Budapest News
No Excuses. Jail Time for Rip-Off Club Manager
May 30th, 2013Three-and-a-half years in prison for kidnapping. This is what the Supreme Court upheld in the case of Anna Mária T. who prevented tourists from leaving the club until they pay exorbitant bills. The charges stemmed from two...
Read more »Skimpy-spenders Cause Airline Bankruptcy
Apr 30th, 2013Foreign tourists are tending to stay for shorter periods in Hungary and to spend less, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) says. The number of foreign visitors staying more than one day fell from 5.3 million in 2011 to 5.1 million last year while...
Read more »Hungarians: Europe’s top pessimists
Mar 30th, 2013According to the survey, eighty-eight per cent of Hungarians thought the country was in an economic crisis in the final quarter of 2012, one percentage point less than in the third quarter and three percentage points lower than in Q4 2011. The...
Read more »Google Street View Allowed in Budapest
Feb 5th, 2013Google is free to roll out its Street View service in Hungary after getting the nod from the National Data Protection and Freedom of Information Authority (NAIH), chairman Attila Pterfalvi said on Monday. A position formulated earlier by former data...
Read more »Giant Lizard Found in Hungary
Jan 15th, 2013Pannoniasaurus, a new type of the long-extinct marine lizards, mosasaurs, was discovered by biologist Michael Caldwell from University of Alberta in a bauxite mine in Hungary. It grew up to six metres long and its toothy mouth and crocodile-like body...
Read more »No Way to Play. Olympic Games in Budapest Inaffordable
Dec 24th, 2012Budapest has the qualities necessary to win the right to host the Olympics, but the city - and the country - could not hold the Games due to poor financial condition, says a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). The idea of hosting first Olympic...
Read more »Budapest Trams Turn 125
Dec 6th, 2012On Nov. 28., 1887 the first electrical tram line was opened in Budapest, between jpest-Vroskapu and Klvin square, through Vci St. The track gauge of this first line was 1000 millimeters and electricity was supplied to the cars from below to avoid...
Read more »Rudas Ancient Baths Reopened
Nov 26th, 2012Built in the 16th century by the Turks and as of yet scruffy, historical Rudas Baths house has finally been reopened after renovation. Now the exterior of the historical building, with the charcteristic dome and hexagonal thermal pool finally...
Read more »Stink gives away garlic smugglers
Jun 29th, 2012Five men have been charged under suspicion of handling stolen goods after police halted a 9-ton haul of garlic at the Hungarian border. Three vehicles were apprehended, with police noting that the drivers were carrying three times the legal load....
Read more »Marathon runner sets out from Budapest to London
Jun 2nd, 2012A 25-year-old Hungarian has set off on an epic fund-raising run to London to tie in with next month's Olympic Games. Norman Varga has 1240 miles ahead of him before he can give his trainers a rest. His challenge amounts to 50 marathons in 50...
Read more »Bookworms' banquet comes to Budapest
Apr 29th, 2012The UK's Hay Book Festival, described by Bill Clinton as the Woodstock of the mind, is due in Budapest this May. Guests run the gamut from a Chinese dissident to a Habsburg archduke, with a rock star thrown in for good measure. The event kicks...
Read more »President stripped of doctorate
Mar 30th, 2012The career of Hungarian President Pal Schmitt seems in danger of going up the spout after it was revealed that his university doctorate was not as original as it had once appeared. Schmitt had written his magnum opus on the history of the Olympic...
Read more »Congressmen honour hero of Budapest
Feb 26th, 2012Delegates from the US Congress descended on Budapest in late February to honour one of the most remarkable figures of the 2nd World War. Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who was born a hundred years ago, is credited with saving approximately...
Read more »Hoo-ha over Hungary's Gay Olympics
Dec 29th, 2011Budapest's mayor has spoken out against the so-called Gay Olympics, which is set to be held in the Hungarian capital next June. I disassociate myself from both the lifestyle and the event, Istvan Tarlos affirmed in a statement concerning the...
Read more »Budapest among Europe's top ten shopping cities
Nov 22nd, 2011Budapest nipped into the top ten in a survey assessing the all round quality of experience for travellers shopping abroad. The Hungarian capital took tenth place in the so-called Globe Shopper City Index, which comes under the auspices of...
