3.18/5
1,925 reviews
Photo by Kate Kasiutich via Unsplash

Budapest

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great

beautiful

hungarians

cold

stayed

good

architecture

options

stay

food

locals

amazing

experience

side

buda

hot

english

friendly

Budapest is a scenic and energetic city with a lot to offer for visitors and temporary residents. The city is highly walkable and served by reliable public transportation, making it easy to navigate. There's plenty to do, from exploring historic landmarks and vibrant nightlife areas to enjoying thermal baths and concerts. The Danube river and city parks add great outdoor value. Food is a major highlight—with a wide selection of international options, particularly Middle Eastern and Asian cuisine, and good affordability depending on area and venue. Internet is fast and connectivity is generally strong for digital nomads.

Experience depends heavily on the time of year. Summers can be uncomfortably hot while winters are very cold; spring and autumn are much more pleasant. Though the city is beautiful, cleanliness varies widely between districts. Some areas are well-maintained, while others may feel neglected. Tourists should also be cautious of scams and overpriced rentals.

Locals tend to come off cold or blunt, and many commenters experienced unfriendliness in service settings. While some found Hungarians warm once engaged, perceptions of unwelcoming behavior came up frequently. The nomad and queer communities are limited but growing. Overall, Budapest is a city worth visiting or living in temporarily, especially with the right timing and expectations.

AI-generated summary of reviews

Budapest is a beautiful vibrant city, with lots to do and see. Some things to know:
1) Pest is the busier side of town so if you like a quieter atmosphere, stay in Buda our outside the city center.
2) The city is gorgeous and very walkable if you plan to stay in-town, recommend public transit.
3) As with any city, there are tourist scams. Use exchanges, avoid obvious shady spots and know the value of HUF.
4) Hungarians are kind-hearted, hard-working people. As mentioned, they will blossom if you learn a few words.
5) Hungary is more traditional and conservative than other countries (ie. W EU), so are its people.
6) The city experiences all four seasons -- hot summers and snowy cold winters.

5 months ago

terrible place, I stayed for one month. supermarkets empty, rent overpriced, tourist traps everywhere, dirty.

7 months ago

This is honestly a great place to be!

Some reviews say the people can be a bit cold, do however think they are mostly direct and sometimes very bad at English which makes them seem uninterested.

7 months ago

Budapest was on my list about cities for living. I stayed for 7 days and was a little disappointed
People are not very friendly, lots os places very dirty, people smoke a lot and the costs isn't affordable as people indicated here.

Its a beautiful place, walkable, people have a good level of education, lots of things to do, but not as i imagined.

Even so its a nice place.

1 year ago

This was my first Slomad destination in September 2022. I stayed for 3 months and I would definitely go back.
Pros:
- Quality of life/Cost of living
- Super safe (solo female traveler)
- Gorgeous city, great architecture, Danube river, castle, Parliament, stunning parks
- Walkable
- Excellent public transportation: Bolt, bikes, train, airport relatively close
- Fast internet
- Fun nightlife
- Diverse food options that are good
- Thermal baths
- Classical music shows around town
- Easy to road trip to Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Austria
- Loved the cocktail bars

Cons:
- Locals can sometimes be cold but for the most part, they were friendly
- Queer community is tiny
- It was probably me but I didn't find much going on with the nomad community.

Fave Places: City Park, Castle Hill, Margaret Island, Thermal baths

Fave Restaurants: Meshuga, Mazel Tov, Lumen, Retek Bisztro, HILDA, Istanbul Kebab & Grill (Late night), Indigo Express (Indian), Central Grand Cafe, Buddha Original Thai, Kadarka

Fave Coffee Shop: Espresso Embassy, Goat Herder, 9Bar, Kern Collective

Fave Bars: TwentySix Budapest, Boutiq Bar, Marlou, Tuk Tuk, Jardin, Mitico, Hotsy Totsy, Warmup, Blutorgange, SEVEN Cocktail Bar, Black Swan

1 year ago

Stayed for 2 weeks after almost a year n a half in LatAm. Beautiful city; great food options- especially for Asian food lovers. Plenty of authentic Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese options for about 50% of what you would pay in a Western city. Decent hostels will cost $11-$15 weekdays and between $18-$30 on weekends.... Good internet; beautiful architecture and people but it is true Hungarians can be very cold at times. Overall a good stay with many destinations just a quick and cheap flight/train ride away (Bratislava/Belgrade/Vienna,Bucharest/Sofia/Prague and several Polish cities .

