over the Danube and walked along the river until we made it to Legenda's dock. We made it at the perfect time to purchase tickets and join the next ride (was departing in less than 10 mins). Note if you book in person and mention Rick Steves, you get a 10% discount!

The boat ride was fantastic, especially after such a long journey to just sit and soak in the sights. They had a little tour in several languages you could listen to along the way that would explain the views and some history. 

After the boat excursion, we meandered back to the hotel with a stop at Matula Bistro for goulash. Here it is pronounced GOO-LISH. Plus in Hungary it is traditionally more soup-like rather than a thick stew. 

E has celiac and we found her some cards that explain her food allergy in the local languages. Thankfully, many restaurants had menus that listed allergens. Pastries are HUGE in all the places we visited so breakfast was tricky. We would search for scrambled eggs on Google maps on the days we wanted more than just a croissant from Spar. 

On our first full morning, we started with the Andrássy út walk from Rick's book. The Opera House is gorgeous. You can take a tour and attend concerts here, but sadly we did not have time this trip to partake in anything but a brief stop inside.

We arrived at the House of Terror right around when it opened. Hot tip: arrive right at opening because it filled up as the morning went on. You are not allowed to take photos inside. We also had to leave our small backpacks at the coat check. Allow several hours to experience the museum and honor the memorial to fascist and communist regimes. I definitely recommend visiting, but know it is a hard space to experience - like visiting a concentration camp.

We continued the walking tour until it was time pause and go to a chimney cake cooking class! The instructor was wonderful and we had the best time. I highly recommend this tasty experience. You make 3 different ones so we had plenty for snacks later.

Next on the route was Dohány Street Synagogue. 

Tree of Life

Continuing on, we ended up in the park and had a bite to eat before entering Széchenyi Thermal Bath. I tried a local dish, lángos with cheese. Will be honest, not my fav as it was greasy and we apparently went to one of the less greasy places according to our cooking teacher. 

We loved the baths! After securing admission, we changed and put away our things in the locker room. Then we soaked in the lovely waters. We also bounced around several different pools and steam baths inside.  They have cold plunges as well, but that is a big nope from me. We brought our own towels, but you could rent them. I also brought a waterproof phone case. I believe it is adults only at this bath.

After soaking for a few hours we made our way back to the hotel to clean up and go have a rooftop drink then dinner. Our first place was a bust. We walked over and discovered they were closed! So we ended up at the Liz & Chain Rooftop Bar (Marriott) with some bubbly overlooking the Buda (hilly) side of the Danube as the sun set with dazzling colors.

Then it was time for more delicious goulash at Százéves Étterem, the oldest restaurant in Pest. They were so kind and made space for us (very busy place) and they had a live Hungarian band playing!

After a very full day, it was time to head back to the hotel and sleep.

The next day was an adventure to Eger about 2.5 hours away in the countryside via train. The train left from Budapest-Keleti and our hotel was right by Budapest-Nyugati pályaudvar. There is not a super direct way to get from one station to the other. We missed one train by a mere minute or so. For the next hour we found some breakfast and people watched. 

The countryside was lovely. The train station is about a 20 min (1.3km) walk to Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Apostle. From there we used Rick's book again for the Eger walk.

Church of Anthony of Padua

We paused for lunch at DEPRESSO KITCHEN Étterem and it was delicious and beautifully presented. After banishing our hanger, we walked up to Eger Castle. This place is known for repelling a Turkish attack in 1552. Kind of like the Hungarian version of Remember the Alamo.  Spoiler alert, they did come back later in 1596.

We realized later this is the best photo we got looking up towards the castle.

no scales on the wall please

view from the top

Next on the list was to check out Szépasszony-völgy Eger (Valley of the Beautiful Woman). I really want to learn how that name came about. Can you believe it is one of Hungary's top wine regions?! Imagine a small valley with an oval shaped road and along the outside are many many wine cellars built into the earth. Some have been spruced up and turned into wine tasting rooms. It was a 2.5km walk from the castle to the valley.

We walked around the road and stopped into three spots for a tasting. It was here we learned about Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood of Eger), a famous blend of red wine in Eger. Legend has it, the Hungarians were drinking this wine and it stained their beards as they fought. The Turks thought they got the strength from bulls blood. It is very tasty.

First tasting room

cellars

We passed more cellars on our way to the Turkish Bath. We learned these are slightly cheaper than the other thermal baths, but share an outside pool. Highly recommend stopping in for a soak if you have time. Note it is not as fancy as the one in Budapest. We then walked back to the train station and grabbed some food to go at Spar for dinner. Make sure to walk in the big park in Eger.

beautiful space

Eger train station

Our last full day in Budapest was just that, full! We walked around the grounds of the Hungarian Parliament Building waiting for our tour time. Highly suggest you book ahead of time.  We booked this weeks in advance because it was open only one day we were in Budapest. 

Travel tip: Make sure you take note of the hours of operation of things you want to do while traveling. That way if there are things on your must see list, you know ahead of time if they will be closed or have odd hours (ex. famous museums closing on Tuesdays, things not opening early or timing some things to do later in the day when other places might be closed).

the grand hall inside

one of the chambers

cigar holder

After the tour we headed over to the Buda side to see the view from the Buda Castle and follow the Rick Steves Castle Hill walk. There are several museums you can visit, but that will have to wait for another trip.

E looked at Fisherman's Bastion while I went inside The Church of Our Lady of Buda Castle (Matthias Church). Below is a statue honoring Sisi, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. She was very important to the Hungarians. I love the tiles on the roof. You could buy old ones for coasters in the church giftshop.

We then decided to hike to the Citadella. We knew it was closed at the top, but online reviews  mentioned the views were worth it. The bus wasn't running so we hiked.  There were so. many. steps.

almost there

loved the views!

