As with most European cities, Budapest was not designed for cars, therefore traffic can be dense. So be smart and use public transport [PT] instead. You can either choose the Budapest Card that is a full PT pass with discounts in some places or, for a better value, buy a pass from the Budapest Transportation Company [BKV] and the ignore the discounts.

The Budapest Card is available at hotels, travel agencies & at the underground. The simple PT pass is sold at most underground stations. For more details on passes & ticket prices, please visit the Budapest Transportation Company's [BKV] website.

Legenda, who are known as a crusing company, sells Legenda pass, which combines a public transportation pass and discounts for various places. Great option is you wanted to cruise with Legenda anyway!

Hop on - hop off is an alternative if you are against using public transport, but consider that a one day pass for City tour Budapest costs more than a 72 hour PT pass, which covers the whole capital. The choice is yours.

With two million people in twon, Budapest is hardly a place to get bored. The city host a number of festivals during the year, but even outside the festival season there are venues & programs you can count on.

For music lovers the National Opera is an obvious choice, but because ticket prices are reasonable, you might want to book yourselves in no matter what... The brand new Palace of Arts host world-class performances, while the Academy of Music is for smaller productions. Quality folklore shows can be seen in Budai Vigadó or Duna Palota, organ concerts are held at St. Ann's church or St Michaels. These two are both organised by Hungaria Koncert.

Festivals and events include the Budapest Spring Festival and the Budapest Autumn Festival, the annual Sziget festival is one of Europe's biggest rock festival. Formula 1 lovers should come mid-summer to watch the race on Hungaroring. The country's three major holidays [March 15th, August 20th, October 23rd] all offer extra opportunities for fun.

This chapter is dedicated to three special institutions in Budapest. Baths have always enjoyed great prestiege among Romans, Turks, Hapsburgs & Hungarians and they are getting ever more popular with the wellness age. Coffee houses flourished at the turn of the century [1900] first, but a hundred years later they are still the places to enjoy good life. Ruin pubs are an altogether new phenomen, a unique way for the young & trendy to enjoy Budapest's nightlife in a fun fashion.

Hungary has more than a thousand hot springs, a number of which rise in the capital city on both sides. Traditional Turkish baths sit along the embankment on Buda, the turn-of-the-century, elegant ones are scattered around the hisotric centers of the city. New hotels often pump hot water into their pools, too. For first-timers Szechenyi or Gellert might give the best impression, regular visitors might want to try Rudas or Lukacs. For a full list of baths in Budapest visit spasbudapest.com.

Coffee houses for Budapest are what pubs would be for the Irish. With more than cake & coffee on offer, many a place have played key roles in Hungarian history. Revolutions & poems, rock concerts & spy games, coffee houses have seen them everything and are still cultural hotspots in the city. The long list of famous ones includes Gerbaud, Central, Gerloczy, Ruszwurm, Muvesz, New York, Callas, Frolich & Jegbufe... But, there is always more to try!

Ruin pubs are installed in courtyards or gardens of empty houses. Most are located in central, run-down-but-safe areas and offer endless fun. The best is Szimpla [with many small places in district VII], others include Kuplung [Clutch pedal], Potkulcs [Spare key], West Balkan & Tuzrakter.

Flee markets were always part of any decent market place in the past and Budapest fortunately does not go without them today either. Know as 'Ecseri' to the locals, the capital's main flee market is on the outskirts on Nagykorosi ut. From the apple in the pie to the apple in the sky, Ecseri has everything that attics hold these days in Hungary.

In town there are smaller, but equally interesting places to explore. Falk Miksa utca, the 'antique row', runs close to the parliament and feels like an upscale second-hand shopping street. Tiffany lamps, period furniture, turn-of-the-century paintings wait for their would-be owners in small specialised shops. At the boulevard end of the street Kieselbach Gallery is a first class institution and the city's main pawn shop chain [BAV] has a store there, too. For books, maps and old prints, you should visit the Little Boulevard where second-hand book stores cluster around the country's biggest university [ELTE] on Muzeum korut.