Budapest's Hidden Gems, - Wine Regions, Parks and Thermal Baths
Budapest is a wonderful city to visit in Europe and you should definitely put it on your bucket list. As well as the spectacular buildings and history it has some amazing hidden gems.
Szechenyi Thermal Baths
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Ok, technically the Thermal Baths are exactly “hidden” as many people know about them, although as well as the biggest baths there are over 120 other baths around the city that you can visit. No wonder Budapest is called the Spa City.
Szechenyi Thermal Baths (in the pictures above) was built in 1913. You can see the gorgeous yellow and white buildings that surround the three enormous outdoor pools.
Inside the buildings are 15 indoor pools as well as steam rooms, saunas and showers. There are also small cabins where you can get changed and store your personal belongs. Plan to spend most of your day here as it is such a fantastic spot to relax and soak in the 38 degree mineral filled water with its medicinal benefits. We bought our tickets online, so we avoided lining up and were guaranteed a cabin - as these are limited. You can click on the button below to see the tickets we bought.
Margaret Island
Now this truly is a hidden gem of Budapest, although it is in plain sight. You can find Margaret Island right in the middle of the Danube River. It was originally three islands that are now joined together to slow the flow of the Danube.
We found Margaret Island by chance one day walking over the Margaret Bridge. We wandered down until we came across gorgeous flower gardens, food vans, a huge monument and then we saw the musical fountain. You can sit under the shade of the giant trees and watch the fountain for as long as you like.
When you finish at the fountain, you can walk around the island. There are many flat tracks to explore the lush green parklands. The island is 2.5km long and 500m wide. If you don’t feel like walking, there are pedal powered buggies, ebikes and scooters for hire.
You might come across the Japanese gardens, the mini zoo, one of the outdoor terraced restaurants or the massive pool and thermal spa complex. There is so much space for picnics, playing games, or just lazing about under the shady trees.
Once you have finished exploring there are some lovely little cafe/bars where you can sit and enjoy watching all the people wandering by. The park is full of local families and is a perfect green space in the middle of a vibrant city.
WINE TOUR AND TASTINGS BUDAPEST
The next hidden gem that we discovered in Budapest was a wine tour. Now we did a far bit of research into wine tours and the one we did was absolutely amazing. We chose this one as it had dinner included and went to three small family owned cellar doors and we were able to meet the winemakers at each venue. The wine region we visited was Etyek. It is the closest wine area to Budapest and is very popular with the locals in the region.
The first cellar door we visited was underground. These wine cellars have been owned by local families for 100’s of years. We stepped down into the cool tasting room of Vizi Winery and tasted four delicious wines. Then we were taken down more stairs into the cellar where all the barrels are and had a tasting straight from the barrel.
We loved this cellar door. Was so nice to hear about the history of wine making in the region as well.
The next two wineries we visited were equally as good. Nadas Wines are made by a husband and wife team. They have some standard varieties, but also are experimenting with some delicious blends. After another information tasting of four delicious wines we moved onto our last location.
Here were enjoyed the outdoor patio setting. We also had our dinner at our last venue and it was a traditional Hungarian meal of Roe deer goulash and a Hungarian dessert cake. Everyone loved the dinner as well as the wines here.
The landscape was so pretty and everyone on the tour thoroughly enjoyed the day. This was one of the highlights of our time in Hungary. You can see the details of the tour we did by clicking the link below.
DANUBE RIVER CRUISE
There are many options to do a cruise on the Danube. The reason we recommend this particular tour that we enjoyed, is it was so easy to get on board and the crew were amazing. You receive a glass of wine as you step on the boat. There is plenty of seating with fabulous views, both outside and undercover. The cruise lasts for just over an hour and you will see some of the most spectacular sights of Budapest up nice and close. If you are going to book a tour, make sure you do it ahead of time, as they book out quickly. We would recommend you do a night time tour so you can see the stunning light displays of the historic buildings along the Danube.
We loved the cruise - so if you want to see the one we did click the button below.
As you can see below, we thoroughly enjoyed our time exploring the hidden gems of Budapest. The first photo is at the Thermal Baths, the 2nd and 3rd photos are in Margaret Island and the last photo is Lyle enjoying the wine tour. We hope you have enjoyed all our information about the hidden gems of Budapest. Click the buttons below to see the all the other information and pictures we have published from our time in Budapest.
