Living in Budapest for a Month: By the Numbers

Booking a month-long stay in a city I’d never visited before? Eh, why not?

I’ve never talked to anyone who didn’t love Budapest.

Thermal baths, food markets, great architecture, the Danube, and well, ruin pubs, obviously. Throw in affordable costs, especially in the off-season, and it wasn’t a tough decision. Even if it is a little bit snowy and icy sometimes. I can deal with the cold if there’s great food and cheap beer. And there is definitely that and more in Budapest.

Oh, but I did have to update my beloved backpack to a rolling carry-on to carry winter clothes. Check out my Gear page those updates and more.

I’ve mentioned my Budapest budget in my newsletter (over on the sidebar there if you wanna get it), but I feel like I need to explain just how affordable it can be to live in Europe for a month. At least during the winter. Just so you know this isn’t some unattainable dream life…

So here’s a breakdown of the costs and a bit of a recap from living in Budapest for a month. Yep, I did the conversions from Hungarian Forint to USD for you! You’re welcome!

Read More: Vodka, Steak Tartare & History: A Month in Kraków

Rent: $342

Our rent in Budapest was $684 total and luckily, I have Marko to split it with!

So what does that include? Besides all utilities (hell yeah, no bills!) and wifi (necessary since we’re working), we got a spacious three-bed apartment in downtown Budapest just off of Jokai Square with its many restaurants and bars. In hindsight, we were glad not to stay in the Old Town where food and booze were much more expensive. Our apartment was still walkable to things like the Parliament, museums, the Danube, the Jewish Quarter, and the fancier hotels with their casinos.

And quality-wise, this place was great. (See it here and get $40 off your first Airbnb stay here.) High ceilings, spacious as hell, hardwood floors, a huge table where we could spread out and work, and views of the square. The kitchen left a little to be desired, but that didn’t matter because we ate out ALL. THE. TIME. Which brings me to the food…

Food and Booze: $685

Do you really want a number for this one? Food is just always going to be the majority of my budget.

I’d say we ate out about 85 to 90% of the time we were in Budapest. Even at lunch.

As much as I love cooking and shopping in foreign supermarkets where there are all sorts of new things with labels I can’t read (oh, meat spreads, how I love to try you all!), we didn’t cook very much in Budapest. Everything was such good value, restaurants were close, and there were lots of set lunches with a starter and main for around $7. I begrudgingly made a few salads and one pot of chili in the apartment, but that was about it… apart from the casual plates of fresh bread, pate, and cheeses of course!

So how cheap are we talking for meals? We had several dinners of Hungarian home-cookin’ with beers for around $11 or $12 each. Nicer, multi-course dinners with wine were more like $25 each. For lunch, it helped that we had an amazing soup shop and pho place within walking distance where we could have a bowl of something hot for $3-5 while we took a break from work.

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about all the hearty, meaty foods in Hungary at first. Would I get bored? Would it be bland? Would I add a second layer to my winter body and then curse this capital city? Uhh, that’s a big N-O.

It turns out I love things like red wine beef goulash with nokedli (Hungarian noodle/dumpling things), fried camembert with blackberry jam (a staple appetizer on menus and amazing), mushroom goulash, schnitzel (especially the ones stuffed with cheese), meat-filled crepes (known as hortobágyi palacsinta), and the delectable fried dough with toppings that is langos. For a belated Valentine’s Day, we went to a Michelin-recommended restaurant, Fricska, and got three courses each and multiple wines for about $100. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I don’t deserve things that are beautifully plated with foam and purees and tongue… but I had them anyway.

For more amazing meals, check out my post on Portugal.

Hungarian wine is also a great value, though I’ll be honest, I didn’t find it super amazing… probably because I was being cheap and/or could never really read the labels. But there’s no shortage of beers. Our preferred drinking spots included the pub downstairs and this little underground Czech beer hall that served up sausages with brown bread and mustard. Mmmm…

Almost every meal we had at a restaurant was solid. Service can be a little cold, but hey, I’m just in it for the food.

Activities: Széchenyi Baths ($20) and Wine Cruise on the Danube ($37)

These were the priciest activities we did in Budapest and some of the most typical tourist attractions in the city. The baths are pricey, but there are so many rooms and pools and saunas that you could really take advantage and spend all afternoon there. We went at night and it was very cool with all the swirling steam. You can also have beers there… but don’t take them in the water with you (because you will get yelled at by the lifeguard beer-patrol guy)!

