Image by Szilva Eszter

Facades of classic cinemas with their black letters and neon commercials always impress me. The entrance of Szikra Cool Tour House opposite Nyugati station is one of these spots. The name of this complex institution is a Hunglish word pun: kultúrház (yes, to be pronounced Cool Tour House) means cultural center especially since the early socialist era where different events were organized from official celebrations to concerts of local choirs. Szikra’s programs are just as diverse.

Built in the 1920s, Szikra functioned as a cinema until the end of the 1990s. Its main sensation is the roof of its theatre room which can be opened and closed thanks to a clever machinery. When I was there last time at a Pecha Kucha night, the audience gathering to listen to designers and architects was just as amazed by discovering the starry night above their heads as cinema goers of the 1920s could have been. There’s something magical about sitting in a traditional theatre and watching the sky framed by golden stuccos.

Szikra admittedly goes against Budapest’s famous ruin bar trend by evoking a cabaret milieu. The ornate and shiny decors and the posh bar go perfectly with the atmosphere of the theatre. The program ranges from mainstream to alternative, from jazz concerts to independent theatre performances or DJ sets. The building houses a bar and bistro which you can reach from the street from as early as 8 o’clock in the morning. The snacks and drinks keep you sated until the show begins.

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Szikra | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Music, Snacks, Theaters | Espresso HUF 250
Budapest, 1066, Teréz krt. 62. | Central Pest | +3619110911
Sun – Tue 10:00 – 02:00, Wed – Thu 10:00 – 04:00, Fri – Sat 10:00 – 06:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by András Nagy

Narrow steps lead to the basement of an old house in Kertész street. Bricks and painted surfaces vary on the walls of this small bar. If you happen to speak Finnish, you’ll know that the bar’s name has a “slight” sexual connotation. Watch out, if you see pink lights and dancing girls, you’re on the opposite side of the street in the peep show basement. Vittula has some kind of artsy punk feel and I can imagine that in the back catacombs reach under the blocks to the edge of the city.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights alternately entertain with concerts and parties, other nights are for hanging out with drinks. Not Sundays though, that’s for resting. The connecting gallery, Contemporary Art Space presents, guess what, contemporary art, which means funny or confusing stuff worth to see.

Opening times are somewhat chaotic, Vittula might open at 18:00 or not, more importantly they stay open till the break of down, that’s the reason behind most of my visits this far.

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Klub Vittula | Bars, Music | Beer HUF 390
Kertész utca 4 | Central Pest
Mon – Fri 18:00 – 04:00, Sat 20:00 – 04:00

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Image by Miklos Zsamboki

“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

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Image by Miklos Zsamboki

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

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Image by András Nagy

The former Corvin Áruház hosts two spots at once: Jelen [present] on the ground floor and Corvintető on the top floor. This duality lets you combine alcohol and concerts, starting on the ground floor and going high or beginning at the top and slowly sinking down to the very bottom. It’s close to a major traffic conjunction still in a small street, a cozy and spacey pub at the same time with three rooms, as you can see on the photos.

I’ve been wondering why the concert room of Jelen is smaller than the actual pub area. The more the merrier? Indeed. All of my concert memories tell about a heavy crowd although there might have been only 50 people. Nice trick! However, they never charged me for a concert. Regarding the musical profile, I’d tick the ‘jazz’ and ‘world music’ boxes on the query.

The wine bar has a pretty solid assortment of wines from all over the country, also for take-away. Jelen feeds you bistro food, they have a brunch menu, a lunch menu and a la carte meals.

It’s an excellent stop on your downtown bar hopping tour, easy to reach and within a block you’ll have several other places to visit. Due to the late closing time there is no hurry, just make sure you find your way back home.

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Jelen | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | Soproni beer HUF 490
Blaha Lujza tér 1-2 | Central Pest | +36203443155
Mon – Tue 11:00 – 02:00, Wed – Fri 11:00 – 04:00, Sat 16:00 – 04:00, Sun 16:00 – 02:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by András Nagy

Stuff, lots of stuff. On the walls, on the lamps, on the doors. This is the first thing you notice and the collection of Babos Zsili Bertalan grabs your attention for at least a half an hour. Funny reinventions of Barbie dolls, toys, signs, a bike or a lifebuoy stare at you all over the place. Even the menu is a bit special, blackboards are used in many bars but this one is simply enormous. Click for photos.

They have a wise choice of location: off Múzeum körút, just 50 meters away from one of the biggest university campuses in Budapest – the place is packed day and night. The chaos on the walls, the eclectic variety of furniture create a mellow atmosphere but Csendes is not really quiet as the name would suggest. Live music and live acts entertain the guests who, according to the owners’ plans can easily get to know each other and spend quality time together in the ‘living space’ as the place defines itself.

The days of the week are scheduled for various programs: Mondays for films and photos, Tuesdays for old Hungarian music, Wednesdays live music, Thursdays dj-s vs. instruments, Fridays Balkan music, Saturdays apéro i.e. warm-up with aperitifs for the night and finally Sundays literature or theatre.

Relax a bit in Károlyi Gardens around the corner before coming inside to join the company.