Read more »Museum quarter could be built by 2017
Oct 30th, 2011A bold project to create a cultural quarter in the Hungarian capital is being touted as a tool to help rebrand the city. Laszlo Baan, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, said the project will place Budapest among the continent's top ten most...
Read more »WW II bomb found in Danube river
Oct 22nd, 2011A 500 kilo blind was located in Budapest's Old Town, near an old, iron bridge. 8,000 people had to be evacuated for security reasons, as Budapest police commenced process of removing the bomb. The pyrotechnic crew managed to obtain the bomb safely...
Read more »Councillors seek to strip writer of honour
Sep 26th, 2011Councillors in Budapest's municipal assembly have voted in favour of stripping an ageing writer of his honorary citizenship. Akoz Kertesz, a novelist, has been published in several languages. The furore is over an acidic diatribe which...
Read more »Keanu Reeves goes samurai in Budapest
Aug 21st, 2011Matrix star Keanu Reeves has been indulging in some swordplay in the Hungarian capital, where the first part of a new samurai epic has just been filmed. 47 Ronin revives a real-life tale about a group of samurai warriors who seek to avenge the...
Read more »Steamy period drama shot in Budapest twilight
Jul 26th, 2011The trailer for the upcoming movie Bel Ami, shot in Budapest and starring Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci and Robert Pattinson, has just been released. Based on the turn of the century novel of the same name by Guy de Maupassant, Bel Ami sees Twilight...
Read more »Clown Revolution Engulfs Budapest
Jun 20th, 2011As many as 10,000 people took to the streets of Budapest on 16th June in protest against a raft of new cuts by the government. A large proportion of the marchers were dressed as clowns participants hailed the demonstration as a Clown Revolution. ...
Read more »German execs outed for steamy Budapest bonus
May 24th, 2011A top German insurance company has been hauled over the coals after it emerged that 100 top-performing employees were treated to a weekend in Budapest with a tawdry twist. Leading news sources Der Spiegel and Deutsche Welle carried details of the...
Read more »Brad Pitt reveals Budapest heartbreak
Apr 22nd, 2011Hollywood star Brad Pitt, who's not short of female admirers, has revealed that it wasn't always plain-sailing in the romance department, and that he once had his heart broken in Budapest. Back in 1989, when Brad was a struggling actor with few...
Read more »Elvis honoured in Budapest
Mar 27th, 2011The king of rock n roll is set to have a square named after him in Hungary's capital. 'The reasons for honouring him are not sentimental but political,' says mayor of the city, Istvan Tarlos. It turns out that the American bopmaster made a...
Read more »Silver Bear for Hungarian horse
Feb 21st, 2011Veteran film director Bela Tarr has scooped the Silver Bear at this year's Berlinale. The Turin Horse, a sombre, black and white study of an ageing peasant and his steed enthralled critics at the film festival. Tarr, who is not overly advanced...
Read more »Daniel Craig billed for Budapest movie
Jan 24th, 2011It has been reported that Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz are due to star in an intense drama about communist show trials in Budapest. The man behind the film is Andy Vajna, the Budapest-born big shot who produced such blockbusters as the Rambo...
Read more »Lenin Going, Going, Gone
Dec 30th, 2010Scores of Soviet-related knickknacks have been auctioned off to help raise money for Hungarys recent toxic disaster. The sale, held in what was once a warehouse for Hungarys secret police, garnered a great deal of interest from both the curious and...
Read more »The Raven Lands in Budapest
Nov 22nd, 2010Budapest is currently providing the backdrop for a big-budget flick based on the life of gothic writer extraordinaire Edgar Allen Poe. The Raven stars John Cusack in the role of the cult author. The plot takes a fanciful look at the last few days of...
Read more »Budapest: Hollywood on the Danube?
Oct 18th, 2010Angelina Jolie is the latest in a series of stars to decamp to Budapest for some movie-making antics. The Hollywood star was in town this October for the filming of her unlikely directorial debut, a fable said to be about a Muslim woman who falls in...
