2-Day Budapest Itinerary for Vegans, Digital Nomads, & Mindful Travellers

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2 Days in Budapest

nomads plant-based slow travel non-luxe

We visited Budapest in December 2024 for ~2-3 days during a quick 7-day trip visiting Prague, Vienna, and Budapest.

We are Ella & Ryan, digital nomads, exploring the world mindfully. Between getting married, becoming nomads, and starting our own businesses, we’re sharing everything we learn along the way.

Highlights

Liming (scootering)

Budapest felt like it was made for scooters. Such an easy and pretty safe way to get around without Ubers and public transit.

Lush greenery plants trees and healthy vibe plant-based restaurant at TwentySix Budapest Hungary

Vegan food

Who would have thought Budapest would have so many plant-based food options. Almost too many options.

Architecture

Budapest's esteemed history as one of the oldest countries in Europe made for unique and beautiful architecture.

What we did in Budapest.

🇭🇺 Buda and Pest were once two separate cities divided by the Danube River. Buda is known for its historic hills and castles, while Pest is the flat, lively hub of commerce and culture — together, they form modern Budapest.

Budapest exceeded all our expectations. To be fair, we didn't have high or low expectations but we definitely didn't expect the abundance of vegan food options, walkability of the city, and beautiful architecture.

Our biggest regret was not staying longer in this bustling and accessible city. Without a doubt, we'll be back.

📍 Fisherman's Bastion We walked over to the Fisherman's Bastion one day We took a day trip into Albufeira from Quarteira and it was not for us. It felt like a UK town was dropped on the coast of the Mediterranean with bright flashy lights, massive steak houses, big pubs, etc. Nothing against the UK, but not what you would expect visiting the south of Portugal.

🛴 Lime: Our brief obsession with Lime scooters started during our stop in Vienna before Budapest. We found Budapest to be the perfect city for 'Liming' with ample bike lanes, and picturesque streets and bridges to scoot along.

Yellow Tram streetcar going past Danube River in Budapest Hungary

📸 Streetcar & the Danube

Yellow Historic beautiful architecture buildings and laneway road in Budapest digital nomads visiting Christmas Markets

📸 Picturesque streets

Historic beautiful laneway in Buda of Budapest down to Danube digital nomads visiting Christmas Markets

📸 Strolling laneways in Buda

Gothic and beautiful architecture building in Budapest Hungary

📸 Budapest architecture

Historic beautiful architecture building in Budapest digital nomads visiting Christmas Markets

📸 Budapest architecture

📍 Government Building

Historic and tiny car in Eastern Europe Budapest

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What we ate in Budapest.

Prague blew us away when it came to both quantity and quality of vegan options.

1️⃣ We had one of our best vegan meals on the first night when we visited Střecha close by our Airbnb. Not only did they serve authentic Eastern European and Czech food vegan-ized, they also had a unique social impact proposition that made us genuinely proud to be dining there. We had the schnitzel, potato salad, and no-ribs 💯

2️⃣ The following morning we walked to Share Sweet & Espresso Bar and had a delicious full vegan breakfast (share breakfast for 2).

3️⃣ On our final morning we had the Mushroom creamy fregola (sans goat cheese) at Pauseteria Café Restaurant Garden.

Honestly, we can't emphasize enough how much Prague surprised us with its vegan food. Most places had options that were locally relevant and affordable.

📍 Twenty Six

🌱 Twenty Six

Aperol spritz and vegan bagel with hummus and greens from Rajkai in Budapest Hungary digital nomads

📍 Rajkai Espresso

📍 Rebel Burger

Where we stayed in Budapest.

We found a great little Airbnb within the central area of Budapest. It was within 2 minutes of great food options, 5 minutes of the main Christmas Market, and anything else we needed.

2 nights cost us CAD $237 which we found to be reasonable for being centrally located, nearby to loads of vegan options, and within walking distance to public transit that was convenient for arriving by bus and departing by plane.