“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.

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.

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!

GMK is a welcome addition to Budapest’s club scene,  located in the 7th district, very close to other popular bars such as 400 and Mika. The crowd is basically the same, real underground clubbers, who come for the upbeat and tasteful music selection.

GMK is a classy and intimate pub, brick walls, high ceiling and moody lighting. In the middle of the venue there is a long drinking area with bar chairs and sofas as well. It is awesome and perfect for sipping on cocktails with friends.

Downstairs there is a stage and a large dance floor space where you can dance the night way to live DJs and bands. The styles will change depending on what night you’re there. Almost every night something is happening here. The club also features concerts and art shows. When good weather arrives you can sit also outside, there aren’t many tables, but most of the guests like standing and chatting outside.

Open to anyone looking for a good time and ready to get down with some first-class DJ’s.

Stop in and see for yourself how a real party is thrown.

I was a bit shocked to find this cafe/bar/mini-theatre had been redesigned last year. They had got rid of their old cushions and their crappy-but-we-like-it furniture. I was afraid the feeling of enjoying an underground hidden place would be gone forever.

But I was thrilled to see – a few months later – that the new ‘IKEA’ tables had been repainted the Cökxpôn way! And all the rest remained: the colourful Tibetan-style curtains going from one wall to the other, the Indian chai they serve and the two rooms in the cellar which are used for performances.

So I’d say you can safely go back to the place, you won’t sense a tremendous change if you happened to know the latest version.

Indeed, Cökxpôn, whose name is impossible to pronounce even for Hungarians, is actually a DJ and performers’ heaven. This bar is no more than Cökxpôn ambient society’s headquarters – and these guys have their own tent on the big Sziget festival.

There is something happening almost every day here on their Boráros tér hang-out, usually till quite late. And the place now opens during the day and got wifi (I can tell you it didn’t before!), so they are probably going to see me even more often!