Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Budapest

Wizz Air (Budapest to London Luton)

After a long-distance rail journey from Warsaw to Budapest the day before, I had a few hours of sleep before getting up at 02:30 to get to the airport for a 06:00 flight. Here’s the Ibis Budapest City, a rather lovely hotel from what I saw of it.

There’s an airport bus every ten minutes so I wasn’t entirely broken hearted when I just missed this one by just seconds.

The 100E airport bus is a well managed operation with staff always available by the bus stop, even throughout the night. I got a seat on the bus, which filled up at the next stop, and within thirty minutes I was at the airport. In terms of efficiency, it’s one of the best airport buses and there are numerous ways to pay, including just using a contactless card on the bus.

Mine was the 06:00 flight to London Luton, visible about halfway down the left-hand column.

It all felt busy in the airport, but the signage was clear and the security process took under ten minutes. A lot of bags were caught for manual check and there were some annoyed people that their liquids and pastes were removed. My bag, unusually, was included for manual check but the security officer by the second machine looked at the x-ray and just handed me my bag back without checking anything inside.

There were lots of sleeping people in the airport and also lots of quiet places to sit.

To kill some time I popped to the external observation deck, which was of limited excitement in the dark. It also doubles up as the smoking deck, not something that I have much use for, although I liked the temperature out here.

My flight was at 06:00, the gate closed at 05:30 and so I pondered whether I should go into the lounge at 05:00 when it opened.

I did and I was the only person in there (other than the staff obviously).

Breakfast for champions…. Chips with a spicy sauce, jalapenos, tomatoes, chicken wraps, a dessert and an espresso.

It was a lot busier last time I was in this lounge. I charged my already nearly full devices a little, had a final coffee and then left for the gate.

I got to the gate just after 05:20, which is cutting it fine for me. I was pleased with my breakfast, it was quick, but helpful for giving me energy. It will surprise no-one when I say that the boarding process was efficient and well managed.

After a wait of five minutes standing on the airport bus waiting to be let out, we were allowed to board. The aircraft is HA-LZM, one that I haven’t been on before.

The seating Gods had allocated me an aisle seat, but a crew member came over during boarding and asked if I spoke English. This is something that is within my skill-set and I was ushered to guard the emergency exit door. The helpful crew member told me that I could have all three seats if I wanted to lie down to sleep after take-off.

The extra space was very useful in terms of having a nap and I spent most of the flight asleep. The flight was yet another well managed arrangement from Wiz Air, the aircraft was clean, the crew were friendly, the operations were smooth and nothing annoying happened.

Here we are in sunny Luton, the beating heart of Bedfordshire.

Just under thirty minutes waiting for border control, but the queue moved constantly which helps in feeling that progress was being made. It had been quite an expedition to go from Genoa to Warsaw to Budapest to Luton, but I was pleased to be safely back in the UK. And so was Madeleine, the very talented national chair of the LDWA, as I had to get to Leamington Spa for the Local Groups’ Weekend…..

November 12, 2025
Warsaw to Budapest by Train (Bathory Intercity)

After a quick visit to Carrefour for snacks, I embarked on what was the longest rail journey that I’ve taken in Europe (I went for over 24 hours in the US….) from Warsaw to Budapest. Here’s the display screen at Warszawa Centralna, with the departure being second from top on the right-hand screen.

Waiting at Platform 3.

Here’s the train layout, and I had gone for first class as it wasn’t much more expensive as I’d booked it at the last minute.

It’s all happening now with the departure board on the platform updating to show the train. I had a flight booked for very early the next morning, so if something went wrong here, it would be hard to resolve. Well, hard to resolve cheaply anyway.

The train after it had pulled into the station and I was glad to see it.

I was disappointed that it was a compartment train, it wasn’t meant to be and I assume it was swapped in at the last minute. These are old fashioned and being removed from the rail network with a preference for open seating which feels safer. It transpired that the lady in the window seat (who had briefly left the compartment when I took the photo) was only going a short distance, so I had that window seat with table for nearly all of the journey. This did make me happier at matters as I do like a table for my laptop.

I switched this down to cold at the first available moment.

A view down looking at the compartments. There was a refreshments carriage next door, but it didn’t look very exciting.

For a long time, it was just me (and my bag and laptop) in the compartment, although a couple came in later on and were annoyed it was a compartment train.

Being in First gives no luxuries other than a free bottle of water and a little more space. It was a nice bottle of water to be fair as far as these things go.