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Csendes Létterem | Art & culture, Bars, Cinemas, Music, Theaters, Festivals & events | Soproni beer HUF 480
Ferenczy István utca 5 | Central Pest | +36307588935
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 00:00, Sat 10:00 – 00:00, Sun 14:00 – 00:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Hélène Bienvenu

Trafó is the first name that comes to my mind when I think of alternative cultural centres in Budapest. It is located at the heart of the 9th disctrict (Ferencváros).

The place stands in a building which was once a power-station (a ‘Trafó’) left abandoned during Communism, to be squatted by French anarchists -well done guys!- at the beginning of the 90′s. The place got funding and official support later on: Trafó officially opened its doors in 1998.

The place really deserves its second name ‘the house of contemporary arts’. If you go downstairs, you’ll find an exhibition space, as well as a nightclub – Mappa (ex- bar-tango). Upstairs, that’s where the stage is.

Trafó has the most interesting and eclectic event-calendar ever. It works as a theatre, a concert-hall, a workshop area, a gallery… Contemporary dance companies regularly come to perform here, including Josef Nadj and Pal Franak. There’s been some concerns recently about Trafó’s ownership, hopefully there won’t be significant changes…

Though it hosts a variety of concerts, I’d say Trafó mostly features world and oriental music. Big names show up quite regularly actually. Last year I got to see Mohammad Motamedi (Iranian classical music), recently I saw the Gundecha brothers (on the picture) as Trafó and Tilos radio sometimes put together classical Indian music master classes.

There’s also a café (with wifi), where to have a drink before and after the shows. In fact, Trafó is an open-place, it has a bit of everything for everyone, not only for contemporary art freaks!

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Trafó | Art & culture, Bars, Music, Theaters | Ticket from HUF 1000
Liliom utca 41 | Central Pest | +3614562040
Box office Mon – Fri 16:00 – 20:00, Sat – Sun 17:00 – 20:00 (till 22.00 on performances’ days).

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Hélène Bienvenu

Budapest nightlife is all about ‘ruin pubs’. It’s been the ongoing trend for a while now (for almost ten years, with Szimpla popping-up first).

A ruin pub is simply a bar set in squat-looking environment. The surroundings and the building themselves look pretty abandoned (and they truly are till some investor takes over and closes the bar down). You just have to go over the prejudice of the shady outside and you’ll find yourself in a real hive, with people all around, noisy conversations, Dj mixing in the background and funny old-school furniture.

Fogasház is another embodiment of what has become a ‘Budapest concept’. Compared to other more famous ruin pubs, Fogasház – which really started off in the summer of 2010 – is clearly smaller, lower-key, less touristy (well, not sure now!) but equally crowed on the week-ends. The decoration is probably a bit less inventive than in other places, yet Fogasház has clearly become the place to go for an arty night in town right at the heart of the Jewish district.

There are often exhibitions going on there, plus there is a ping-pong table, and of course, a cso-csó (a table football – which is the minimum standard for a good Hungarian bar)! If you’re hungry, you can order pizza by the slice just at the entrance (pretty good and inexpensive).

Warning: Fogasház is not the right spot if you promised yourself you’ll go out for a beer or two only, the DJs will make you stay till the wee hours!

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Fogasház | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks | 0.5L beer HUF 400
Akácfa utca 51 | Central Pest | +36305003749
10:00 – 04:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Hélène Bienvenu

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!

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Cökxpôn | Bars, Music | Chai HUF 380
Soroksári utca 8-10 | Central Pest | +36308264804
Mon – Wed 14:00 – 00:00, Thu 14:00 – 02:00, Fri 12:00 – 04:00, Sat 18:00 – 04:00, Sun 18:00 – 00:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest

Image by Hélène Bienvenu

Budapest cultural heart now beats in Ferencváros, a former industrial district of Budapest. Well at least it is true for the Pest side of the Lágymányosi bridge, where lots of things happen since the opening up of MUPA in 2005, and right in front of it, of the National Theatre (in 2000).

The district is often overlooked by visitors as it is not exactly in the centre but you should really consider going, it’s not far at all (tram 2 goes from Jászai Mari tér up to Millenáris kulturális központ, it’s a 15′ ride). Architecturally wise the two buildings belong to the modern – not to say hypermodern – genre but forget about the aesthetics and have a look at the programs instead!

MUPA means “the palace of arts” in Hungarian and indeed, that’s what it is. This enormous cultural complex is home to two concert-halls and to the Ludwig múzeum – Hungarian contemporary arts museum (highly recommended).

MUPA has a broad, exceptionally good and busy musical offer. Not only does it host operas and classical musical concerts led by world-famous conductors, it also features folk, world and jazz concerts and even dance performances. Big stars such as Cesaria Evora, Bregovic, Adam Fischer, Natacha Atlas… have been seen on stage at MUPA.

Note that with your student card you can get in for 500 Ft an hour before (valid for concerts played in Béla Bartók National concert hall and at the Festival Theatre). A real bargain (but you may not get a proper seat)!

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MUPA – MŰVÉSZETEK PALOTÁJA | Art & culture, Music, Shopping, Theaters, Festivals & events | Performance from HUF 1 500
Komor Marcell utca 1 | Central Pest | +3615553300
10:00 – 22:00 daily (no concerts/performances in summer)

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Budapest