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I'm curious myself about partying in Eastern Europe
Yeah never been to Eastern Europe myself but i hear stories how great the party scene is over there and that the women are easier+prettier than in West EU.
Bucharest & Budapest are 6th & 8th on the list of Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits, 1st & 2nd in East EU.
I think Bucharest is cheaper but also more dirty and dangerous.
I adore Budapest, fantastic architecture, great cultural life, restaurants, etc... One of the places I could happily live in. Beautiful, beautiful city with fascinating history.
Bucharest iMO is sadly a dump due to the brutal destruction of many parts of the city by the Ceaucescus and their bizarre idea of grandiose brutalist architecture. It does retain some prettier areas but they are overshadowed by the horrors of the rest. Not a nice city at all IMO. So much of the beautiufl historic quarters were destroyed by the Ceaucescus.
I love Romania but mostly the smaller towns and more rural ares like Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountains which are one of Europe's true undiscovered gems.
Budapest is just brilliant though. Like Prague except less phony.
I am in Eastern Europe on holiday at the moment.
I did not bother with Bucharest because the roads suck, drivers are insane and it is not very pretty. There is a Rembrandt in the museum, though. I loved backroad Romania.
Mooseketeer did you read my itinerary?
I am in Eastern Europe on holiday at the moment.
I did not bother with Bucharest because the roads suck, drivers are insane and it is not very pretty. There is a Rembrandt in the museum, though. I loved backroad Romania.
Mooseketeer did you read my itinerary?
I didn't see you intinerary, where have you been so far ? Glad to see I am not the only one who had an aversion to Bucharest. To me it truly was the armpits of Europe. Have you got to Bulgaria ? I love the country though some of the coastal resorts are really quite ugly.
I am astonished that 50% of the people who voted think Bucharest better than Budapest ... Absolutely stunned in fact.
Which is better?
(Weather, safety, cheaper, clean streets, good public transport, food, nightlife, hot women, foreign friendly)
I do meet a lot of Romanian people (mainly expats/immigrants) on holiday, usually they are cool but never did i met someone from Hungary. Why is that?
I spent a month in Budapest, but never been to Bucharest.
I've heard a lot of complaints about Bucharest with tons of stray dogs, and just....rough sounding, I guess. Never been there though. I'll end there with that.
I have spent a month in Budapest. It's a good city, aesthetically-pleasing, has a subway train going in a loop and such.
As to 'foreign friendly', the problem with Hungary is their Hungarian language. They sort of live in a bubble as the language is so different from any other European languages. It creates an isolating barrier between the Hungarian and non-Hungarian. I met very few Hungarians who knew English, and very few non-Hungarians who were able to get down basic Hungarian to communicate.
I was also single and in my mid-20s when I was in Budapest, but nightlife and meeting Hungarians was real difficult because of the language barrier. In fact, it seemed unsurmountable. I've also lived in Asia for many years, in Japan and Korea, neither of which people have good English, but the language barrier felt MUCH MUCH deeper in Hungary, and I just found that the Hungarian locals had very little interest whatsoever in the foreigners (unlike Korea/Japan who might suck with English, but willing to try anyways, especially Koreans).
Because of those reasons, I'd say if you are just looking for a nice city to view and walk around, Budapest is great. If you are looking to meet a bunch of locals and party like a rockstar, you'll probably be disappointed.
My trip was Vienna, Budapest, Northern Romania (Maramures & Transylvania), spas in southern Hungary, Serbia and now Croatia. I leave tomorrow for Ljubjana and home Saturday evening.
I spent a month in Budapest, but never been to Bucharest.
I've heard a lot of complaints about Bucharest with tons of stray dogs, and just....rough sounding, I guess. Never been there though. I'll end there with that.
I have spent a month in Budapest. It's a good city, aesthetically-pleasing, has a subway train going in a loop and such.
As to 'foreign friendly', the problem with Hungary is their Hungarian language. They sort of live in a bubble as the language is so different from any other European languages. It creates an isolating barrier between the Hungarian and non-Hungarian. I met very few Hungarians who knew English, and very few non-Hungarians who were able to get down basic Hungarian to communicate.
I was also single and in my mid-20s when I was in Budapest, but nightlife and meeting Hungarians was real difficult because of the language barrier. In fact, it seemed unsurmountable. I've also lived in Asia for many years, in Japan and Korea, neither of which people have good English, but the language barrier felt MUCH MUCH deeper in Hungary, and I just found that the Hungarian locals had very little interest whatsoever in the foreigners (unlike Korea/Japan who might suck with English, but willing to try anyways, especially Koreans). Which might partially be some of the reasons you seldom ever see them anywhere.
Because of those reasons, I'd say if you are just looking for a nice city to view and walk around, Budapest is great. If you are looking to meet a bunch of locals and party like a rockstar, you'll probably be disappointed.
I suppose I have never partied ( nor wanted to) like a rock-star so did not really miss that much in Budapest ! Though I am sure it has its party spots...
You are right of course the language is incredibly difficult to get to grips with and though I feel I am reasonably gifted at languages it took me a lot of effort to even manage a few sentences.
But I did find Hungarian people very friendly ( especially after my hilarious efforts at Hungarian !) and helpful ( I am disabled and it was one of the places which was the most polite when it came to giving up their seats on public tranport etc...).
Hungarian people are quite reserved but I found once they started to open up they were actually very gregarious . I found my German and French to be invaluable especially with older people and ended up speaking a mixture of pidgin Germano/Franco/Magyar to them which they thought was amusing and I fear endearing !
I have spent many an afternoon in "Gerbeaud's" and "Angelika's" coffee houses , as they such a lovely places to waste a few hours and most times ended up striking a conversation with someone there. Same with quite a few restaurants in town.
I have been to Budapest so many times and I was amazed last time how Westernised it had become in a relatively short period of time. Buidling sites everywhere, almost everyone under the age of 50 had a mobile or a blakcberry it seemed and consumerism was rampant which to me was slightly disappointing . I fear like many places in the world it is losing a lot of its uniqueness and character but to me it still rocks as a city.
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