Dalma Baczay's Guide To Budapest
Dalma Baczay gives us her travel guide to her native city – Budapest, Hungary. Dalma was named Joint 3rd Place Winner of the Elite Model Look World Final in 2013 alongside Amilna Estevao, and has been developing her model career ever since, working for brands like Elie Saab and magazines like Elle Italia. Get the inside track on the right shops, bars, restaurants and spas to check out with this model native.
Photo © Kamil Porembiński via Flickr
Best for hanging out
There is a place where there is an amazing view called Gellért Hill, you can see the whole city and the river below. At night it’s very beautiful for the atmosphere. Sometimes I go up there and just sit and watch the world go by. We have two sides in the city – Buda and Pest, and the hills are more in Buda.
Photo © Dalma Baczay via Instagram
Best for spa
Budapest is really famous for spas – the best ones are Széchenyi and Rudas Spa Baths they are so beautiful. It’s amazing, you can go and just relax outside, you can even go there in winter time! They both are very old spa that has been a tradition in Budapest for a long time. People from Budapest often go on holiday to other cities in Hungary for spa weekends.
Photo © Pontoon via Instagram
Best for an evening drink
There are some great bars by the Danube river that are getting very popular. You can sit by the water in the evening and enjoy the summer. There are some rooftop bars which are cool to sit above the city, I love High Note Skybar. I love going out dancing too, there are some good bars for both. There is two places I like called BOB and Ötkert – which are bars in the daytime, and there’re dancing at night.
Photo © Fekete via Instagram
Best for coffee
There is a café called Fekete, which means “black”, it’s a really good café. I like going there with my friends, they have some bakery things too, but the coffee is just amazing - if I want to treat myself, I go there!
Photo © Dalma Baczay via Instagram
Best for dinner
There is a place called Gozsdu Courtyard where you have a lot of nice restaurants, where’re a lot of good things to eat. There’s also bars and clubs there, everything you would want for a night out! It’s popular with tourists because you have so much choice, and you have chance to try all the yummy Hungarian dishes in one place. In Hungary, we love eating hot meals, even if it’s lunchtime. We have goulash stuffed cabbage, pancakes with meat and yoghurt, they’re really good. And definitely get a glass of Tokaji wine - Tokaj is one of the world’s oldest wine regions!
Photo © Dalma Baczay
Best for working out
Usually, I work out at home, or I cycle. I live just outside Budapest, where there’s not too many houses, but there are a lot of field, where I go running with my dog. She is really good to go running with! I also walk a lot, I’m not a model full time yet, I’m still at school, so I walk to school and it’s really good exercise, which anyone can do anytime. In Budapest, people love going to an island called the Margaret Island. It’s a good place to go for a picnic, the nature is beautiful. I love running there, it’s very popular. It’s always nice to run by the water, it’s about 5km around the island, with a beach all the way around.
Photo © Visit Budapest via Facebook
Best for shopping
Of course we have some shopping malls where you can find H&M, Zara, Stradivarius, but twice a year we also have events by Glamour where you can get discounts – I love those! But if you’d like to try some Hungarian tradition there’s an amazing Christmas market in Budapest, which is knonwn worldwide.
