Why Hungary
Budapest sits on a network of thermal springs exploited since the Romans and then the Ottomans: the Széchenyi, Gellért and Rudas baths are not spas but public institutions, open every day, where you spend half a day for the price of a lunch.
The Danube separates Buda, its hills and its castle, from Pest, flat and urban, with the neo-Gothic Parliament facing it. The rest of the country — Lake Balaton, the cellars of Tokaj, Eger — is reached in under three hours.
Getting around
The train serves the country from Budapest in a star pattern; cross-country journeys are more laborious. Tickets are cheap and bought online.
In Budapest, metro, trams and buses are taken on a single ticket. Metro line 1 is the oldest on the European continent and is part of the visit. Validate before boarding; checks on the way out are frequent.
Money
The currency is the forint, not the euro: paying in euros in a shop means accepting an unfavourable rate, and ATMs offer a conversion that must be refused — choose "pay in HUF" every time.
The exchange offices in the city centre display hidden commissions; ordinary bank ATMs are safer. Tipping is customary at around ten per cent, often already added as a service charge — check the bill before leaving a second one.
Before you go
The baths have their rules: a cap is compulsory in some sports pools, a locker or a cabin has to be chosen at the entrance, flip-flops are useful. Buying the ticket online avoids the morning queue.
The ruin bars of the Jewish quarter are Budapest's nightlife attraction, and prices there are those of a tourist venue — bar tabs are worth checking.
Be wary of bars that recruit in the street through a hostess: the inflated-bill scam is long-standing and documented there. You go into a place you have chosen yourself.