It was the last day of 2024 and our New Year’s Eve was spent exploring Budapest in the grey and fog. It certainly wasn’t a warm day to end the year, with the temperature in Budapest minus 2 literally all day (and night) although the ‘feels like’ temperature was minus 4 or 5.
After arriving into Budapest the previous afternoon, we had an explore of our first Hungarian Christmas markets and very nice Michelin-starred dinner out the night before. We were all keen to see more of Budapest in the daylight.
Max and Di were off on a hop-on-hop-off bus for their first day of Budapest sight-seeing. The five of us head off on foot to explore our our area first. We are staying in the Jewish quarter and have constant tour groups coming through the street and even the building we are in. We discovered our apartments back onto Europe’s largest synagogue, which is rather pretty. The maker of the Jewish quarter ‘ghetto’ was also just outside our apartment building.
Off exploring Pest…
The buildings in the area are quite varied, with some very modern and others much more grand and ornate. We also thought the trams were very distinctive. The white and yellow ones were fairly common but not far from our apartment we spied a ‘Haribo’ tram!
Erzebet Bridge
Next we were off on foot to check out the City Market Hall. Before our market shopping we walked down to the Danube and checked out the very pretty bright green Erzebet (Elizabeth) bridge.
Sadly there were no views down the Danube today as it was sooooo foggy! It was still a fun walk over to see the river boats and the beautiful buildings on both sides.
You are supposed to be able to see both sides of the river as you walk across the bridges or along the Danube, but that was definitely not the case today!
It was a rather pretty bridge though. There are 12 bridges that connect the different districts of Budapest across the Danube and they all look quite distinctive.
Central Market Hall
Budapest’s Central Market Hall is the largest and oldest indoor market in Budapest. It is located at the end of the famous pedestrian shopping street of Váci utca and on the Pest side of the Danube. The building is rather beautiful on both the inside and out, with it’s neo-gothic architecture.
Even at this time of the morning the market was very busy. The market was spread over 2 floors and we found plenty of stores to look at and some unique Hungarian souvenirs. The kids all brought some special wooden ‘mystery boxes’ with their hidden keys, that they were no doubt planning to hide lollies in!
We also procured ourselves a large amount of Hungarian paprika before succumbing to the food smells and tucking into our first langos (with sour cream and cheese). It was delicious, even though it was challenging to eat, as it was so busy we were getting sick of getting bumped into constantly.
After fighting our way through crowds for a bit longer we decided we’d had enough of all the crowds and we were back out into the fog. It hadn’t been very warm in the market and we were in search of a toilet that didn’t require a lengthy line-up. So we found a cafe not far from the market, which was warm and also provided hot chocolates, mulled wine and beers as well as a free toilet!
A foggy Danube walk
Our plan to do a ‘scenic’ walk along the Danube on the way to our next stop wasn’t working that well due to the grey and fog, but we did get to see plenty of expensive river cruise boats as well as day-tripping cruise boats. We had our own Danube cruise planned for that evening and based on the current inability to see the other side of the river, we figured we’d be enjoying the lights and atmosphere rather than the views!
There were plenty of churches and interesting buildings along the river bank so we had plenty to look at on the Pest side today, even if we could only see the Buda side barely emerging through the fog.
Back to the markets…
Pretty soon we found ourselves at the Vorosomarty square markets and the St Stephen’s Basilica markets, which we’d visited the night before in the dark. Luckily we weren’t too hungry after our langos and hot chocolates, so avoided all the delicious food smells. It was now after 1pm and the markets were getting rather busy.
St Stephen’s Basilica which had the amazing light show the previous night, looked quite different by day but was still an impressive back-drop for a Christmas market.
As we weren’t feeling all that hungry we didn’t stay long at the markets and restrained ourselves from trying any more palinka after we’d experienced that the night before!
Liberty square and the Opera House
Not far from the Basilica market was the liberty square Soviet Army Memorial. There were some interesting ‘protests’ and posters surrounding the memorial, which we found entertaining to read. The kids also found a park and had a quick play, despite it still being freezing!
We then walked to the nearby Hungarian State Opera House which is a very pretty building, in an area filled with rather grand buildings!
Opposite the opera house was a very cute metro station, which had an ornate building on top and a pretty little station underneath. Once we were on the metro we didn’t need to worry about being cold any more as we were packed in like sardines!
