Shopping streets in Budapest

There are many shopping streets in the centre of Budapest, that are close to our apartments.

Váci utca

The Váci walking street is between Vörösmarty square and Fővám square, divided by Kossuth L. str. The old Váci str. (toward Vörösmarty sq.) is always crowded by tourists, there is less tourists in the new Váci (toward Fővám sq.) str. There are mostly restaurants, antique and souvenir shops in the new part, and mostly restaurants, boutiques, wine shops, banks and souvenir shops for tourists on the old part. The prices of restaurants in Váci street is much higher than the average prices in the city, these restaurants are only for tourists. Hungarian people never eat here, the Ráday street and Liszt Ferenc square is a good choice. The biggest art gallery is the Csók István at Váci u. 25. where you can buy mostly figurative art pieces and antiques. A lot of multinational midrange fashion brands are represented on the old part of the Váci walking street, so there are Adidas, Nike, Springfield, Zara, C&A, Benetton stores. You can find H&M, Pull and Bear and New Yorker stores in the new modern building at Vörösmarty square, and a Bershka opposite. The famous Gerbeaud confectionery is also in this square. The other end of the walking street there is the biggest food market in Budapest (at Fővám sq. 1-3.) where the vendors offer huge choice of fresh Hungarian food, vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, paprika etc. If you do not want to shop anything, the building itself worth a visit, because it was renovated in 1994 to restore its original neogothic-neoroman style and got the FIABCI Prix d’Excellence award in 1999.
Our PET1, PET2 and ASB apartments are just at the neighbourhood of Váci str.

Fashion Street Budapest

The Fashion Street (Deák Ferenc utca) is the newest shopping street of Budapest, that connects the Vörösmarty square and the Deák sq. The Kempinski and Le Meridien luxury hotels are in this street also. Only the expensive premium luxury brands are represented in the Fashion Street.
Our PET1, PET2 and ASB apartments are just at the neighbourhood of this street.

Andrássy street

The shopping part of Andrássy street is between Erzsébet sq. and Oktogonig, although Andrássy str. continues to the Heroes sq. It is similar to the Fashion Street, because here are also a lot of expensive premium luxury brands (Armani, Louis Vuitton etc.) and luxury boutiques, restaurants, hair dresser saloons and design shops. The Opera house and the renovated Divatcsarnok are on this street also.

The nicest store on the street is the originally restored art nouveau style Divatcsarnok (Andrássy út 39.), where you can find a beautiful Alexandra book store and one of the most splendid coffee shop in Budapest. The coffee is on the first floor in the renovated Lotz hall. The ceiling of Lotz hall is full of with beautiful richly gilded historical style frescos of Károly Lotz and Árpád Feszty. This coffee shop is not expensive and you can wear casual clothes.

Antiques in Budapest

There are a lot of antique shops scattered in the city, but it is concentrated in three areas, where you can buy good quality antiques.

New part of Váci walking street

There are a lot of antique shops in the new part of Vaci walking street. The supply of these shops is mostly smaller things and decorative objects that are ideal for tourists as souvenirs. The majority of these antique things are generally not very expensive, and there is a big choice to find presents.

Falk Miksa street

TheFalk Miksa street is the main antique shop area in the city. This street takes places behind the Parliament and leads to nearby Margaret bridge. The Falk Miksa street and the rectangular smaller streets are full of with antique shops and art galleries. Here you can find real high quality paintings, furniture, statues, gold and silver jewels and lot of other antique things from baroque to contemporary (but mostly art nouveau and art deco items). These excellent quality antiques are expensive, but still a bit cheaper than in the Western Europe. There is two good shops at the corner of Falk Miksa str. and St. Stephen boulevard, the Kieselbach gallery and opposite the BÁV store. The Kieselbach gallery is specialized for XX. century paintings and arrange auctions. In the huge BÁV store there is a big choice of furniture, paintings, chandeliers, jewels and decorative things.

Ecseri antique flea market

The Ecseri flea market is specialized for different antique things and you can bargain for china knick-knacks, dolls, paintings, furniture, chandeliers etc., that mostly represent the art nouveau and art deco era. There is a huge choice of user and decorative objects of the communist era as well. The mix of high standard and kitsch crappy things give peculiar mood for the market Ecseri, spiced with a special subculture of the antiques vendors. The days have expired, when pennies could be worth millions in Ecseri, which is now left the dealers offer about its price, a large profit is no longer possible to acquire. Conversely, for collectors, souvenir seekers, or home decoration buyers the Ecseri flea market is still a treasure chamber. Bargaining is obligatory, you can always get what you like at least 10-20% less, sometimes even 50% less. If you are not aware of antiques prices, it's worth a quick orientation of the downtown antique shops, so more or less you can find good buying opportunities in the Ecseri market.
When to visit the Ecseri flea market? Open all week except Sunday, but the best day to visit is Saturday, because then all the vendors open, then have the greatest life in the market. Preferably you should get there early in the morning of the Saturday opening at 06:00. Then there is a greater chance of a good bargain, because the traders usually buy the good stuff in the morning. Majority of the market area around shops is protected by roof from the rain, so it is also worth to visit when the weather is bad.
Ecseri flea market: 19. distr. Budapest, Nagykőrösi út 156. Open: Mo–Fr: 8:00–16:00, Sat: 6:00–15:00, Sun: closed.

How to get to the Ecseri market?

If you do not want to take a taxi (about 20 EUR one way) the public transport is a good choice. The Bus 54 goes to Ecseri, this bus starts from Boráros square (Pest side of Petőfi bridge). You can reach Boráros tér by tram 4 and 6 or tram 2.

Book stores in Budapest

There are a lot of book stores and second-hand book shops in the city centre. Every big publisher is represented along the Rákóczi street between Astoria and Blaha Lujza sq., but these shops offer Hungarian books.

Foreign language books

There are two good foreign language book stores in the city centre close to each other and easy to find. Both is in the 5th district, one is at Váci walking street and the other is at Gerlóczy str. You can buy travel and city guide books as well.

Antique books

Budapest's largest antique and second-hand book store street is the Museum körút between Astoria and Kálvin sq. The majority of the books are Hungarian, but you can also find German, English and Latin books.

WAMP – Sunday Design Fair

WAMP is organized once in every month at Sunday generally 11:00-19:00. Usually it is hold at Erzsébet sq. outside in summer and inside the Gödör club in winter. High quality handicraft products of young designers can be purchased, mostly items for women: clothes, jewels, rings, ceramics etc. Concerts and DJs guarantee the pleasant atmosphere.