HUNGARIAN
TOURIST OFFICE: A
wonderful resource, with
all the best information to visit Budapest and Hungary = http://www.hungary.com
BUDAPEST
TOURIST OFFICE: Visit
the Budapest's
official touristical homepage to perfectly organize your
trip. It provides
on a mouse click most useful information on the city, sights,
excursions
and, last but not least, it allows very convenient on-line
hotels booking and on-line
services (Travel Offers, Domestic holidays, Travel Agencies ,
Programs
, and Air Tickets) = http://www.budapestinfo.hu
BUDAPEST
CARD: "The
whole city in your pocket"
is the motto of the Budapest Card, introduced by the The services of the card are detailed in a 100 paged, coloured publication in Hungarian, English, German and Italian languages. This publication introduces the use of the Budapest Card and the servicing enterprise (with photo, address, opening hours, entrance fees and discounts). Budapest
Card, valid for one adult and one child up to 14 years of age, costs
HUF
3950 for 48 hours or HUF 4950 for 72 hours. It is available in more
than
250 places in Budapest: main metro ticket offices, tourist information
bureaus, travel agencies, hotels and the airport. You can
also find
it abroad, at major tour operators including Hungary in their programmes.
BUDAPEST
OPERA HOUSE: Built in 1884 by Hungarian architect Miklos
Ybl, very
much influenced by the neo-Renaissance Wien Stadt Oper, the Budapest
Opera
House BUDAPEST
OPERA HOUSE (Magyar Allami Operahaz): Andrassy ut. 22,
Budapest VI
BUDAPEST
SPRING FESTIVAL: Just
like every year since
decades, the Budapest Spring Festival (April 10 - 26, 2015) will
open the musical season in Hungary with Everything is given for the festival: famous orchestras, celebrated performing artists, world opera première, experimental dance, and contemporary artists. The Budapest Spring Festival 2015 will highlight chamber music: featuring the performance of rarely heard duos and trios, with evenings are devoted to rarely heard composers. Don't miss the concerts in the new Palace of Arts (wonderful design and acoustic), Budapest Opera House, Pesti Vigado, and Academy of Music. BUDAPEST
SPRING FESTIVAL HOMEPAGE & PROGRAM 2015 BUDAPEST
SPA CITY: The
abundance of medicinal
waters in Budapest is unparalleled. A capital city featuring the
highest
number of medical thermal springs in the world, SEE
OUR REVIEW OF THE SPA FACILITIES IN BUDAPEST
CITY TOURS & EXCURSIONS BY CITYRAMA: Cityrama tour operator ranks about the top best in Hungary in term of quality and level of services. Featured for high-class operations, it cares about each detail. Those include airport pick-up by a luxurious air-conditioned van / minibus. Cityrama will take you to a fantastic tours of Budapest: this is the best opportunity to see the city highlights. But, what we actually liked in Cityrama, is this alternative to go behind the scene and explore areas not highlighted by the guidebooks. When choosing, up to your hobbies, tastes and age, a philatelic tour, a gourmet tour, a business opportunity tour or, why not, a retirement tour, you may be sure to see Hungary a much different way than anybody else visiting it with a group of tourists. But tourism isn't set apart: with recommended excursions to the Balaton lake (the Hungarian Sea), to the amazing Danube Bend and Visehrad, or to the Serb Szentendre artists’ village with its art galleries and splendid orthodox churches. Behind the scene again, visits to the Heviz hot water lake, or to the Eger and Tokaj wine regions are warmly recommended. They will give the traveller a true picture of this very unique country in Europe. Private transfers, rent-a-bike and further options are also available through Cityrama |
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is
widely regarded as one of the finest in Europe. Smaller than any other
world class concert hall, this is nevertheless one of the most charming
in the world. Hundred thousands tourists and opera aficionados come
each
year from round the world: sometimes just to see the frescoes painted
by
Karoly Lotz. Despite of Communism (which made the seats affordable for
everybody) the Opera House always kept its quality in term of programs,
musicians and singers. Of course, time when prestigious foreign
directors
like Gustav Mahler were hired to manage it is over. But the last
concerts
we could hear recently at the Budapest Opera House were very high
standard.
Richard Wagner, Mozart, but also national composers like Bela Bartok or
the much venerated Ferenc Erkel (author of Hungary's anthem), are
particularly
well served. Blue Beard Castle (from Bartok) or Hunyadi Laszlo (from
Erkel),
though both quite hermetic to the non initiated melomaniac, are
regularly
at the program: this is worth the booking, as few opera houses in the
world
ever show those purely Magyar creations. Still cheap compared to the
Western
concert halls, mostly when reservation is done directly at the Opera
booking
office, the place is actually worth the trip. During the break, don’t
forget
to have a glass of Tokaji at the Buffet or on its terrace. Black tie is
not necessary; but formal dress is kindly suggested.
prestigious
events and a remarkable street animation in Pest downtown (Vorosmarty
square,
Vaci street, River Danube banks...). This event, attended by
international
melomaniacs and tourists alike, is not thematic: it is characterised by
variety and abundance, by the concentration and juxtaposition of highly
promising concerts, stage productions and exhibitions, involving the
whole
city; in contrast to festivals that are addressed to connoisseurs and
concentrate
on a single theme.
Budapest
was granted the title of « Spa City » in 1934. The Celts and
the Romans used the hot springs on the Buda side, and the name of
Aquincum
may also refer to the springs. (The name may be a derivation from the
Celtic
word for ‘water’, or from the Latin aqua quinque, ‘five waters’.) There
is probably no other capital city on the globe with swimming pools and
bathing halls dating back to the Turkish occupation and still in use
today,
with thermal spas irradiating the rich colours and forms of Art Nouveau
and featuring one of the largest spas in Europe. Natural springs and
wells
in the territory of Budapest (a total of 118 different sources) provide
up to 30,000 cubic metres of 21-76o C thermal water every day: mostly
dolomitic
water ranging from lukewarm karst to thermal hot water. Romans used 14
thermal spas, and a British traveller reported 10 spas in Turkish times
(1669). There are 24 medical spas, public baths, indoor and outdoor
swimming
pools in the capital today, ten with a special medical capacity and
therapeutic
value.
