Hosting in Budapest

How do you entertain in Budapest? With three waves of Canadians friends due to arrive, I was stressing about how to show everyone a good time. What should we do? Where should we go? These questions haunted me.

When the first batch of friends arrived, we went for a walk along the Danube, and I stopped worrying. Budapest is a city that takes care of its visitors. It’s a hostess all on its own. I have lived here for over six months and I never tire of the sights. The city has the same affect on visiting friends.

Most of my fellow expatriate workers entertain visitors by showing Budapest's most popular sights: Danube River, Castle Hill, Andrassy Avenue, the Baths, to name a few. While I jokingly refer to some of the sites here  as the Stations of the Cross, people come from afar for a reason, these places are incredible.

But like any great city, Budapest will surprise anyone. As we walked along the Danube, Dan, Sid and I saw the Critical Mass bike rally, which included thousands of cyclists, ride past us.

There are also pockets of the city that are not world renowned, but are no less stunning, like the cherry blossoms on the quiet, less tourist-y side of Castle Hill.

Where did all those communist statues and monuments to the liberators, workers and heroes go? To Memento Park. It’s a place I just had to bring my photog-friend Marcin to – even if it meant a trip deep into parts of Buda I am not familiar with. 

All this stress about entertaining didn't matter in the end. For one thing, it doesn't matter what you do, you will always have a great time in the company of great friends. Second, Budapest is a city that might need an introduction, but Budapest makes one hell of an impression on its own.