How to Honeymoon in Budapest for Under $2,000
In the middle of paying for a wedding, we did not have much extra money to spend on a honeymoon. We knew we wanted to go somewhere in Europe, and after looking at all of our options, it was clear that Budapest would be a great adventure at a third of the price of most honeymoon destinations. We ended up doing more in Budapest than we even imagined. Here are some tips on how we did it!
Flights
Anyone who has traveled to Europe knows that flights can be ridiculously expensive! When we first started researching honeymoon options, we found flights for around $500-$600. If you are flexible with dates, you could definitely find some for cheaper. We waited too long and ended up paying close to $700 each. Definitely buy them as soon as you see them for a good price.
Total for 2 flights - $1,100
Accommodation
If you look on airbnb, you’ll find tons of great options for $30-$40 a night. We stayed in Buda, and since most attractions are in Pest, we had to walk pretty far every day. Although we didn’t mind, we would recommend finding a place to stay in Pest - or if you can, in the Jewish Quarter, our favorite area. We lucked out and were able to purchase our hotel with reward points from our credit card, so we didn't have to spend anything on accommodation.
Total for 7 nights - $280
Transportation
Luckily, most things are within a mile of each other, so we walked to most places. The city is so beautiful that the walk goes by quickly. The tickets for the metro, bus, and tram are one in the same so you can buy bulk tickets (to save money) without really needing to plan whether you need the bus or the metro.
Total for 20 tickets - $21.60
Food
We were tempted to do a honeymoon at an all-inclusive resort, just because we wanted to eat whatever we wanted and not worry about money. In Budapest, we were able to eat whatever we wanted and not even cringe when we saw the bill. We talked about all of our favorite places to eat in Budapest here. We went to nice restaurants and spent more than most people since we went to several specialty gluten free places. However, we hardly ever spent more than $15 per meal combined. We could have done it much cheaper if we bought slices of pizza, kabobs, or sausages from the street vendors. We also could have bought some cereal and milk instead of going out for breakfast every day. However, we were saving so much money that we didn’t mind splurging on the food!
Total for $15 per meal, 3 meals a day, 8 days - $360
Activities
You’ll be surprised with how much you can afford to do in Budapest. Even something like a river cruise down the Danube at sunset (with free drinks) was only $16 each. Most museums and monuments are free or inexpensive. The only “pricey” thing we did was a day at the Széchenyi Thermal Bath, but that was only about $100 total, and that included private cabins and a couples massage.
Total for Széchenyi Thermal Bath, Danube Cruise, museums, etc. - $150
The total comes to $1,911.60
We LOVED our honeymoon, and we also loved the fact that we weren’t draining our savings. It made us feel so free to order anything from the menu, buy ourselves souvenirs, and focus on making memories.
- Nick + Jess