Not only was I going from Poland’s capital to Hungary’s capital, but the train also stopped in Slovakia’s capital of Bratislava. I must admit that I was tempted to get off here as it’s one of my favourite cities, but that would have caused me some logistical issues….

And here’s the train in Budapest Nyugati railway station at the end of the journey. I did take a lot of photos of stations en route, to remind myself I quite fancy going to some of those locations (Ostrava in the Czech Republic looked interesting which has the nickname of Black Heart which I like), but there were no great pieces of scenery that I felt the need to photograph. There were a lot of fields though.

And safely in Hungary.

Overall, I rather enjoyed gazing out of the window for hours, but there was no wifi and the phone connection was poor for much of the journey. It’s generally cheaper by plane, it’s obviously quicker and ultimately much more convenient. Flying isn’t though very environmental and there is a push towards more long-distance trains, although this was 11 hours in total so it’s hardly a fast-paced arrangement.

The cost was relatively expensive for European rail at £50, although as an experience it was worth it. But, there’s going to need to be modernisation here, basic things like allowing for ordering food and drink on the train for either collection in the refreshments car or delivery to the compartment. I had no idea when meal service was, they needed to be clearer about that. They also do need wifi, although they did have power outlets and they were useful.

I had eight ticket checks during the journey, which is excessive by any means. The US system is better here, they check tickets on entry and write the journey on a card above the seat. I also didn’t like the compulsory reservation system, I was lucky to have a quiet carriage because there were no-shows, but I’d rather just sit where there’s space and not be tied to a certain seat (although I had moved across one from my middle seat I had been allocated). I thought that it all went quickly, so I certainly enjoyed the restful nature of the whole arrangement.

The whole thing felt a little old-fashioned and there’s a place for that, but I can’t see passenger numbers ever soaring for services like this unless they can speed them up a bit and make them more comfortable and modern. However, there is a sleeper version of this service so you get a choice between the two trains and that makes more sense in terms of time efficiency. However, I wanted to look out of the window at things as this was more of an experience.

The train arrived into Budapest just twenty minutes late, which isn’t bad given the complexity of going across four countries, namely Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. There were announcements throughout the journey, just about all of them in English. The service is run by České dráhy, who are the national rail operator in the Czech Republic, and I’d say that this sort of long-distance train service is certainly an experience worth trying at least once. So all really rather quite lovely and a reminder that I’ll take more trains on the European mainland.

November 11, 2025
Wizz Air (Memmingen to Budapest)

This flight was from just over a month ago (I’m catching up slowly with posts), at the end of the trip that Richard and I had around Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein. Richard was departing on his business class flight back to London Heathrow, whilst I was taking a more circuitous journey (because of my £9 Wizz Air flights) back to the UK. The first stage of that was flying to Budapest.

For anyone with either the time or inclination to zoom in, my 15:55 flight to Budapest is visible on the screens. This is very much a provincial airport, it felt quite organised but it’s limited on the amount of space that they have.

The airport was first constructed as a military airfield in the mid-1930s, being destroyed by air raids in March 1944. After the end of the war the site was used as a refugee camp and it was used by the US military until 1959 when it was handed over to the Germans, who were here until 2003.

In 2004, the airport started commercial flights and they’ve been adding bits to the building ever since. There’s a large new terminal expansion currently underway with a focus on budget airlines as Wizz Air and Ryanair use the airport extensively.

Joy of joys, it was a bus gate.

We were on board the bus for quite a while, but safe in the knowledge that it was unlikely the aircraft would go without me.

Boarding the aircraft and it was registration HA-LGQ, which I don’t think that I’ve been on before. The aircraft was pretty much full and the boarding process was all efficient. It was made slightly less efficient that there was someone in my seat and she was adamant that it was hers, until she thought she’d better check my claim with another passenger who told her she was in the wrong place. I find it quite easy to locate my seat as there’s a bloody sticker above the seat with the number on it, but there we go.

The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat and the flight was, yet again, organised and efficient. The crew members were engaging, the flight arrived on time and I’m always delighted when it’s uneventful as that means nothing has gone wrong.

As this was with my Wizz Air multipass, the flight was £8.99, another bargain arrangement. The flight only took ninety minutes and it’s a handy time to arrive into Budapest requiring neither a very early start, nor a nighttime arrival. I rather liked Memmingen as a place and it’s the gateway to southern Germany and indeed Munich, so I’m hoping that I’ll be back here again at some point.

