Post 30 goes to Budapest - City Review and Recommendations
First impressions, recommendations, and reviews.
In my previous post, I talked about going to Prague and it was a three-part series. For Budapest, I am going to keep it to two parts. One part is about the city itself from its culture, people, women, and nightlife and the other is going to be actual field reports.
Why I traveled to Budapest.
The reason I traveled to Budapest was two-fold. The first reason is because I genuinely had friends in the city that I needed to visit. The other reason is because on the game chat I am on, we were planning a Euro Trip. My travel buddy, let’s call him Paul, wanted to do Serbia because the women are supposedly easier. However, I know that traveling anywhere solely for sex is a bad idea and can lead to disappointment.
I saw nothing in Belgrade worth checking out despite the fact that I find the women there to be quite attractive. Budapest on the other hand had old friends and was said to be a beautiful city so I leaned in that direction as Paul agreed.
Our living situation was, oddly, a hostel. I did not want to do this but Paul was really big on it so I went along with his recommendation.
Traveling to Budapest.
I arrived to Budapest via a train from Prague. The train I took was in the morning and I got the highest ticket which was relatively cheap compared to what I am used to in the US. Even finding the right seats was hard on the train as the conductors were of little help.
I got seated in a booth with a Mexican couple who were a cool group of people. Despite running on no sleep, I ended up having some Prosecco’s with this cool couple and a lot of good conversations which made the hours fly rather fast.
The train made a stop in Vienna where this young German dude and these South Asian siblings, where the sister had colored hair, joined me in the booth. I tried to nap it off. One thing I noticed about the train? The bathrooms were filthy!
Arriving in Budapest.
I arrived in Budapest to find that Uber there is non-existent, you have to use an app called “Bolt” instead. The train station I arrived at was also rather seedy, having a few sketchy homeless people everywhere. Not long after, I called the Bolt to find a cool driver who told me about how Budapest is like. Upon looking at the city, I noticed a good bit of Asian and Indian dudes doing Uber Eats type of work.
Just going through the city was beautiful, especially the bridge itself. As I arrive in the city, I settle into the Hostel that Paul was also staying at. Needless to say, it was so filthy. The hostel was of college dorm quality with thin mattresses and seemed like it was built many many decades ago.
Impressions and observations of Budapest.
Now that I have given you my background and how I got to Budapest, it is time I pointed out some observations of Budapest itself. One thing I do want to get to is how Budapest differed from Prague.
It is beautiful.
You have a city on the mountain and hills and another city that is more down. From what the locals say, Buda is the classier part of the city while Pest is where the nightlife and action happens. Of all the major cities in the world I have been to, Budapest is certainly one of the most beautiful and in my top 3. Even if you do not go to game, I recommend going just for the sights.
The people were somewhat shy but also a lot nicer than Prague.
Budapest has not been overrun by Stag Parties to the same degree that Prague has. As a result, locals were usually much nicer and receptive to westerners than the Czech. While you did have some disgruntled locals here and there, overall it was more chill. You won’t face the same backlash and lower status as an English speaking Westerner in Budapest that you did in Prague.
Avoid eating and drinking at restaurants near the river.
The restaurants close to the river are tourist traps and jack up the prices by a good amount. For example, I ended up paying 4x more for a glass of Prosecco at one spot compared to a place located more inwards. The travesty is that the more expensive spot had crappier Prosecco.
Less of a homeless issue than Prague.
Prague had its fair share of crazy homeless people but Budapest kept it a bit sane. You did run into some drugged out homeless here and there but they were less common. Overall though, neither of them are as bad as most Western European cities let alone the United States. Americans and Western Europeans will breathe a sigh of relief when they encounter the homeless here.
You can ride the train here without seeing drugged out homeless people being a nuisance to everyone.
More racially diverse than you would expect.
One thing I found about Budapest and Prague is how racially diverse they were as cities. Someone who has not traveled would think that Eastern Europe is racially homogenous but this was not the case in Budapest or Prague. I noticed a fair bit of Asian and Indian people, a good chunk of Middle Eastern people (especially women), and Eastern Euros from other places. I did not notice as many black people in Budapest compared to Prague so perhaps a Black guy traveling to Budapest would have an exotic advantage.
The racial diversity also led to some good food options such as Ramen shops, Indian food, and Asian food. I also noticed that there was a historically Jewish neighborhood in Budapest as well, located right next to where a lot of the nightlife was.
Very vibrant nightlife with its own soul.
Prague had a lackluster nightlife but not Budapest. In fact, the nightlife was just popping. I will mention venues I went to in Part 2 of this post but overall, the nightlife was even better than Miami and NYC. When I say better, I meant optimal for talking to women and interacting with them. You were not stuffed into loud venues where you cannot even hear people, as is the case with most US nightlife venues. Budapest made Prague look like flyover country with its nightlife.
The best part is Budapest and its nightlife had a soul of their own. The venues were not pandering to American Hip Hop or cringey Country Music like the venues in Prague were. You had real people in the venues just looking to have fun.
Hungarian women are so so.
As a former porn addict, I used to go crazy for Hungarian girls. My weakness overtime has become white women with black hair and olive skin. Perhaps I did not spend enough time in the right areas in Budapest but I did feel like the women were somewhat underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, they are leagues better than your typical Anglo woman in terms of appearance but don’t go in with high expectations either.
