As we boarded the plane to Vienna, we knew we had a very busy weekend in front of us. Four of my friends and I were so excited to take on two very different cities. I had very few expectations for this trip and I’m glad we got to experience both Vienna and Budapest.
We arrived in Vienna very late on Thursday. After dealing with a difficult language barrier in the taxi from the airport, we arrived at an adorable Airbnb. I knew pretty much nothing about Vienna going into this trip and I have to say, I was so pleasantly surprised. The architecture is stunning, with many of the museums and castles right in the heart of the city. We got breakfast at a small cafe near our Airbnb and then hopped on scooters. This was such a fun part of our day and scooters like these exist all over Europe. You simply pay a few euros on an app and you can take them anywhere and leave them wherever when you’re done using them. We were cracking up trying to figure out our way around on these things. I definitely recommend giving them a try.
To start off our day of sightseeing we went to Schönbrunn Palace and The Hofburg. They are really quite breathtaking. For lunch, we dined at the famous Cafe Central. After waiting in the line that wrapped around the side of the building, we got to experience authentic, Viennese meals. I ordered Wiener Schnitzel and a traditional apple strudel topped with vanilla ice cream. This place was really beautiful inside with high, painted ceilings and elegant decor. After lunch, we went to Belvedere Palace and then to a bar nearby. Belvedere is gorgeous, with a beautiful reflection pond and a huge garden. For dinner, we ate, you guessed it, Mexican again. However, this time it was a complete failure. Unfortunately, we really disliked everything we ordered for dinner. I would definitely recommend sticking with traditional foods and doing more research beforehand.
After dinner, we met up with some friends from Penn State and went to Prater Dome. This is a HUGE club inside of an amusement park. It was a really unique spot because it had countless rooms and bars. After starting out the night with pretty low expectations for the nightlife in Vienna, we ended up having a lot of fun.
What wasn’t so fun was our 5:30 am wake up for our bus to Budapest. We got these bus tickets for super cheap and figured we would get an early start in Budapest. In the early afternoon, we went to the famous Szechenyi Thermal Bath. Before going abroad I remembered seeing these amazing pictures of people relaxing in the Budapest baths. However, in my experience, this was not so glamorous. My friends and I were a little squirmish walking around barefoot in the locker rooms and getting into the water with hundreds of strangers. At the end of the day, we ended up having a good time and checking yet another thing off our bucket lists.
After the baths, we headed home to shower and get ready to go out. Unfortunately, we had some problems with the lock to our Air BNB and the owner had to call a locksmith to open up the apartment. We only paid ten dollars a night for this place, so we really couldn’t complain too much. While we waited for the locksmith to fix the door, we went to a delicious, completely gluten-free restaurant called Drop right down the street.
At night, we went out to the Ruin Bars. These bars were very different from what we are used to and they are packed with people. We saw a ton of Penn State kids and had so much fun exploring the endless rooms.
In the morning, we walked around a really cool market. There were food trucks, local vendors, and live music. We tried mulled wine and other street foods. We spent the rest of the day just walking around. We saw the Hungarian Parliament building, St. Stephen’s Basilica, and the Shoes on the Danube Bank. We got a late lunch at Mazel Tov, an amazing Mediterranean restaurant. The inside of this building reminds me of a greenhouse and the food was just incredible.
Budapest was a really unique place. I wouldn’t say it was one of my favorite trips, but it was still pretty cool to check out. We didn’t have the best weather and didn’t really have much of an itinerary. The currency here is wild and the locals that we interacted with were pretty cold to us.
If you make the trip to Budapest, I really recommend doing your research and finding cool places to eat and experience. I had friends that would rank Budapest as one of their favorite cities, so there is definitely a lot of exploring left to do.
Leave a Reply