Hungarian importance - Budapest

The importance of BUDAPEST to Hungary is difficult to overestimate. More than two million people live in the capital - one fifth of the population - and everything converges here: roads and rail lines; air travel (Ferihegy is the country's only civilian airport); industry, commerce and culture; opportunities, wealth and power

Like Paris, the city has a history of revolutions - in 1849, 1918 and 1956 - buildings, parks and avenues on a monumental scale, and a reputation for hedonism, style and parochial pride. In short, Budapest is a city worthy of comparison with other great European capitals.

Surveying Budapest from the embankments or the bastions of Várhegy (Castle Hill), it's easy to see why the city was dubbed the "Pearl of the Danube". Its grand buildings and sweeping bridges look magnificent, especially when floodlit or illuminated by the barrage of fireworks that explode above the Danube every August 20, St Stephen's Day. The eclectic inner-city and radial boulevards combine brash commercialism with a fin-de-siècle sophistication, while a distinctively Magyar character is highlighted by the sounds and appearance of the Hungarian language at every turn.

Food and Drink
Hungarians relish eating and drinking , and Budapest is great for both. Though Magyar cuisine naturally predominates, you can find everything from Middle Eastern to Japanese food, bagels to Big Macs. The diversity of cuisine is matched by the range of outlets and prices - from de luxe restaurants where a meal costs an average citizen's monthly wage, to backstreet diners that anyone can afford. Many restaurants and bars have live music in the evenings; places where the emphasis is on music and dancing are covered under "Entertainment".

EntertainmentThe range of entertainment available in Budapest includes everything from clubbing and folk dancing to opera-going and jazz. To find out what's on , check out Where Budapest , a free magazine distributed in hotels; the listings in Budapest in your Pocket and Budapest Sun ; or the Hungarian-language weekly Pesti Est (available free in cinemas and bars; published on Wednesdays) for its English-language film section. Another source of information is the monthly Koncert Kalendárium (free from Tourinform, and the National Philharmonic Ticket office at Mérleg utca 10), which lists classical music performances, plus booking agencies .

Going with Kids
Facilities for children in Budapest do leave something to be desired, though that is not a reflection of Hungarian attitudes to kids: Hungarians love children and will often talk to them on the bus, give up their seats for them, and roundly criticize you if they think your child is not sufficiently wrapped up in winter.

From Klauzál tér's scaled-down assault course to the folksy wooden see-saws and swings erected on Széchenyi-hegy, there are children's playgrounds all over Budapest - the best are in the new Millenarium Park and the Zoo . Recent improvements to the Zoo have made it a great place to visit; kids can feed the camels and giraffes, tickle the rhinos, stroke the goats, sheep and farm animals and explore the new Palm House. Nearby is Városliget with its mock castle and lake - allowing skating or rowing according to the season - as well as the Transport Museum with its old trains, the fairground and the circus . The " railway circuit " of the Buda Hills should also appeal to all ages, but the best place for young train buffs is the new Rail Heritage Park , where kids can clamber over all kinds of locomotives and even get to drive a steam train. Finally, the Labyrinth of Buda Castle under the Várhegy offers an exciting exploration for 6-12 year olds, and there's fun hands-on science at the Palace of Miracles .

Budapest has a strong tradition in puppetry but at present has only one puppet theatre ( bábszínház ); this occasionally puts on English-language performances. Morning and matinée performances are for kids, while the evening's occasional masked grotesqueries or renditions of Bartók's The Wooden Prince and The Miraculous Mandarin are intended for adults. Tickets are available from the puppet theatre itself at VI, Andrássy út 69 (tel 1/321-5200), or the Central Box Office at Andrássy út 15 (tel 1/267-1267).

" Kidstown " ( Kölyökvár ) is a play and activity centre open every Sunday (10am-1pm) from mid-October to April at the Almássy téri Szabadido Központ. This offers all sorts of activities from face-painting to model-building, plus films, music and drama; call 1/342-0387 for details. Another popular destination for kids is the Görzenál Skatepark at III, Árpád fejedelem útja (Szentendre HÉV to Timár utca; March-Oct Mon-Fri 9am-7pm, Sat & Sun 9am-9pm; Nov-Feb Sat & Sun 9am-6pm; tel 1/250-4800), where you can rollerblade, skateboard and cycle on ramps and jumps to your heart's content.

Margit sziget
A saying has it that "love begins and ends" on Margit sziget (Margaret Island), for this verdant expanse just upriver from the city centre has been a favourite spot for lovers since the nineteenth century, though until 1945 a stiff admission charge deterred the poor. Today it is one of Budapest's most popular recreation grounds, its thermal springs feeding outdoor pools and ritzy spa hotels. The easiest way of getting there is to catch bus #26 (which runs all the way along the island) from either the Nyugati pu. or Árpád híd metro stations in Pest. Alternatively, you can take tram #4 or #6 from Moszkva tér or the Nagykörút to the stop midway across the Margit híd, and walk onto the island via the short linking bridge. Motorists can only approach from the north, via the Árpád híd, at which point they must abandon their vehicles at a paying car park. You can rent bikes at the southern entrance to the island, on the left-hand side - they tend to be rather battered but are good enough to get around the 5km circuit. The southern part of the island is for chilling out and improving your tan. A huge circular fountain presages the Hajós Alfréd Pool (daily 6am-6pm; 500Ft; popularly known as the "Sport"), named after the winner of the 100m and 1200m swimming races at the 1896 Olympics, who was also the architect who designed the indoor pool - though the main attractions are the all-season outdoor 50m pool and the fresh pastries at the buffet. Ten minutes' walk further on, a ruined thirteenth-century Franciscan church and a rose garden lie across the road from the Palatinus Strand (May to mid-Sept daily 8am-7pm; 600Ft), which can hold as many as ten thousand people at a time in seven open-air thermal pools, complete with a water chute, wave machine and segregated terraces for nude sunbathing.