September 28, 2025
Budapest – District XI (Statue of Gábor Bethlen)

This statue in District XI of Budapest commemorates the life of Gábor Bethlen, a rather important figure in Hungarian history. He was the Prince of Transylvania from 1613 to 1629 and also King-elect of Hungary (he never quite took control of the entire country) from 1620 to 1621 and he was also the Duke of Opole (one of my favourite cities) from 1622 until 1625. He is particularly known for leading Transylvania into its “golden age” and for his wise rule, economic reforms and for defending Protestantism in Hungary during the Thirty Years’ War. There are rather more decadent statues of him around the city, but this one is suitably under-stated and also has a coat hook for reasons unknown to me.

June 4, 2025
Wizz Air (Budapest to Glasgow)

I thought that the tropical heat of Budapest was getting a bit much, so I decided to go somewhere rather more suited to my preferred temperature range, so I opted for Glasgow. The flight was just under £9 with the Wizz Air Multipass that I bought last December and I remain very pleased with.

Slightly blurred, well very blurred, but I was zooming in to check that I was at the correct gate. The flight was delayed by an hour, but I was in no rush at the other end so I appreciated the extra time in the airport lounge. The boarding process was efficient and the gate staff were polite and helpful, although a couple of customers being charged for oversized bags might not have agreed with that.

Boarding the aircraft 9H-WDR, an A321 which has been in the Wizz Air fleet since June 2023. The seat Gods had unfortunately given me a middle seat and I had decided to accept my fate with my usual heap of downloaded YouTube videos lined up. However, the delight of hearing “boarding complete” with no-one in the aisle seat meant that the seating Gods had looked at me favourably after all. And then I noticed that the woman opposite and forward one row had eyed up the seat and was wildly flapping for her husband (or male companion, I shouldn’t judge) to come back about six rows and sit there to be near her. Anyway, that plan was foiled as I had already moved when she was mid-flap.

And then another little situation occurred when numerous people applauded the pilots for landing the plane. I don’t know a huge number of pilots (well, two) but both of them I know hate this practice and I’m not sure if it’s from the Hungarians who know more about their national airline than I do (I accept that it might not be the official national airline, but it has far more aircraft than any other Hungarian airline).

Anyway, that was the first little situation, with the second being the lady in the window seat being determined to barge past me after the aircraft arrived at the gate to get to the aisle. Now, I’m a firm believer in the “where exactly do you think you’re going?” philosophy of post-landing etiquette. I’ve got nowhere to go or stand. Are we suddenly going to a surprise party on the air bridge? No, we’re not, so I wasn’t moving in the period between the aircraft being at the gate and the aircraft door opening. The whole mad dash is truly a marvel and it happens nearly every flight. You’ve got people practically dislocating shoulders trying to yank their bloody carry-ons down, then forming a chaotic queue in the aisle, all while desperately trying to outmanoeuvre each other for a coveted spot only to then shuffle along at the pace of a heavily sedated snail once they hit the terminal.

And safely back in Glasgow post rushoffplanegate, around forty minutes later than expected. I have a few hours at the airport but I’ll report back on this riveting exercise a little later on.

June 3, 2025
Budapest – District XI (Mészöly utca)

This is a typical street sign in Budapest, the XI. kerület being reference to it being in District XI, Szentimreváros is the neighbourhood and 7-1 are the house numbers on this section on the street. I have no idea why the street name is what it is, Google Gemini made a guess that it might be related to Miklós Mészöly (1921-2002) although it probably isn’t.

But, this isn’t the story that I found intriguing, it’s the one at this web-site about District XI, which tells a story about a pub that was once located near to this site. It talks about the character of the pub, which is now a Mexican restaurant, and the people who worked there. The intriguing elements to me is this:

“It is unimaginable today, but at that time, underage students from nearby high schools were also served in pubs, including Mészöly. The latter became such a regular spot for many of them that some classes later organised their graduation parties here. Although it has become a cult place over the decades, in its heyday, most people considered “Mészi” a classic disgrace, where beer is cheap and you don’t have to pay a lot for other drinks. Many people may also remember the skinheads, whose community was held together by xenophobia in addition to their immoderate enjoyment of beer. It happened in the late 80s that a colored man walked in front of them just as they were leaving Mészi. The gang, hungry for mischief, started chasing the young man, who ran much faster than them, and jumped on the tram that arrived at the stop. The bald men arrived late, but one of them tried to kick the door of the already moving vehicle. Fate punished him harshly: the tram cut off one of his legs.”