Our wine cruise was minimalist, short, booze-filled, and thus perfect for us. Marko had a friend come to visit and so that really pushed us to get out and do things. We had seven not-so-small tastings of different Hungarian wines while we cruised up and down the Danube, taking in views of the Parliament and a short Hungarian history lesson. Totally worth it.

One tip: Perhaps consider what you’ll be doing later in the day if you start by drinking this much wine just after lunchtime…

So what else did we do in our month here?

Had a lot of drinks out… at Szimpla Kert ruin pub (yeah, yeah, it’s the most famous one, but it’s huge and pretty impressive), at a rooftop bar with our old roommate from Lisbon, and at the aforementioned underground Czech bar with sausages.

On several Saturdays, we hit farmers markets (check out the one at Szimpla), watched the Six Nations rugby at Irish pubs (thanks, Marko!), browsed cool vintage shops, and wandered a lot, including a stroll past Parliament and along the Danube. We ventured across the Chain Bridge and up to the Castle (despite a hangover), and walked through the Great Market Hall for photos and Hold Market where we grabbed lunch a few times. (Is the casino considered an activity?)

If it’s up your alley, you can also go to the opera for cheap in Budapest! It sounds cool and I could probably use the culture, but to be honest, I thought I might get a little bored.

Transportation: $25

Like I said, super walkable!

Just a minibus from the airport to town ($17), the tram to and from the Széchenyi thermal bath ($2.74), and a taxi scheduled on Taxify to the bus station when it was time to leave (shared, $4.60). Budapest doesn’t have Uber, but we never actually needed to use it for day-to-day things or even our nights out.

Gym: $40

A little pricey for a month, but what’re you gonna do. Get fat?

It was open 24/7, you had your own little access code to get in, and it was only a couple blocks from our apartment.

And by the way, healthcare costs were $0 this month, though I did learn you can’t buy birth control pills over the counter in Hungary – my first time ever hearing “no” from a pharmacist! Read my post on long-term travel and healthcare.

Total Cost for a Month in Budapest: $1,244

I probably forgot to write down a few beers here and there, mostly because of the beers here and there, but this is what I spent over 28 days of living in Budapest. The total even includes my bus ride all the way to Poland ($25). So that’s pretty solidly under my $50-per-day budget of $1,400. Yeah, I’m proud.

Budapest was definitely a place where I didn’t feel like I had to be cheap. We stuffed ourselves constantly, did not go easy on the drinks while we were out, and even though Budapest isn’t cheap-cheap like much of Central or Eastern Europe, it was super affordable for us during the month of February.

And then it was time to go to Krakow…

Ever been to Budapest? Where else would you recommend for a cheap month in Europe? I’m always looking!

Where I Stayed: This aparment in Jokai Ter, kind of a downtown area but still walkable to the Old Town. Use Airbnb for the first time with this link and get $40 off

Where to Eat in Budapest: Hip, trendy, meaty Cupakos is great value and delicious (oh my, the bread!). Hold Utca Market for the most beautiful and enormous schnitzel (and a huge line), but also the cheaper, homey places on either side of it – one of them has greasy sausages and the other has great porkolt. For a cheap lunch, head to Hokedli for hearty, vegetable-based soups or Funky Pho for the best pho I’ve had outside of Vietnam. For a delicious family-style (not fancy food) try Papa Frici (get the red wine beef or mushroom goulash and fried camembert), Tukory Restaurant, or the slightly upscale though touristy Regos Vendeglo. And if you’re craving Indian, Indigo Indian Restaurant is like whoah good.

Where to Drink: Try the underground, basic Czech beer hall Jaromír 68 for tasty pints and sausages. Everybody goes to Szimpla Kert for nights out, but try it on Sundays in the morning and early afternoon for the market where you can have beers and try plates of meats and cheeses while perhaps listening to a little live music. For a chill local pub, try Kiado Kocsma, which was right below our apartment – they have great pate and cozy surroundings. For views of the city with slightly overpriced drinks, 360 Bar is cool for just one. If you need to watch rugby with a big crowd, head to Jack Doyle’s Irish Pub. If you must have craft beers, try Wunder Sörművek. For the cheapest beers we had plus a projector screen showing 90s music videos, try the amazingly named Barhole.