Oh, hot summer days! Oh, endless summer nights! I wish they’d last forever. Outdoors, that’s where you should be now, in the shades or under the orange-black city skies. In a garden of the “Kazinczy street pub axis”: Kőleves Kert. A fine example for utilizing an empty, deserted site other than turning it into a parking lot.

Kőleves, the “mother ship” is a good place to have a lunch or dinner, and the garden also offers a row of great dishes from noon till late in the night. In this time of the year I definitely prefer eating outdoors.

The place looks really cheerful with colorful tables and chairs, swings instead of bar chairs and other odd accessories. There are small stones spread all over the garden which makes simple walking quite a challenge, especially after a few drinks, so be prepared to leave the bar with enough supplies!

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Kőleves Kert | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Large Soproni beer HUF 480
Kazinczy u. 37 | Central Pest | +3613221011
Sun – Thu 12:00 – 02:00, Fri – Sat 12:00 – 03:00 (closed in case of bad weather)

Before entering the city and becoming a channel forced between concrete quays, the Danube is actually a living river. On the Buda side, north of the Újpest railway bridge there’s a long green esplanade called Római part stretching on the riverbank towards Szentendre. “Római” means Roman, since the ruins of the ancient town “Aquincum” are located nearby.

Római part is full of bars, restaurants mostly serving the same food and lacking a distinct character. The iconic dish, “hekk” is a fish, the number one fish consumed by Hungarians which is funny because it’s a sea fish. You go to lake Balaton, you eat hekk from the Atlantic. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

If you get past the crowd and the twelve-in-a-dozen places, you’ll eventually reach Fellini, this colourful circus car placed near the water with its own beach. Other bars simply don’t use the opportunity to get closer to the water than 10 meters, thus it’s a relief to finally find a place with deck-chairs on the stony beach.

By character I mean that Fellini has a certain atmosphere. The colors, the car, the beach – a very simple idea and it works, because it brings you close to the water in a green setting. Plus they have several Belgian beers on tap, don’t miss the cherry-flavored one!

Downsides? Not too many, not too serious: a bit expensive to my taste, only has a mobile toilet and the water attracts bugs.

I can live with these until I have my cherry beer.

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Fellini Római Kultúrbisztró | Bars, Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks | Glass of Floris Kriek beer HUF 520
Kossuth Lajos üdülőpart 5. | Outer Buda
Mon – Thu 14:00 – 23:00, Fri 14:00 – 00:00, Sat 11:00 – 00:00, Sun 11:00 – 22:00

“Corvin roof” is a club and bar with an open-air area inside and atop Corvin Department Store, an ugly, grey, communist-era building at Blaha Lujza metro station.

Finding the place is a bit tricky, which lends it a sort of “hidden treasure” charm: you have to walk into a side street and look for a cargo elevator at the end of a short passageway, inside a fast food buffet with the sign “Corvin Kifozde”. You can’t call the elevator – it keeps going up and down every few minutes (or you can take the stairs to the top floor, but that’s much less fun). As a very friendly touch, really thirsty or impatient partygoers can buy some drinks from the friendly elevator attendant’s icebox.

In the club you can buy drinks, sit down at a table for a chat, or take to the dance floor. However, if you’re there during the summer and want to see what’s really cool about Corvinteto, you should look for stairs leading up to the building’s spacious rooftop with its own bar, plenty of seating, and much easier conversation without the loud music that plays sometimes. On a warm evening you can really chill out and chat away with a cool urban backdrop surrounding you – and if you get restless, the dance floor is right below.

Do note that the rooftop closes for the winter; no exact closing or opening date, it depends on the weather.

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Corvinteto | Bars, Music | Beer HUF 500
Blaha Lujza tér 1-2 | Central Pest | +36207722984
Mon – Sat 18:00 – 05:00

Csiga is a friendly, cozy café and restaurant with really nice cuisine, rather popular with local expats. A very nice place; not too big, but it always has a relaxed, laid-back atmosphere, and is a good place to visit with a not-too-large group of friends.

I can’t say I’ve tried everything on the menu, but what I’ve tasted so far has always been fine. If you’re going to stay in Budapest for a while, it’s worth checking back, as part of the menu – the one on the blackboard on the wall – sometimes changes.

They also have wi-fi, if you need it.

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Café Csiga | Bars, Restaurants (Various) | Main dishes HUF 1800
Vásár utca 2 | Central Pest | +3612100885
11:00 – 01:00 daily

Kuplung is an indoors equivalent of the beergardens that became so popular in the last decade, and is an excellent place to go if you want to see the boho grungy side of Pest but it happens to be winter. The street entrance is a bit hard to spot – make sure you know the house number! -, but it’s worth the search.

Like many other venues of this style, Kuplung was once a run-down building – an auto repair shop, hence the name meaning “clutch” – that was fixed up, the walls graffitied in cheerful colours, some durable tables and chairs dropped in, and some clever decor added, this one dominated by a large paper whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling.

The main room, even though some other venues might beat it in total floor area, feels comfortably spacious, so you and your party can have some elbow space even when the place is full. There’s also a smaller room where they sometimes have concerts, and a third, more recently opened bar room with a generous size, but I just haven’t got around to drinking in that one yet, so opinion will be forthcoming later.

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Kuplung | Bars, Music | Beers from HUF 500
Király utca 46 | Central Pest
Mon – Sat from 14:00, Sun from 18:00

As the name suggests perfectly, Noir is a chocolate bar. While Hungary is not a chocolate world power like, say, Belgium, Noir certainly does its part in meeting the needs of local chocophiles. It’s got all sorts of chocolates, including hot drinking chocolate, hot drinking chocolate with various spices from chili to cardamom, hot chocolate with or without alchohol, or hot chocolate with or without spices and/or alcohol on ice.