On the way back down to catch a bus, there was a pretty man-made waterfall. If we had more time, I would like to visit another bath. Again, just another reason to come back! I learned about a gorgeous Art Nouveau design at the Párisi Udvar Hotel so we stopped there on our way to the massive Central Market Hall. Wow. So many shops with food, spices, souvenirs and more.

I think it was this night we found a Thai massage place around the corner from the hotel and got a very "kneaded" massage. It was only about $35 for an hour! It was time to wrap up our time in Budapest. We dropped by the train station to book our journey for the next day. Grabbed a bite to eat at the hotel and packed before heading to bed.

Part two of the trip has us traveling to Vienna, Austria, with a stop in Bratislava, Slovakia for a few hours. Our train left a little after 9a and I think took about 2.5 hours. Looking back, I would have just purchased a single bus ride rather than a pass. We only needed one ride the whole day from the north train station to where we stored our bags with the Bounce app. 

One of the things on my Bratislava list was the blue church. It is a bit outside the main old town area.

Church of St. Elizabeth

Michael's Gate

Found some lunch and then did the headed out on yet another Rick Steves walking tour to learn about this lovely town. Here we found an artist that we kept thinking about after we returned home.  Ended up ordering some prints after we got home!

Along our walk we found some tasty gelato on our way to St. Martin's Cathedral. Next on the route was the Bratislava Castle with a beautiful view of the city and the Danube. The castle houses another museum I will have to visit another day.

Parliament building - note news vehicle

UFO bridge

Next up we wanted to grab a drink at the top of the SNP bridge (aka UFO Bridge). After we walked all the way over there, we discovered the bar was closed. We did not want to pay over $20 each to go up in the observation tower so we walked back to our bags and made the happy discovery that a massage place was down the hall. Thirty mins later our legs were refreshed and we hauled our bags to the bus stop under the SNP bridge. 

The Danube

Both in Bratislava and Vienna, there were several times we looked up directions on Google Maps for public transportation only to discover it has to be traversed on foot. This was why a bus pass in Bratislava was not a wise purchase for our daytrip.

We took a Flix bus from Bratislava to Vienna. While we waited for the bus, we learned we were in the Slovakian capital the day an assassination attempt was made on their Prime Minister in another town. We then recalled seeing a news vehicle near the Parliament house when we were up at the castle. Thankful he survived.

The ride to Vienna was only about an hour and then we had a little adventure getting to the hotel. The metro machines would not take our Chase cards! Thankfully I had brought some cash so we were able to get a multiday transportation pass.

After dropping our things at the hotel, we found a tasty dinner at Chilai. 

Our first full day in Vienna, we completed three of Rick Steves walking tours: Ringstrasse Tram Tour, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna City Walk.

neat flowers in the garden

on a tram

City Hall

Hofburg Palace

Other places I will have to come back for are the Albertina museum and Schmetterlinghaus (butterfly house), and more!

The ring tour helps get your bearings in the old town. We spent probably over an hour watching candy get made Zuckerlwerkstatt. They happened to be pouring molten sugar out to start making smiley faces as we walked in. Very glad we watched and of course we purchased candy to take home.

start of the smiley face

St. Stephen's Cathedral was lovely and we were able to catch the free organ concert at St. Peter's. I believe is it around 3p most days. 

St. Stephen's

St. Peter's

concert

On the way back to the hotel we grabbed some sausage from a tram station that turned out to be pretty good. I was then on the hunt for an apple strudel. We found one at a coffee shop that was just meh.

Payment note: Everywhere in Hungary took card that I recall.  Several places in Vienna were cash only like a church, my strudel, or had a minimum amount, and then our issue with the metro machine. 

On our second full day, we spent about 3 hours at the Kunsthistorisches Museum where we saw amazing treasures and artworks. A highlight for me was a Holbein!

Jane Seymour - Holbein

calculator!

After more sausages we toured the Treasury and Royal Apartments.

cradle for Napoleon's kid

unicorn horn (aka narwhale tusk)

Sisi's dress

Caught an organ practice at Augustinerkirche church - a church built in 1300s for the imperial court.

walking by the Lipizzaner stables

Returned to hotel and got all fancy for our concert at Annakirche.  But first we grabbed dinner at a pasta bar. 

For our final full day, we visited the Karlskirche (cash only) to look at the neat dome.

Then we had an adventure getting out to Schönbrunn Palace. The metro was confusing even the locals. Since we do not know German, we had no idea what was being said over the loudspeaker. Thankfully we met a very nice gentleman that helped us figure out what was going on. Turns out he was on his way to work as an opera singer! He was very curious that we picked Vienna as a vacation spot.

The palace is a must see. One of the tickets we purchased also included entrance here. While it was skip the ticket line, you still had to go through security and such. Once we finished inside, we headed to the massive gardens. Part of the ticket was also for the maze. We also walked up the large hill for the views. There I had my delicious pretzel corner. 

beautiful hall

loved walking around the gardens

maze area

pretzel corners are my new fav pastries

walking back towards palace

After returning to the hotel, we realized we forgot to stop in Belvedere Palace which our hotel backed up to. We only toured the grounds since we were pretty exhausted. 

the grackle was upset with this mower

We ate at Salm Bräu on our way back to the hotel to pack up and go to bed.

The following morning we took an OBB train to the airport. Note that the local transportation ticket is separate from OBB.  You can get a big fine if you do not get one.

Layover at Heathrow was easy again. Turns out some London friends were in one of the other terminals at the same time, but we were not allowed to change terminals to see them.

Made it back to Dallas and I spent the night at my brother's house. I had the best time with my cousin and I am so glad she came with me on a King family style trip :)

thankful for my cousin!