The ruin bars of the Jewish quarter
Derelict buildings turned into bars, mismatched furniture and open courtyards.
Duration
2 hrs – 4 hrs
Best time
After 9pm
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
The first, Szimpla Kert, opened in 2002 in a derelict building in District VII, the old Jewish ghetto, slated for demolition. The idea was simple: occupy cheaply, furnish with whatever turns up, renovate nothing.
The model spread across the district, with open courtyards, bathtubs for benches and a Trabant turned into a table. The quarter lives at night, but Szimpla also hosts a farmers' market on Sunday mornings, in the same setting.
Getting there
District VII, around Kazinczy and Dob utca. Metro line 2, Astoria station, or line 1, Opera: ten minutes on foot.
What to bring
- Swimsuit
Rules on site
The district is residential and the city has imposed night-noise rules: keep your voice down in the street. Cocktail bars with a tout on the pavement charge several times the normal price.
Other places in Budapest
- Fisherman's BastionSeven white neo-Romanesque turrets, facing Parliament across the Danube.
- Hungarian ParliamentTwo hundred and sixty-eight metres of neo-Gothic on the riverbank, the Holy Crown inside.
- Széchenyi BathsEighteen pools in a yellow neo-baroque palace, three of them outdoors and steaming in winter.
- Great Market HallA hall of iron and glazed tile, paprika, sausage and lángos upstairs.