The best things you could do in Budapest to avoid the scorching summer heat!
source: MTI/Bruzák Noémi
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When the sweat-inducing, scorching heat arrives in Hungary, even the most desolate city dweller tries to escape into the greenery or to waterfront sites where you can relax in shaded, cool places for hours. Our selection is subjective, but we recommend them wholeheartedly in and around Budapest.
Cool breeze awaits in the forest
Around the country, many of our big cities, including Budapest, offer lovely, cool hikes in the forest or near waterfronts.
In Óbuda, there is the Kiscelli forest, with its well-shaded spaces, perfect for a picnic or a dog walk. A few kilometres away, we can walk on the slopes of Hármashatárhegy or relax on its mossy boulders.
Cool underground!
Due to the geographical conditions of our country, we have many cave systems that can be visited. In Budapest, we have three caves to cool ourselves in such wonderful natural formations as the Stalactite Cave in the Pál Valley.
It is highly recommended that you look around Hungary’s most well-known botanical garden. The Herb Garden of ELTE is a green “island” in the concrete jungle of the city where we can sit on benches under shady trees for hours without noticing how much time has passed.
It is beautiful and much easier to walk into a quiet inner courtyard to cool off than to opt for the many other ways to cool off. You can freely visit the original wooden block-covered Unger House (Múzeum körút 7) between the busy Museum Boulevard and Magyar Street, the 19th-century tenement house of János Wagner, also known as Paloma Courtyard (Kossuth Lajos utca 14-16), or the Architect’s Cellar courtyard overgrown with amber in the Palace District (Ötpacsirta utca 2).
Beaches and spas
If time does allow it, what else could we spend time on in the heat than bathing spaces where we can cool our whole body off? There are quite a few well-established beaches in Budapest where you can swim and enjoy the iconic and breathtaking architecture.
The best thing to do is to stay indoors with the air conditioning on 24/7. I can assure you that it works a treat.