The Millennial Monument
We caught the M1 metro to check out one of the most famous sights in Budapest, the Heroes square and Millennial Monument. On the short walk from the metro stop to the monument we passed the equally famous Szechenyi thermal baths. The yellow building is very distinctive and there was plenty of steam emanating from both the baths inside the building and the nearby water was also billowing steam into the freezing air.
We were hoping to check out one of the thermal baths during our Budapest stay, but for now it was across the road to Heroes Square. The 40m high column in Heroes’ Square is the Gabriel Archangel Column and it was constructed for the 1896 Millennium celebrations, hence it’s also known as the Millenial monument.
The monument has has 7 large statues of kings and heroes, while the column has large horses of seven Hungarian tribes. The monument and the statues are very large and make an impressive sight.
Budapest City Park and Vajdahunyad Castle
Next it was across the road to check out what was supposed to be be Europe’s biggest ice skating rink. With the kids new found love of ice skating they were keen to check this one out. It turns it was only half filled with ice so far (but still huge). We gathered the ice would eventually freeze down to where the thermal baths were.
The ice rink runs around the Vajdahunyad Castle and Budapest City Park, which has you guessed it, another Christmas market! The Castle is thought to be the home of Count Dracula.
The city park has an amusement park with a ferris wheel, carousel and other rides as part of the market. We had a quick walk through the market and there was plenty of food on offer at this one but less craft and souvenirs than other market.
Surrounding the castle the pond was starting to freeze over. It looked like this would eventually become part of the ice skating rink. In summer it is used for boats.
The Vajdahunyad Castle is designed to showcase the architectural evolution of Hungary. It amalgamates some of the finest buildings in the historical Hungary featuring styles from the Middle Ages to the 18th century including Romanesque, Gothic Renaissance, Baroque buildings.
It’s certainly an array of interesting buildings. The courtyard and markets are free to look around. There is however, a museum in the castle, which has an entry fee. The kids were definitely not in a museum mood today so we were happy to have a look around and pose with statues.
Time to warm-up!
After a bit of a look around we decided we were needing to warm up so head back (via the metro) to the apartment and tried to get feeling back in our hands and toes.
Max and Di were also back after their hop-on, hop-off adventures (and were similarly cold) but it was only a short break before having to put the warm clothes on again for our NYE Danube cruise. While warming up and having an afternoon snack, we compared all our purchases for the day. The kids showing off their mystery boxes, and Zinnia scoring a special brooch. We also convinced Di to try some of the palinka, and her face demonstrates she wasn’t a fan!
A cruise down the Danube on NYE……
We’d booked a 1 hour sightseeing cruise to help celebrate the end of 2024. It gets dark at 4pm and the cruise was at 5pm, so we had a metro ride and a dark wander through the Budapest streets and found our boat. It was still minus 2 and with the dark now felt even colder, and much, much later!
The cruise had a free drink included and Astrid again got handed a glass of wine (which we promptly took off her and replaced with a soft drink).
We found some seats downstairs and enjoyed our drinks and toasted the impending new year as the boat pulled out and started it’s run down the Danube.
The views on the trip up and down the Danube were spectacular. That Hungarian Parliament building is something else from the water!!
For the first half an hour we stayed downstairs in the relative ‘warm’ and watched through the windows. It wasn’t particularly warm and we barely got our jackets and beanies off but the scenery made up for it!
Budapest looked very different from the water and we enjoyed seeing the buildings all lit up, and even the ‘Christmas tram’ with all it’s lights on.
On the lap back down the river, a few of us went up onto the deck and braved the cold for even better views. There were plenty of cruise boats out on the water, getting ready for the NYE river cruises. We were somewhat glad we weren’t out for a 4 or 5 hour cruise that night with the kids, our hour was enough. It was both freezing and already felt like midnight!
The bridges were all lit up spectacularly and there were plenty of boats going up and down and we had fun watching the NYE preparations. With the fog, the Buda Castle was hard to see but still looking pretty spectacular up on the hill. This was on our agenda to explore for the next day.
At 6pm our boat dropped us back at the same spot. We saw some crowds building up and there were plenty of people out and about already selling fireworks and getting their hats ready.
