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Standing up for Budapest

17th April 202517th April 2025 funtime65

Maybe they couldn’t solve their Rubik’s Cube or got fined by Vlad the Validator but I’m standing up for Budapest against the naysayers.

Those reviewers who marked the Hungarian capital and its famous baths down in a luggage company survey.

Why the experts on the Radical Storage luggage storage firm should pick on the magnificent Magyar city on the Danube you’d have to ask them.

Perhaps they too had been fined £60 when someone forgot to validate their ticket before boarding the train and were collared by the huffy Hungarian guard.

Or were kept waiting by your other half in the steamier of the two outdoor pools at the Szechenyi Baths.

Neither challenges should, of course, detract from your enjoyment of what is truly a unique experience.

A lot of bull about Istanbul

The 95,352 rambunctious reviewers seem to have it in for the Hungarian capital as a whole.

And placing the Baths at fifth most overpriced attraction, and at £12 or £14 on weekends for a multi-thalasso treat they’re tough to please.

Now we can’t count here for Alton Towers in Staffordshire in England, considered the worst for price and value or Snowland in Brazil, fourth on the list.

But we’re digging our heels in here too for Topkapi Palace (£15) in Istanbul and the Dubrovnik City Walls, the same price although it does shoot up to £30 in high season.

The madness continues when it comes to the world’s most disappointing list.

Water mistake about Trevi Fountain

With inexplicably the Trevi Fountain fifth biggest letdown, shared by a former colleague who described it as just a fountain. Mamma Mia!

The best pint in Dublin, alongside we’re contractually obliged to big up cousins’ The Workshop bistro, is at the Guinness Storehouse.

But some curmudgeons put it down in seventh for most disappointing attraction.

And those wet fishes place our Hungarian baths at No.10 alongside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC which is actually out of this world.

Hit and list

And just to spell that out in hard facts for you here…

Most Overpriced Tourist Attractions
Rank	Attraction	Country	Negative Mentions about Costs and Value
1	Alton Towers Resort	United Kingdom	18.0%
2	Topkapı Palace	Turkey	14.7%
3	Dubrovnik City Walls	Croatia	14.4%
4	Snowland	Brazil	13.0%
5	Széchenyi Baths and Pool	Hungary	11.2%

The World’s Top 10 Most Disappointing Tourist Attractions
Rank	Attraction	Location	Country	Percentage of Reviews with Negative Mentions
1st	Alton Towers Resort	Staffordshire	United Kingdom	49.4%
2nd	Széchenyi Baths and Pool	Budapest	Hungary	37.2%
3rd	Siam Park	Tenerife	Spain	31.2%
4th	Time Out Market Lisboa	Lisbon	Portugal	28.4%
5th	Fontana di Trevi	Rome	Italy	24.6%
6th	Horseshoe Casino	Las Vegas	United States	24.0%
=7th	Guinness Storehouse	Dublin	Ireland	23.2%
=7th	Gardaland Park	Lake Garda	Italy	23.2%
=10th	Topkapı Palace	Istanbul	Turkey	23.0%
=10th	National Air and Space Museum	Washington D.C.	United States	23.0%

Turk that

Digging deeper, we don’t know if it’s an Orban or an Erdogan thing but the raspish reviewers vent their spleens at Istanbul and Budapest again and Bangkok in the following scroll of dishonour.

The Cities with the Most Disappointing Tourist Attractions

1. Istanbul (16%)

Considering the cities with three or more tourist attractions in the study, the data finds that when taking an average of all local attractions, Istanbul’s offering is the most likely to disappoint with a 16% negative mention rate. The most disappointing Istanbul attraction in the study is the aforementioned Topkapı Palace.

2. Bangkok (15.9%)

But not far behind is Bangkok with a score of 15.9%. The Grand Palace’s poor score of 12.6% (the joint 7th worst in the study) dragged the Thai capital down. Visitors might want to prioritise visiting Wat Arun instead – the Temple of Dawn – which has a much more favourable score of 9.4%.

3. Budapest (13.9%)

Budapest comes third (13.9% overall), with Széchenyi Baths and Pool (the most disappointing attraction) dampening the vibe. In fact, four attractions here came in under the study average of 10.9%: Fisherman’s Bastion (10.2%), Hungarian Parliament Building (8.6%), Shoes on the Danube Bank (7.8%) and St. Stephen’s Basilica (5.8%).