Shopping
Budapest's range of shops has expanded massively in recent years, as big international names such as Mango and Benetton have appeared in its streets, and more especially in its malls. Most shops are open Monday to Friday 10am-6pm, and Saturday until 1pm, with most foodstores opening from 8am to 6 or 7pm. Recently some shops in the centre of the city have been staying open later on Saturdays. The new shopping malls on the edge of the city also tend to have longer opening hours, and are open on Sundays as well. You can usually find a 24-hour - non-stop - shop serving alcohol, cigarettes and some food in the centre of town, though in the residential parts of Buda they may be harder to find.

Main shopping areas are located to south of Vörösmarty tér in central Pest, in particular in and around pedestrianized Váci utca and Petofi Sándor utca, which have the biggest concentration of glamorous and expensive shops. The main streets radiating out from the centre - Bajcsy-Zsilinszky, Andrássy and Rákóczi út - are other major shopping focuses, as are the two ring boulevards, the Great Boulevard (especially from Margit Bridge to Blaha Lujza tér) and the Kiskörút, while the small streets inside the Nagykörút are also worth exploring.

Modern shopping malls , combining major shopping centres with entertainment facilities under one roof, have now spread right across the city - though with prices high by Hungarian standards, it's a mystery how they survive. Two of the closest to the centre are the Mammut by Moszkva tér, which has recently doubled in size with the opening of Mammut II, and WestEnd, by Nyugati Station. Further out are Duna Plaza, XIII, Váci út 178 (Gyöngyös utca metro), and Polus Center, XV, Szentmihályi út 131 (special buses run from Keleti Station).

Budapest has three flea markets : Petofi Csarnok (Sat & Sun 7am-2pm) in the Városliget, which has expanded fast and is probably the best in town; the expensive Ecseri piac at XIX, Nagykorösi utca 156 (Mon-Fri 7am-4pm, Sat 7am-noon; take bus #54 from Boráros tér in Pest near the Petofi bridge), where sellers are aware of the money to be made from rich foreign tourists, but where there also are bargains to be found, either early on a Saturday or at closing time; and the newcomer on the flea market scene, the Nowák piac at Dózsa Gy. utca 1-3, behind Keleti Station (head up Verseny utca), which has excellent bargains and shady characters, although it is still weak in the snack department.

The most popular souvenirs to bring home are wine, porcelain, foodstuffs (such as paprika, salami and goose liver) and CDs. The emergence of a thriving wine industry is reflected in the number of new wine shops in the city. The Budapest Wine Society at I, Batthyány utca 59, near Moszkva tér, has a good selection and the English-speaking staff know their wines (Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm, free wine tastings on Sat afternoons; tel 1/202-2569). Another good outlet is La Boutique des Vins at V, József Attila utca 12, near Deák tér (Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-3pm; tel 1/317-5919). Outlets for the main porcelain makers are Haas & Czjzek, at VI, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 23, opposite the Arany János metro station, which stocks all the main brands, or the shops of the producers, such as Herend at V, József nádor tér 11, or Zsolnay at V, Kigyó utca 4. For rock, pop and jazz records and CDs (including bootlegs), try DOB Records, VII, Dob utca 71, Indiego in the courtyard at VIII, Krudy Gyula utca 7 or Lemezkucko, VI, Király utca 67. The best place for folk CDs is the shop in the Fonó concert hall (Tues-Sat 10am-11pm). For classical music, try Hungaroton at V, Vörösmarty tér 1, Fotex Records at V, Szervita tér 2, or the Amadeus CD shop by the Danube behind the Inter-Continental Hotel . The friendly Rózsavölgyi at V, Szervita tér 5, has an excellent selection of classical music, with pop and folk downstairs, plus sheet music. The best selection of second-hand classical records is at Concerto Records, VII, Dob utca 31 (Mon-Fri noon-7pm, Sun noon-4pm).

Sightseeing
If you are doing a lot of sightseeing you might be tempted to buy a Budapest Card . For 3700Ft (48 hours) or 4500Ft (72 hours), you get free travel in most of the city, free entry to over sixty museums, and discounts of up to fifty percent in some shops and restaurants and on some sightseeing programmes and cultural and folklore events. The card is available from tourist offices, hotels, central metro stations and at the airport, and it comes with a booklet explaining where it can be used. However, the price means you'll have to work hard to save money on it, especially since the card is not valid for two of the most popular attractions, the parliament building and the funicular that goes up to the castle. Note too that although the card allows entry into the Liszt Memorial Museum, it's not valid for the Sunday concerts held there - which are free if you pay to go into the museum. The card does give discounts on the Airport Minibus service (normally 1800Ft each way), but oddly you get a larger reduction buying two singles (1500Ft each way) than if you get a return ticket (1650Ft each way).