That’s certainly some story and the moral of the story is don’t attack people because they’re different. I wonder if losing his leg changed his attitude to life….

June 3, 2025
Budapest – District XI (Statue of Géza Gárdonyi)

Located in District XI of Budapest, this is the statue of Géza Gárdonyi (1863-1922), a renowned Hungarian writer and playwright.

The sculpture was unveiled here on 13 May 1933 and was designed by János Horvay. In addition to the main man himself, there are bronze figures of a boy lying down and a mother reading to him, symbolising his historical novels and works for children. It was commissioned by the Országos Gárdonyi Géza Irodalmi Társaság (the National Géza Gárdonyi Literary Society) and funded through public subscription, the monument reflects just how deeply Gárdonyi’s work must have resonated with ordinary readers across the country. By 1933, his book written in 1899 Egri csillagok (“Eclipse of the Crescent Moon”) had already become a staple of Hungarian school curricula, so I guess that he was the Enid Blyton of his day….. Actually, I’m not sure that she wrote military fiction, but the Famous Five were often very brave.

June 3, 2025
Budapest – District XI (Stumbling Blocks – Farago Family)

Located in District XI of Budapest, these are Stumbling Blocks (Stolpersteine) commemorating the lives of three members of the Farago family who lived at Bartók Béla út 52. The family members were Andor and his two sons, István and György.

– Faragó István (Born 1906), who was killed by firing squad into the Danube in 1944.

– Faragó Andor (Born 1877), who was killed by firing squad into the Danube in 1944. He was a significant figure as the former editor-in-chief of the Hungarian mathematical and physical journal KöMaL, which he relaunched in 1925.

– Faragó György (Born 1907), who died in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944.

The exact dates of their murders aren’t known, but it was the Arrow Cross Party who executed the two who were shot at the edges of the River Danube so that their bodies fell in and got swept away. Their shoes were usually removed before the execution as they were easier to sell on. The Arrow Cross Party were in power from 15 October 1944 to 28 March 1945 and they killed around 15,000 people directly in that time, accepting no opposition to their campaign of terror and hatred, and tens of thousands more were sent to their deaths in concentration camps.

June 3, 2025
Budapest – District XI (Tap Burger & Beer)

There’s a little bit of a theme that might be visible to my two loyal blog readers about which places in a city I prioritise visiting….. This is the highly rated Tap Burger & Beer located in District XI of Budapest.

It wasn’t that busy when I entered on Sunday afternoon, but it was an inviting and welcoming atmosphere. With a shark.

There are plenty of craft beers to choose from and the list is also on Untappd.

It’s not a huge place, but there’s some more seating upstairs and some tables outside as well where you can enjoy your beer whilst people smoke over you (one day that situation will come to an end) and be bitten by wasps.

I couldn’t see a menu in English but I was planning to have a chicken burger so that proved easy enough to order. The food arrived promptly and was excellent, the chicken had a depth of flavouring to the coating and it was also tender. The fries were some of the best I’ve had, crispy on the exterior and nice and fluffy on the interior with something like a paprika coating on the outside. The bun was lightly toasted and it was all served as a generous portion.

The beer was the Fruit Works – Mango, Passion Fruit and Strawberry from Brew Your Mind, as I very much like fruit and obviously can’t get enough of it. It was lightly soured and refreshing, something that was very useful given the extreme heat outside. Or, at least, what I considered to be the extreme heat. The server didn’t ask if I wanted a small or large beer, just serving me the large, but I think he made the right choice for me there.

The service was friendly and engaging, the venue was clean and the atmosphere was comfortable, so I liked it here. As I mentioned, the on-line reviews for this bar are very high and I can see why they’ve built up something of a following. I’ll likely be back, the beer list was well thought out and curated, with the prices being reasonable (it was around £12 for the burger, fries, sauce and drink).

June 3, 2025
Budapest – District XI (Kelenföld Railway Station Building)

Located in District XI of Budapest, the Kelenföld Railway Station is in a sub-optimal state, but the future is positive as it’s being turned into one of the buildings of the Hungarian Technical and Transportation Museum. The station first opened in 1861 and it’s one of the busiest in Hungary.

The building is fenced off at the moment, although the railway station itself is still in operation.

Here’s what it looked like on Google Streetview in 2013, run down but open. The museum has some images of what the building will look like in a few years and it does look rather exciting from a museum perspective.

June 3, 2025