What makes a city great?

Is it its grand buildings or charming architecture? Its affordability and livability? Delicious food and raucous nightlife?

All of these things help. In fact, Budapest is a city that offers all of these. So why wasn’t I enthralled by it?

I’ve decided that I visited at the wrong time. Here’s why it wasn’t the city for me.

The Heat

Ahh yes.Welcome to Europe in the summer.

The time of the year when people from all over the world saunter over to be crowded into long tourist lines and overpriced museums.

(Being from DC, a museum is overpriced if it costs anything).

Somehow, everyone overlooks how hot European summers are. To make matters worse, Europe is only hot during the summer–and mild enough during the other 10 months of the year that they don’t bother having air conditioning.

So Europe gets really hot. And Budapest was suffering worse than most. Every day reached a high of 95˚F (35˚C), with many businesses not providing AC.

The worst were the bars and clubs. Not a single place I went out to had air conditioning. It wasn’t quite 95˚ F at midnight, but it was pretty stuff nonetheless–not a recipe for enjoying a night on the town. Which was a shame, because I’ve heard rave reviews of Budapest nightlife.

Day Activities

Unfortunately, activities in the day weren’t much better. When it gets to 95˚ F, it’s unbearable outside from noon onwards. Free walking tours, hanging out in parks, and running become less enjoyable when dealing with the heat.

To make matters worse, the walking tour I did might’ve been the least inspiring tour I’ve been on. I felt like I learned nothing about the city in exchange for suffering in the heat.

Another popular thing to do in Budapest is their thermal baths. Unfortunately, these are meant to be warm baths. They also have cold options, but it’s not exactly an ideal experience to sit in hot water while pummeled by the sun. I still checked out an indoor bathhouse and enjoyed it, but the outdoor temperature tried its hardest to dent the fun.

The Hostel(s)

Budapest has some highly-rated party hostels. In fact, it might have the highest concentration of party hostels of any city I’ve been to, save Koh Phangan and Barcelona.

But I stayed in two different hostels in Budapest and neither were for me. The first, The Hive, is a factory hostel–the nickname I’ve given to big hostels that feel like hotels.

As a solo traveler, I don’t enjoy factory hostels like St. Christopher’s, Menninger, Generator, and a&o. They rarely have intimate common areas that facilitate making friends, their events (if they have any) are unorganized, and they seem to be for friends who just want to party together.

Unfortunately, while Budapest had many highly-rated party hostels, most of them are factory-style hostels, which for me are a guaranteed way to have a mediocre time.

Good thing Budapest has a Onefam–my favorite hostel chain in Europe and the opposite of a factory hostel.

However, Onefam Budapest was the worst Onefam I’ve stayed in.

There were no free family dinners that I’d come to love. You weren’t allowed to bring alcohol from outside (instead having to pay for more expensive beer at their bar).

Some of the staff were friendly individually, but it was clear they lacked connection with each other.

The hostel events brought us to unknown bars and clubs in the city–which didn’t have air conditioning. And the ratio of guys to girls was abysmal.

Individually, none of these were dealbreakers, but collectively, it made for a bit of a letdown.

Cut my Losses

For a few days in Budapest, I tried to convince myself things would improve. Maybe the nightlife would pick up? Or it might not be as hot tomorrow?

But eventually, I decided it wasn’t going to get better. I’d soured on Budapest. There were some bright spots! I loved Margaret Island which had a great waterfront running path and a shaded calisthenics park. Lukacs Baths was a great, cheap place for a thermal bath. And the views from Buda Castle were elite.

But even as I enjoyed bits and pieces, I couldn’t help but notice that I’d soured on the city. I had planned to stay for a week but cut it short to 5 days. It was just the wrong time to visit.

Next time, I’ll return when it’s colder, less crowded, and more fun.

Have you been to Budapest during the summer? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!