Having enjoyed our little night-time sightseeing we found our way back to the apartment and were now all a bit cold and hungry. Unable to decide what we wanted for dinner, Di eventually found us some very delicious take away pizza (mostly because it was hot and it had calories) and we opened the champagne the Airbnb host had left us to help celebrate the new year.
A crazy NYE fireworks experience…..
We banished the kids to bed (fully dressed, minus coats) by 8pm. It had been a very long day and we had plans to see in the New Year. After polishing off the champagne with Max and Di, Anto and I had a very short nap, while the noise and fireworks outside got louder and louder.
At 11pm we got up and got all our warm clothes on and head out to see the fireworks. Max and Di slept through us getting the kids organised and all the outside noise, so they were definitely not motivated to head out into the cold so it was just the 5 of us.
There were people absolutely everywhere. It is traditional to wear silly hats on NYE here and there were people selling them on the street, along with novelty glasses and glow sticks.
In addition there were plenty of illegal fireworks for sale. There were plenty of signs outlawing the sale of fireworks and outlining the 200,000 Florint fine (almost 900 AUD).
We were trying to make our way the short distance down to the Danube. There were so many people that it was hard to move, let alone keep track of the kids.
We eventually made it to the Danube and the sky was still aglow with all the light from the bridges and buildings, and now all the fireworks.
There were plenty of fireworks though! People were drinking from open bottles, setting off fireworks and generally being merry. Personal safety does not seem to be a thing here as there were fireworks going off all over the place and there was no regard to how close people were standing.
On the edge of the Danube we tried to find a spot where we could see the fireworks. There were people sitting on tram tracks (which even the kids declared was a dumb) and fireworks being set off by random people just next to us.
Plenty of cruises were out on the river to watch the festivities and people lining the bridges. We weren’t sure we could tell what was the organised fireworks and what was the random ones being let off, but they went for awhile and were coming from every direction.
Soren, and particularly Zinnia, were getting quite scared of some of the loud fireworks being set off rather close to them and the loud noise. Zinnia declared that the fireworks were a bit like the Eiffel Tower, better from a distance!
If we thought it was cold all day, by now it felt absolutely freezing. This was a very different experience to our NYE fireworks back at home where it isn’t dark until 9.30pm and it’s insanely hot and you are fighting off bugs and mosquitoes. We also aren’t so worried about being hit by random illegal fireworks. It was definitely an experience!
Also, unlike in Australia there didn’t seem to be a coordinated fireworks show at midnight. The intensity of the fireworks certainly picked up about midnight and as the clock struck 12 there were plenty going off in every direction but it wasn’t quite Sydney Harbour!
About 12.15am we all declared we’d risked enough limbs and it was time to escape the madness. We started walking back avoiding the big squares where there were lots of people letting off fireworks in even more enclosed spaces. It appeared to be utter chaos.
It was a far less organised experience than Australian NYE celebrations and definitely more cold!
It took us quite awhile to make it back out of the hot zone. On the way back we grabbed a traditional chimney cake. We’d been eyeing these off and found the van near our apartment didn’t have a ridiculously long line at this time of night…. and what better way to celebrate the New Year than with hot carbs! ,
Chimney cakes come in all different flavours and are like a giant donut. We decided on cinnamon and it was delicious. Poor Zinnia didn’t even want any she was so tired as it was now after 1am. She elected to go straight to bed and the rest of us tucked into the chimney cake and declared it rather tasty.
All the kids racked up over 30,000 steps for the day and when we got back it was still minus 2 (feels like minus 5). It had not changed all day!
New Years Eve in Budapest was definitely one to remember! The fireworks continued for many hours outside our apartment but we were so tired we slept through most of it. We’d had the same experience in Vienna on NYE back in 2015 and had also fallen asleep to the sounds of fireworks and drunk people outside our apartment. That trip we woke up wonderful snow on New Years Day, our first of that trip. This time we’d already had plenty of snow but were still hoping for some in Budapest 🙂
It was farewell to 2024, and the whole of December spent having a wonderful Winter and Christmas adventure. The first few weeks of 2025 still had more countries and plenty more snow in store.
Up Next….
The first day of 2025 and we enjoyed more of freezing Budapest. This time exploring the Buda side of the Danube and Buda castle.