Read more »Budapest's Oldest Synagogue Relaunched
Sep 16th, 2010The Chief Rabbi of Hungary and Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjn took part in the reopening of Budapest's oldest Synagogue on September 4th. The ceremony, which was attended by 1500 members of the Jewish community, chimed in with Rosh Hashanah, the...
Read more »Parking switch
Jun 15th, 2010For those of you who will be using the Budapest Airport this summer be aware that the GAT Car Park will be closed for the next few months. According to airport site the existing car park access and exit will be closed during the development work,...
Read more »A bit of Twilight in Budapest?
Apr 21st, 2010If it's good enough for vegetarian vampires, then Budapest is probably safe for us day-walkers as well. The city is abuzz with rumours that the two stars of the hit teen (or is it pre-teen or tween or ... whatever) show, "Twilight", are coming back...
Read more »It's G'day to Zoo's New Arrivals
Jan 29th, 2010It was a down-under day to remember as the city's zoo opened its new Australia House dedicated to all manner of creepy crawlies, wombats and parading parrots this week.The new Antipodean attraction was unveiled on January 26th - Australia Day which...
Read more »A Five-Star Experience at the Palace of Arts
Jan 21st, 2010Budapest's Palace of Arts, one of the city's premier cultural meccas, is celebrating its fifth birthday this month with some spectacular competitions and offers for everyone.Here's a flavour of what's in store: For budding photographers there's the...
Read more »Discounts Galore with Budapest Card 2010
Jan 17th, 2010Make the most of your trip to the Hungarian capital by making sure you pick up a new 2010 BudapestCard, which is choc-a-block full of money-saving offers to help you get the most out of your stay. The new card out this month entitles you to: - up to...
Read more »Slow Down says City Bods
Jan 11th, 2010Zany, Hungarian style race track driving may soon be a thing of the past as the New Year saw new rules for drivers aimed at getting them to use their brake pad a bit more.If you're driving through the city streets, whether on four wheels or two,...
Read more »Santa Strips Off
Dec 27th, 2009Santa got a little raunchy just before Christmas in the Hungarian capital, when 100 local residents took to the streets in little more than bright red g-strings and bobble hats all in the good cause of raising money for cystic fibrosis. The madcap...
Read more »Christmas Tram comes to Town
Dec 19th, 2009You might need to blink twice in case you think you've just caught a glimpse of a ghostly apparition on tracks approaching you...but it fact its the city's Christmas tram dressed up with thousands of neon lights, gaily coasting the city's rails after...
Read more »Ex-pats get a taste of back home
Dec 12th, 2009You now no longer need to stock up your rucksack with copious amounts of Marmite and baked beans next time you fly home to visit mum with your dirty laundry, because last month a new food store opened up, proudly billing itself as 'The English Food...
Read more »Budapest Winter Attracts Visitors
Dec 10th, 2009Several of the top Budapest hotels, including the Hilton Budapest WestEnd, have joined together to make Budapest a winter destination this year. A new promotion dubbed "Budapest Winter" means that if you pay for two nights at one of the participating...
Read more »The Magic of Christmas comes to Vörösmarty Square
Nov 21st, 2009Some claim it's what Eastern European cities were made for - the magical, fairytale Christmas market with sizzling sausages, mugs of warm, frothy mead and hot wine and stalls laden with enough homespun treats and trinkets to keep Santa in business...
Read more »Hamilton Whizzes to Win in Budapest
Aug 15th, 2009Lewis Hamilton was back on the podium No 1 spot after winning his first grand prix race of the year at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest in July.It was a nail-biting few days for the British No1 after he failed to take the initial lead on the...
Read more »How to Scam a Tourist
Jul 12th, 2009Well the ticket inspectors on the Budapest Metro seem to have perfected the art of fleecing hapless tourists out a good 25 euro.Visitors to the city have reported how often they can't buy metro tickets at some stations, particularly on line 1 which...
Read more »Eastern Europe's Most 'Live-able' City
Jun 15th, 2009Budapest has come top among Eastern Europe cities as being the most 'live-able' - according to a new poll by the Economist Intelligence Unit.The British based research unit's annual poll looked at cities in the world and totted up their scores...