3 years ago

I stayed here for 4 months. Very beautiful city, vibrant, lots of things to do and moving around is so easy compared to other "big" capitals. 100% agree with other comments about Hungarians: very stern, unfriendly people. The hospitality workers in restaurants, bars & clubs are mostly horrendous. It's like they don't want to serve you, and it's you who has to make the effort or should be grateful to be eating there. It makes zero sense, I've never seen that in any other place in the world. Bouncers in clubs are super dangerous, be extra careful. Avoid the summer - it's super warm and there's nowhere to hide. I stayed in the Buda side and would recommend it: it's more local, chilled. The locals have a saying, "Live in Buda, party in Pest". I couldn't agree more. Pest is noisy, crowded, very urban. There's a decent DN community, also a good international vibe (lots of expats & students). Coworking spaces are not that great. Overall loved it, had an amazing time.

4 years ago

Cool city with lots of fun places to go out, very nice restaurants and quite an international environment. I went there twice already and in winter it's horribly cold, while in summer it's super hot. Definitely recommend going there in Spring/Autumn. The castle is nice and Danube riverside is great too, you'll get lots of things to do. Can recommend Nomad Traveller's Bar and there daily pubcrawl! Also, to all fellow vegans, the food scene is great. Lot's of places order vegan options and if you like Falafel check out Tahina Bite, Hummus Bar (best hummus outside Israel) and Falafel Bar in the Jewish Quarter.

Pros:
- great nightlife
- cheap eats
- lots of vegan options
- amazing middle-eastern cuisine
- couple of attractions

Cons:
- Hungarians are quite close-minded about foreign people
- can be quite dirty in certain areas
- could have more coworking spots

4 years ago

I stayed here for a month in July last year. There's lots of cool aspects to the city but I hated it when I was there. The city has a problem with British stag parties, so if you look like you're a British male and speak English expect to be treated with disdain (it's fair enough)
The Hungarians can just generally be unfriendly, especially bartenders. It's a weird experience waiting to be served while 3 people ignore you.
Or buying the same drink and getting charged whatever they want (700-1500huf).
Pro tip would be to learn a little Hungarian to order, they swoon over that (450huf for your drink)

The city is loud. You want to choose where you stay carefully. I was on a side street in the embassy district and it was quiet but I stayed a night in a hostel when I arrived and didn't sleep because at 4am there was a constant stream of sirens and noise.
Supermarkets aren't 'cheap' but eating out ranges from affordable to great value.
In summer it's hot. Like 36 degrees muggy polluted hot. Most places don't have aircon.

Saying all that, I would like to give it another shot. I would probably stay on the Buda side and commute when I needed. The people on the Buda side are a bit nicer and in general it's more tranquil.

5 years ago

I visited Budapest for a week and fell in love with it. Simply an amazing and beautiful big city complete with all the entertainment options (including walkability, stunning architecture and peaceful city parks).

I decided to come back for 1.5 months to see if I wanted to make it a first or second home base. By the end of that time I was anxious to get back to Bangkok.

All of the pluses were still great. However, there were two big downsides :

1. The people in stores especially the middle aged women who looked like they were on the brink of committing suicide and the only thing that kept them going was the thought of making your shopping experience as miserable as possible. That said, I did find millenials who have grown up post the fall of the soviet union to often be very friendly and helpful. Maybe if I wasn't staying in the central area, which is a heavily tourist zone, I would have enjoyed the locals more.

2. AirBnB and foreigners have driven many Hungarians out of the central area. I like living in an area that is mainly locals but has a minority of foreigners to spice things up somewhat. Otherwise, I feel I am living in an anywhereville. Some day I may go back and see if I can find a place a little farther out and check out that experience.

5 years ago

I agree with the latest reviewer, BP is the Bangkok of Europe , especially in the summer when the temperature is between 35-40 C . Vasts of digitalnomader hubs& meetups and its very easy to build new relationships. It's dynamically getting more and more expensive because of the influx of the wealthy chinese hungarians. Also, many shared service centres come here from Western Europe.( That's why you can find a huge percentage of tech- minded young people here.). $1,500 is the lower entry to maintain a decent living here, I would rather say 2500. As a foreigner you have to pay at least $700- 800 per month for a one bedroom apartment. Do not be deluded by the local salaries which are relatively low because the government subsidizes the costs of housing for the native hungarians, and all the health services are free for them ( for these, as a foreigner you have to pay a lot)

5 years ago

My girlfriend an I were here for 40 days for christmas, today we are leaving and our strongest sensation is that Budapest is so overrated.