What more need I say? If you have the craving for sweet, sweet (or dark andbitter) chocolate, this is the place to go. Do reserve a table if you’re planning to visit in the evening, it gets crowded around that time.

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Noir ChocoBar | Bars, Snacks | Hot chocolate from HUF 700
Hegedu utca 6 | Central Pest | +36202228555
Sun – Mon 15:00 – 22:00, Tue – Sat 15:00 – 00:00

Pótkulcs is a bar, club and restaurant popular with the bohemian crowd, full of laid-back vibes, but rather crowded sometimes. Located a few minutes’walk from Nyugati train and metro station, it has a garden completely separated from the street by a wall, as well as indoor seating – and some of the fussball tables so ubiquitous in these kinds of places.

Personally, I find the garden to be my favourite part of the locale. There’s nothing objectively special about it, but it’s cozy, charming, and has just enough grass that isn’t covered by chairs and tables. In fact, it has such a nice ambience that once I’ve stayed there late at night just to watch a game of Bridge unfold – and I can’t even play Bridge!

One thing that separates Pótkulcs from many similar venues is that you can get some hot food here, making it a good stopping point on a late night crawl. You’ll need to walk a few minutes from and back to the nearest public transport, but that has the added bonus of clearing a bit of the alcohol haze from your head.

Do note that this is a smokers-friendly place, and the air can get rather thick even in the garden, so if you’re sensitive to cigarette smoke, you might want to go give the place a miss.

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Pótkulcs | Bars, Restaurants (Central-Eastern Eur.) | Beer HUF 450
Csengery utca 65/b | Outer Pest | +3612691050
Sun – Wed 17:00 – 01:30, Thu – Sat 17:00 – 02:30

Szimpla is hands-down the best known and most popular of Budapest’s “kert”-s(“gardens”) – courtyards of condemned or just abandoned buildings transformed into outdoor summer pubs, originally catering mostly for a young, bohemian clientele. As such, it has all the typical accroutements: crumbling architecture, plain but sturdy benches and tables, beer, totally kooky decor, lots of noise, beer, heavily stickered and graffitied toilets, and beer.

While there are many establishments that follow the same recipe, Szimpla is unique for having its own open-air movie theater, where they often play art movies, sparsely screened documentaries and the like. In recent years, they’ve also covered part of the venue with a roof to let them stay open all year round, and expanded into the upper floor, where you can also get some hot grub with your drinks.

Recently, I’ve heard some friends complain that Szimpla is getting too popular and thus too mainstream these days. Well, maybe that’s true – sometimes the crowd and the noise does get a bit too much for my tastes -, but it’s still more than worth checking out if you’re in town. Loud, friendly, visually lush and exciting; a great place to go when the company you desire is more upbeat than sublime.

Also, it’s one of the very few places in town where you can get cider. Pretty expensive – low-quantity import is bound to be pricey -, but there you have it: if you really, really want the stuff, you can get it here.

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Szimpla Kert | Bars, Restaurants (Various) | Beers HUF 500
Kazinczy utca 14 | Central Pest
12:00 – 04:00 daily

You’re walking on Kazinczy street (where Szimpla (check the Szimpla article) can be found too) and the color strikes you: striking pink and blushing green. Hard to resist the temptation, so you enter the bar which you thought was a candy shop judging by the color.

A welcoming and warm interior, comfortable couches await you and two rabbits appear frequently in different situations as part of the design. Many of you from the region surely remember Bob and Bobek from the Czech cartoon series. They started their day every time with some gymnastics after jumping out of the hat. Czech cartoons were frequent guests on Hungarian television in my childhood.

In such a cheerful place there’s only one thing you can do – smile. And then come food and drinks, daily menu or a la carte.

Bobek has a garden in the backyard for those hot summer nights, which turns into a heated winter-garden when leaves start falling. Don’t panic if there’s no place in the pink-green oasis at the front, just boldly walk by the bar and grab your chance outdoors. Still no place to sit? Come on, then grab a drink, think of the rabbits and keep smiling.

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Bobek | Bars, Coffee & tea, Restaurants | Ciabatta from HUF 790
Kazinczy utca 53 | Central Pest | +3613220729
Mon – Thu 10:00 – 00:00, Fri 10:00 – 02:00, Sat 11:00 – 02:00

This quite new bar received its name from Tivadar Mika who was a successful iron and copper-ware factory owner in the last century. Luckily the factory turned into a trendy pub, one of our 7th district hot spot, where you can’t help catch the Budapest night vibe. Although there are 2 floors, the place is almost always full of an arty crowd, mostly from late 20s and upwards.

At the upstairs bar you can drink, sit and talk. Downstairs is the dance hall and concert hall, where you can enjoy DJs, VJs and concerts. In summer  the doors open to the outside bar in the garden (a former parking lot). You can order food such as lángos or french fries, play at the table soccer or just sit (usually there aren’t any free tables) and enjoy the happy mass.

This spot is not a simple café & bar; it is more a “Culture Office” where various types of programs are held such as art performances, film screenings, mini festivals. The concerts offer suit every musical preference – styles range from jazz to swing and from funky to reggae.

I highly recommend Bridzs Party club on Wednesdays, which is an electro/hiphop/jazz/improvisation/freestyle party with vibrant DJ’s and their guests, but jazz Tuesdays are also awesome.

Mika is a lush nighttime playground with flirty atmosphere and all night party. I always have fun time there. Great place to be on hot summer nights!

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Mika Tivadar Bar | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Festivals & events | Beer from HUF 450
Kazinczy u. 47 | Central Pest | +36209653007
Mon – Sat 17:00 – 05:00