You can see the full list of the cities with the most disappointing tourist attractions on the main study page.

We’ll tease you here with the world’s least disappointing as reviewed in this survey by saying Leith, Scotland’s Royal Yacht Britannia is on it.

But today is for standing up for Budapest and our other maligned favourite places.

Countries, Deals, Europe

Bath time in Budapest

11th March 202517th March 2025 funtime65

Bath time in Budapest and there is no shortage of options to take a dip.

Szechenyi Baths though is the most popular for a reason.

With its 15 indoor baths and three outdoor pools, saunas, steam rooms, a rooftop spa greenhouse and a beer spa.

It is 8am though when we arrive, Szechenyi (£20pp) opens at 7am and closes its doors at 8pm, and I’m done with beery breakfasts.

Or Brut brekkies too with that option open at my billet at the InterContinental Hotel on the Danube front.

Breadth of bathing options

With the breadth of bathing options on hand it would be easy to lose your partner… and, of course, I did.

We have a history of miscommunication as any married couple will recognise.

And we agree to meet at the outdoor pool after my sauna.

My little mermaid is no fan of the rocks and had even taken but one breath of the steam room before taking flight.

But we had shared both outdoor pools, gently warm, and warmer.

And at least half a dozen of the inner ones and jacuzzis on the right as we you enter back in from the outside.

She’s hot and she’s cold

Masochist that I am I tiptoed into the freezing cold ones.

Just as I had done in the Czechia Spa Triangle back in the day.

And almost as quickly leapt straight back out.

The baths are, of course, carefully monitored and measured to be of staggered temperatures.

So don’t be alarmed if a member of staff sticks a thermometer in near the step where you’re sat.

The temperature was certainly rising as having dipped my toe in the indoor pools and taken my sauna I repaired to our rendezvous.

Only to find that there was no sign of my little mermaid who could only be spending more time inside.

Trunks and disorderly

Now an hour in the hotter of the two pools outside surrounded by all God’s creatures, fat, slim, tattooed et al.

I took matters into my own hands.

And returned inside, my stars and stripes swimming shorts clinging to my skin, shouting Her name.

Only to find her outside, at the other outdoor pool, outside the cafe, clothed, eating a snack and drinking a coffee.

Water on the brain

Of course, had the middle lanes pool been open as we’d hoped my little mermaid would have been there eating up the laps.

As with such matters I put the misunderstanding down to water on the brain.

Now they say the human body possesses 60% water.

And after more than three hours in this H2O heaven I reckon I’m up to 80%.

Not that I’m complaining as I’ve never been so clean and reckon I won’t need another dip for the rest of the year.

After my bath time in Budapest.

Bathed and beautiful

Now our four-day loveholidays city break to the Hungarian capital, flying with Ryanair and staying at the InterContinental for two (£1,099) is drawing to a close.

And we’ll share the last knockings with you, only not now as we need our sleep with a redeye in the morning.

And no time even for a sink wash.

Countries, Deals, Europe

My Budapest hovercraft is full of eels

8th March 202517th March 2025 funtime65

The Hungarian phrasebook has been updated since Monty Python days, not that there was ever the call to hear my Budapest hovercraft is full of eels.

Because for the next four days it will be the leisurely drift of pleasure liners out of my InterContinental Hotel window onto the River Danube.

All of which gets you in the mood for a swim and that is why my little mermaid has brought me here.

Only the blue Danube is for cruising and boozing and we will indulge… for research purposes you understand.

Now if the grand old river which winds majestically through the heart of Europe is the Hungarian capital’s artery.

Dip your toe in

Then the Szechenyi Baths are its beating heart.

With its 15 indoor baths and three outdoor pools, saunas, steam rooms, a rooftop spa greenhouse.

And one we’ll definitely sign up for is the 45-minute beer spa.

But that is for another day.

King of the castle

Having come in on the two and a half hour Ryanair red eye from Edinburgh.

On our loveholidays city break we need a reviving shower as we like them in the InterCon.

Before crossing the Danube from our Pest base for the Buda Castle.

Not that we’re recovered enough to tackle the heights.

Up, up and away

Instead we have that funicular in our sights.

And a goulash soup on the terrace and Magyar beer… we deserve it.

All served by the friendliest Hungarians, none of whom bristle when I say my Budapest hovercraft is full of eels.

We have come to Budapest from Edinburgh with loveholidays and Ryanair staying at the Intercontinental on the Danube.

For four days for £1,099.