The main idea I arrived here with was that this was the cheapest capital in Europe. Not at all from our experience. For example we were coming from Edinburgh and there we spent less than here in groceries. Museums and attractions in general are not cheap. AirBNB is cheap here, mucho more than Scotland for example.

Many people that work in bars, shops, etc here is almost offensive.

Pros: Architecture, Metro 1 line, snow in winter, Danube :)

Maybe because it was winter or because we are around 40s and we are not into parties, but IMHO there are so much better capitals in Europe like Prague, Edinburgh, Barcelona...

5 years ago

I spent 54 days in Budapest and absolutely loved it. After Chiang Mai it's my favorite destination as a nomad.

Pros:
*Beautiful city
*Super affordable
*People are friendly and the majority of people I spoke with spoke English well
*Tons of things to do from great night life to the hot baths, bike and walking tours and a vibrant food scene
*No issues with internet and I was pleased with the co-working I worked out of (Kaptar). There are also some great coffee shops to work out of. My favorite is Flow, a few minutes walk from Octagon.
*Weather was great until the start of November when it changed quite dramatically.
*I had an amazing airbnb which I paid $1,050 for 30 nights. You can definitely find great places for cheaper.

Cons:
*At times I felt the streets were too crazy. The city has a ton of tourists and I can only imagine what it's like in the summer.
*The Hungarians are heavy smokers. Thankfully there is no smoking indoors.
*It got very cold and gray from the start of November. This had a bigger impact on me than I anticipated and negatively affected my experience. If you're like me and don't do well in the cold then I'd avoid Budapest from the start of November.

Feel free to write me if you have any specific questions. My username on Nomadlist is @justin_butlion.

6 years ago

The best city I've been too by a long shot! Only there for 7 days and fell in love immediately. Amazing vibe, tons to do, tons to see, beautiful city and the architecture is stunning all around you. The people are lovely and super friendly. The city is well kept. The only downside is that it's not warm all year around.

6 years ago

I lived between Budapest and Szeged for a year. The public transportation and city vibes kept me alive while the winter weather almost killed me in winter. Definitely get out before it gets cold. Spring to Fall you can visit Lake Balaton and their wine country for some nature, Szeged or Pecs for a college town vibe, heaps of cafes and outdoor restaurants. The pastries and food markets. The thermal baths are great and not too expensive, great parks to visit, nightlife options, and music festivals. Cost of living is great when you're making US level wages, my roommates and I lived like kings and queens. Many locals are hostile towards foreigners, especially NGO expats (the wage gap is large between locals and expats). However, most are polite and some even cordial. The younger generation can speak English, the older generation cannot - based on my experience. The Hungarian language is a beautiful queer thing that I could never tire of. I loved it and would have stayed longer given the chance. Honestly - cannot wait to go visit and return to Hungary when I get a chance.

6 years ago

The city is amazing: it combines beautiful architecture with an energy that rivals Berlin - minus the hipsters!
Plenty of nice little coffee shops, co-working spaces, nightlife in abundance and all that at very affordable prices

6 years ago

Great city that sucks you in. There is a true thing here called the "BudAffect". Many nomads/travellers come here for 4 weeks and then get sucked in for 6 months or longer.

I personally came and after planning to stay for 1 month ended up staying for ~3 years. Now I am feeling the itch to travel again but Budapest has earned its place as "home" and I will return here after my next set of travels.

6 years ago

Budapest + hungary has the pro-s of a tropical digital nomad hideaway, if you go there in the warmer months: the climate is like in Bali between June and September, however mornings can be refreshing. And there s a plethora of spas, thermal baths and swallow lakes with waterskiing and boarding amenities throughout the country which is easily and quickly accessible by the grid of well-maintained highways. The street scenery and style spans somewhere between Barcelona and Berlin so as the plentiful nightlife programs and the scope of culture and art ! Almost the entire younger generation speaks pretty good english however with the elders you might have language barriers.

6 years ago

I'm from Bucharest but BUDAPEST is way beyond the best capital in comparaison with the romanian city. The scenery + the narrow streets & wide boulevards are full of interesting cafes/bars/pubs/restaurants. Prices are affordable/reasonable and you can take a chance with it.

6 years ago

Have spent over 4 years living in Budapest and also extended periods in many other places usually towards the top of the rankings on nomadlist. Nothing compares to Budapest. It is by far the best place in the world to live for people of all ages, but especially young people. It has everything and anything you could possibly want and it's centrally located in the best continent on the planet.
I moved away for a few specific reasons but really hate that I had to. The only city I think is even close in comparison to how great Budapest is, is Barcelona.

