Budapest has recently opened many a slick wine bar and has more than its fair share of smoky dive bars. What makes the Budapest night life unique though is its “ruin pubs”. The only common element to them appears to be that they are bars in buildings that probably should have been torn down.
Old factories, apartment buildings, and car garages with a fair amount of crumbling are left at their barest and furnished with just about everything. Old couches, ramshackle chairs and bar stools, a bath tub, plants. The walls of crumbling exposed brick and plaster have street art, “real art”, wallpaper, statues. The beer and house wine are cheap, and there is always at least one DJ spinning some great beats.
These buildings could have been torn down long ago and replaced with new condos, but instead in Budapest they live on every Friday and Saturday night until the sun rises. Each individual pub manages to blend a ramshackle atmosphere into something cohesive, and while it isn’t glamorous, it’s incredibly fun.
3 of our favorites:
Instant – The largest of the group (and conveniently 2 short blocks from our apartment). There is an army of bunnies hanging from the main courtyard and dozens of niche rooms with comfy couches and multiple DJs each night. But beware the hordes of bachelor parties that inevitably invade after 10PM on weekends.
Fogashaz -A low-key ruin pub with only 1 courtyard. Despite being one of the oldest such pub in Budapest, this place is still very much in ruins. Given that people have been coming here in droves for 10 years, they don’t have much incentive to improve.
Szimpla Kert – The decor here mostly consists of old painted cement walls which are covered with carved-in graffiti from previous patrons. You can get lost in the maze-like array of rooms, bars, and crumbly staircases, and that’s kind of the point.
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