Read more »Hungarian Gays Win the Right to 'Wed'
May 9th, 2009Hungary is leading the way in Eastern Europe for gays and lesbians after the Government announced that from 1 July same sex couples will be able to register their partnerships. The new law will give gay couples, when both partners are over the age...
Read more »Elephants Rally In Budapest
Apr 24th, 200980 life size elephant babies have been situated all around Budapest. Why? Because of artists such as Lszl Fehr, dm Balogh, Pl Breznay and Dvora Bochman, as well as art students who decided to take part in an exhibition which will help thousands of...
Read more »Budapest Best In Promoting Green Transport
Feb 24th, 2009The European Commission started giving out prizes to encourage eco-friendly city living. And while Hamburg and Stockholm have been announced Europe's "green capitals", Budapest won the 2008 European Mobility Week award which salutes Hungary's capital...
Read more »Are Budapest Art Cinemas Facing Closure?
Jan 29th, 2009A decreasing state support, increasing operational costs and - yes! - falling number of viewers may lead to closing several art cinemas in Budapest. Although a plea for financial help was sent to the Budapest Mayor's Office, three or four art cinemas...
Read more »Princess Diana in Budapest
Dec 17th, 2008A new exhibition is opening in Budapest. The display, which is supposed to celebrate the life and work of Diana, the famous Princess of Wales, is opening next month. The "Diana: A Celebration" exhibition cover princess' story, beginning in her...
Read more »A New Building Complex in Varoshaza Park
Nov 5th, 2008The Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat's project will be executed in Budapest's District V. A new building complex and a downtown square is planned to be finished in 2013. The project is supposed to make the square "friendlier, more usable and...
Read more »Literary Conference Takes Place in Budapest
Sep 18th, 2008This Friday, writers, poets, and literary scholars from Central and Eastern Europe will be gathering at the Hungarian Writers' Association in Budapest for an international conference. The subject of the conference is literature before and after 1989...
Read more »Pythons Missing from Budapest Zoo
Aug 5th, 2008If while exploring Budapest this weekend you come across a pair of 1 to 1.5 metre long pythons, don't be alarmed! The two green tree pythons have been missing from the Budapest Zoo since late last week, according to the city's police. While the...
Read more »Queues at Budapest Train Station Reach Epic Proportions
Jul 9th, 2008It seems that despite Budapest's place as one of the top destinations in Europe, some services are still unable to cope with efficiently handling basic tourist requirements. A recent expose aired on Hungarian television station RTL Klub, claims...
Read more »Controversy over Budapest Pride March
Jun 13th, 2008The last few days have cast an air of uncertainty over the future of the annual Gay Pride march in Budapest, scheduled to take place this year on July 5th. Planning had gone smoothly until earlier this week Budapest Police Chief Gabor Toth...
Read more »Sziget Headliners Announced
Apr 4th, 2008The headliners for Sziget 2008 have already been revealed, prompting hysteria amongst music fans clamouring to get those much sought after tickets... The Sziget Festival is one of the greatest events of its type in Europe, held annually on Obudai...
Read more »Budapest Airport Ready For Travel Without Passports
Feb 21st, 2008Budapest's Ferihegy Airport has announced that it is now ready to handle passengers from the Schengen zone, and that passengers arriving on flights from within the main body of the EU will not need to show their passports as of March 2008. ...
Read more »Dakar Rally To Start in Budapest
Jan 8th, 2008There's good news for motoring fans planning on visiting Budapest, after a spokesman for the Hungarian government recently announced on the radio that Budapest would be the starting point for the famous Dakar Motor Rally in 2010. The legendary...
Read more »Battle for MTV in Hungary
Oct 22nd, 2007Hungary's leading public television station, Magyar Televizio, has it's knickers in twist with American broadcasting giants MTV, over the rights to use the three famous letters. American MTV launched the Hungarian version of its empire this...
Read more »Film Festival Cancelled - Not Enough Home-Made Films
Jan 1st, 1970Hungary's annual film festival next month has been cancelled because there are not enough new Hungarian movies due to cuts in government funding, organisers said. This is the first time that we have not been able to organise our festival," Attila...
Read more »