7 years ago

Very nice city, great architecture and many historical buildings. The river and castle at night are one of the best things to see in all Europe. Many Starbucks and other coffees in the city center with good Internet. Overall getting more expensive and touristy but still cheaper than Western Europe. People however are a dealbreaker there, most unfriendly cold and rude people of all Eastern Europe.

7 years ago

✅ Very walkable

✅ Lots of things to do

✅ Fast internet

✅ Beautiful architecture

✅ Excellent public transportation

✅ Great nightlife

✅ Wide variety of food options

✅ Very safe

✅ Warm now

✅ Perfect humidity now

✅ Good air quality usually

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ People can speak basic English

✅ Safe for women

✅ Family friendly

❌ Locals can be unfriendly

❌ Dirty in some areas

❌ Hot in summer and cold in winter

❌ Expensive

❌ Not much to do

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Difficult to make friends

❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ High alcohol consumption

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

2°C / 36°F cold

6°C / 43°F cold

7°C / 45°F cold

13°C / 55°F cool

19°C / 66°F mild

27°C / 81°F warm

30°C / 86°F warm

23°C / 73°F mild

13°C / 55°F cool

7°C / 45°F cold

2°C / 36°F cold

Real (median)

4°C / 38°F
very cold

7°C / 44°F
cold

8°C / 46°F
cold

13°C / 55°F
cool

18°C / 64°F
cool

26°C / 78°F
warm

29°C / 83°F
very warm

23°C / 73°F
mild

13°C / 55°F
cool

8°C / 46°F
cold

3°C / 37°F
very cold

Humidity

damp
75%

damp
74%

nice
58%

nice
59%

nice
64%

nice
59%

nice
57%

nice
55%

nice
57%

nice
58%

damp
72%

damp
73%

Most common

☀️ Clear

Rain

dry
35mm

dry
44mm

dry
13mm

dry
46mm

rainy
75mm

dry
7mm

dry
48mm

dry
23mm

dry
33mm

dry
30mm

dry
48mm

rainy
53mm

Cloud

pockets
40%

pockets
39%

pockets
34%

pockets
45%

pockets
28%

pockets
34%

pockets
39%

pockets
30%

pockets
28%

pockets
41%

cloudy
56%

Air quality

okay
80 US AQI

okay
87 US AQI

clean
34 US AQI

clean
9 US AQI

clean
36 US AQI

clean
27 US AQI

clean
49 US AQI

okay
56 US AQI

okay
63 US AQI

Sun

safe
1 UVI

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

safe
1 UVI

Remote workers

1,979 people

2,243 people

2,232 people

2,378 people

2,562 people

3,750 people

2,845 people

3,417 people

3,250 people

4,138 people

2,329 people

2,189 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Budapest's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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	Spanish Speaking Software Support E... @ Payara
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✈️25min

$2,986 / mo

25 Mbps

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	3.18/5 (Rank #14) 1925 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍28 liked it 👎3 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Good
💵 Cost	🙂 Okay: $2,691 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 37Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 27°C80°F (feels 29°C84°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 60%
💨 Air quality (now)	😐 Moderate: 76 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 34 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Low: $1,075 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Good
🏥 Hospitals	Good
😄 Happiness*	Okay
🍸 Nightlife	Good
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Good
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Okay
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Bad
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	Hungary
🗓️ Average trip length	7 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	37 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌦 27°C 80°F + 😊 Comfy (60%) = feels 29°C 84°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👎😷 76 US AQI = 🚬 / day
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 35 US AQI
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Budapest 7
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Budapest 8
🚕 Best taxi app*	Taxify
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 1,000 HUF in USD	USD 2.83
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	HUF 100,000 = USD 283
💸 Tipping	Yes, 12.50%
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	LOFFICE
💻 Best alt. coworking space	Kubik
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍13% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	3,823,900 visitors
📸 Tourists now	73,285 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	1,800,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$12,900 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 43% 👱‍♀️ 57%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 53% 👱‍♀️ 47%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 84% 👱‍♀️ 16%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Edigital
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Wizzair

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$2,691 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,514 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,719 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$777 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,971 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$2,105 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$570 / month
🏠 Median home price	$211,803
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$92 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$69 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$203 / month
🍛 Dinner	$10
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$1
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$2
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$10,146 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$9 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$4 / trip
💰 Estimated tax on $50,000	$15,501
💰 Estimated tax on $100,000	$27,701
💰 Estimated tax on $250,000	$64,301