Lots of foreign food, primarily Pizza, places.
I remember there being at least a handful of Pizza Mes within the same block in one area of Budapest. Pizza places in Budapest were literally everywhere. Majority of the food in the area was foreign food. One thing I do regret from my trip is not having one of those Chimney Cakes, they also had them in Prague. Starbucks were also abundant.
Despite the foreign food places and mainstream fast food shops being common, I noticed that it did not take away from the soul of the city. More on that later.
Quite commercialized.
Once you go towards Fashion Street, which is a lovely street by the way, you will see all the mainstream brands clustered together. The stores all had this unique black and gold design to go with the vibe of the street. You saw a Starbucks, KFC, Burger King, Hard Rock Cafe, and any mainstream American brand you can think of within the same area of each other. Just like Prague, you need to pay to use the bathroom at a Burger King or McDonalds.
Recommendations.
Obviously, you can Google certain recommendations like going to the Fisherman’s Bastion for photos. However, I wanted to make these recommendations with the idea in mind that you are likely traveling as a single guy. Here are some recommendations for venues, nightlife, and what to do.
Avoid the strip clubs.
From what local friends told me, strip clubs in Budapest are quite seedy. While the whole Strip Club and borderline Brothel business is more regulated in places like Prague, it is not the case in Budapest. If you are anywhere in the area of strip clubs and notice women trying to flag you down and take you to a given venue, get away. It is a common way where tourists get scammed as women run up your drink charges and then try to get as much money out of you as possible. I have even heard if you do not pay, a group of big dudes will come and persuade you to do so.
If you are a Strip Club guy, I recommend trying your luck more in the Czech Republic, namely Prague.
Game recommendations and overview.
Compared to Prague, I found the women in Budapest much more pleasant. Hungarians are soft spoken but you tend to find out quickly if they are into you or not. More than likely though, just like with Prague, you won’t be getting with Hungarian women as a tourist. However, Hungarian women are more open to outsiders who look good and have tight game than Czech women are so your chances of getting with a local increase.
More likely than not, the women you will end up with are going to be German, American, Canadian, British, and Western European. I approached my fair share of Italians for some reason but you also run into French and other Western European women passing through. The best part is you won’t deal with as many Ukrainian and Russian women in Budapest like you would Prague which means less Sugar Babies and less overall crap attitudes.
If you like Asian women, Budapest has its share of them as well. In fact, one guy I winged with was a tall blond guy with a thing for Asian girls and he was having a lot of fun.
Nightlife in Budapest and venues to go to.
Budapest’s nightlife puts Prague’s to shame. In fact, I think Budapest’s nightlife more than rivals even NYC and beats Miami if your goal is to pull and score. The opportunities are almost endless. You also notice that the lines move fast and if you look over 21, they don’t even check IDs.
Szimpla.
Fully called Szimpla Kert, this is a massive venue which has about two stories to it. I have not been to a better nightlife venue in terms of how optimized it is to meet women. The place is set up so you can talk to lots of girls and not have to deal with the deafening music that you would at most nightclubs in the US. In fact, it has a lot of open rooms where you can just sit down and chat.
We found it to be great on Wednesdays and Thursdays but noticed something odd on Friday. On Wednesday and Thursday, people were there till close and it was optimal time to pull and close. Towards closing time, some girls were just on the hunt for dudes to go home with.
Instant.
The energy is a bit more different here than Szimpla even though it is yet another large venue in Budapest. My wing who went there said the energy was very “Spring Break Testosterone” type of an energy. This means that there were lots of aggressive guys on the hunt and a lot of American college kids on a Contiki tour. One thing I witnessed when I went was how it was a crowded dance club in almost every corner.
I would still put it far above most US nightlife venues but Szimpla is your better chance. Expect women to want to bounce from Szimpla to Instant so they can dance more though.
Heaven.
Crowded nightclub in Budapest, I didn’t go but the reviews across the board were bad from everyone. You could barely hear anyone and the women themselves said that it was the prototypical VIP nightlife type of stuff you see.
Otkert.
I did not go here as well but this is another major Budapest venue. Large dance floor and expect more higher end drinks. The local guys I talked to seemed to like it for game though, especially as weekend came.
Daygame recommendations.
Most guys I know who were locals did their daygame on Fashion Street. The area is very broad and beautiful. You can walk and it is near the river as well. Ideally, you want to get out at 3 PM and do daygame until 6 PM but sometimes it goes until 8 PM. The other area I checked out with my wing was the “Westend Shopping Center”. The area had a mall with a Starbucks in it and it was near a train station.
In fact, at Westend I noticed at least 3 Starbucks, all within the same half a mile of each other. The train station itself had some homeless but also a bit of approachable sets that were likely going somewhere. Quality across the board was quite decent.
Overall city review.
Budapest, to put it bluntly, was one of the most fun and beautiful cities I have been to. Outside of issues with a wingman I will address in the next post, this trip could not have gone any better. The Hungarian people might get a bad reputation but I found them to be far more pleasant than the Czech, especially the women themselves.
I will look to return to Budapest again and have a fun time.