The Telegraph’s recipe for a night out in Budapest

Budapest is quite well-known for its ruin pubs and beer gardens equipped with upcycled and vintage furniture in the city centre, but there is more than that: the Hungarian capital city is filled with café-bars and the Danube bank is home to many pubs with magnificent views.

The Telegraph argues that everyone will find somewhere to spend their night in Budapest – the city offers a place to quench your thirst in the form of ruin pubs, chic rooftop bars, minimalist café-bars and what is best: an opportunity to get to know Budapest wherever you go.

Ötkert

Open: Thu-Sat: 11 pm – 5 am

“Ötkert is a decent-sized, laid-back and busy bar and courtyard club” – describes The Telegraph with accuracy. If you are lucky enough to be visiting during the summer, you can gaze at the night sky while drinking and chatting; in the winter it is covered for your own good.

If you are looking for more than just a drink, this place is for you: lots of dancing on a unique dancefloor, live DJ sets and bands.

Like most ruin pubs in Budapest, Ötkert is a little bit like a labyrinth made up of numerous rooms inside.

Anker’t

Open: Sun-Wed: 2 pm – 12 am, Thu: 2 pm – 1 am, Fri-Sat: 2 pm – 4 am

Spread across two courtyards, Anker’t is one of the most praised summer ruin pubs in Budapest, where interior décor is a piece of contemporary art in itself. Beers, spirits, spritz, wines, whatever you are looking for, you and your friends will find here, and if you want to munch on something, you can select from pizza, burgers or nachos. Live DJs appear to be a tradition in ruin pubs, and Anker’t is no exception to the rule.

Szimpla Kert

Open: Mon-Sat: 12 pm – 4 am, Sun: 9 am – 4 am

The ruin bar of ruin bars – Szimpla Kert, around since 2002. It encapsulates the essence of ruin bars perfectly: upcycled furniture, rooms making up a labyrinth, wall decoration including guess graffiti, bicycles, old computer monitors, an open-roof centre yard, colourful lamps, regular DJs, bands performing live. If you happen to be worried for even a millisecond about your drink, do not:

there are bars scattered across Szimpla Kert,

so you will not have to go far to get a spritz (or some goodie foodie) no matter where you find a table – because it will be a task.

Gozsdu Udvar

The Telegraph captures the history of Gozsdu Udvar beautifully, by recalling its early days in the 20^th century when it was the home of several artisan workshops, but later was turned into a ghetto during World War II, only to return to glory once again in the form of a street market during the weekends. Almost 30 pubs and bars await you in the evenings, though, ranging from ruin pubs all the way to karaoke bars, cocktail bars and restaurants. Be prepared; it can get crowded.

Ráday street

Connecting Boráros square and Kálvin square, Ráday street is often called Budapest’s Soho: you will find more than 30 cafés, bars and restaurants on both sides of the street, spiced up with galleries and museums. You will find structured and classic café-bars along with summer gardens or rebels like Púder – an out-of-the-ordinary café that is a bar that is a contemporary gallery. How cool is that?