Party City!

Budapest, Hungary

June 11, 2025

A popular destination of tourists of all stripes, Budapest sees a constant stream throng its streets. The shops, cafes and restaurants are packed.

But it is later in the evening that it begins to pulsate. In the recent years Budapest has earned a reputation of a party city and people from all over Europe make a beeline for it. For long weekends, for bachelor parties, young for a short break – you name it, just about any excuse will do. Cheap flights or bus or train rides all make it ultra simple to party till you drop.

But there is something unique to Budapest. A lot of buildings in the city were abandoned when their owners left, immigrating to greener pastures. Buildings stood decaying for decades until in the early 2000s, some enterprising locals decided to turn them into bars. And voila! The Ruin Bars were born.

Today, they are as much an attraction as the castles and monuments and are firmly on the tourist radar. The oldest among them is in the Jewish quarter. Szimpla Kert, meaning Simple Garden, housed in a broken building is now a community space that hosts Farmer’s and Flea Markets on Sunday, shows film screenings and hosts live concerts. Most nights it morphs into a thrumming, hopping space.

The ragged walls are mosaiced in graffiti, the stairs, some original, some recently built, wind up to the second floor and I gaze down through the missing floor to the courtyard below. Its rabbit warren of rooms are each different bars and in some there is music to boot. Amongst the standard graffiti is one wall and ceiling stuck with an innovative periodic table. Fantastic! The feeling is infectious as some other travelers and I have a grand time until the wee hours.

But in this is city there are bars that are open 24/7! Unbelievable it might seem but true, said Adam. I had met Adam in Baghdad briefly and then again in Kurdistan a couple of years ago. We stayed in touch and now in Budapest I met him again. Adam, his girlfriend and I spent a lovely evening at a local watering hole. Note to self as I toddle back at 3 am: I need to leave Budapest before this becomes a habit!