The Club & Music Scene

Budapest has a hot club scene, but what is offered at any given time is apt to change often depending on the current trend at any given time. To find out what is happening when you are ready to explore the nightlife, it is best to pick up a copy of Funzine, the English-language guide, published every 2 weeks for up-to-date information. Other English-language publications the Budapest Sun (www.budapestsun.com) and Budapest Times (www.budapesttimes.hu) also list highlights; however, they are less likely to list the bar scene venues unless a well-known name is performing. You can pick up a copy of Pesti Est, the largest free weekly program magazine, but it is in Hungarian only and difficult to navigate. In order to help define the different categories of nightlife, we have tried to define an "average-age" guideline for the venues. Opening hours vary, but most clubs start dancing around 11pm and stay lively until closing time which could be as late as 5am. There are no laws stating when traditional bars or clubs have to close, but those with outside seating may be restricted by district laws to move things inside after 10 or 11pm in consideration of the neighbors.

Budapest's Underground Courtyard Parties

One of the strangest things I have come across is the underground nightlife scene in Budapest. Entrepreneurs take over the space of an abandoned building or courtyard and create a pub there until they are evicted or the building is torn down. Often found inside dark abandoned building courtyards not visible from the street, these squatters' pubs, ruins pubs, or kerts (gardens) as they are known here, are mysterious and exciting to visit. If you were merely strolling by, you would have no idea of the party scene shaking the interior walls, just a few feet away behind what on the outside is a dilapidated facade or an overly abused door.

How do these parties get started? Here is the generic explanation we have been able to filter out, but we are still searching for the full story: Organizers seek out the properties, which are in a bureaucratic quagmire; usually they are buildings with no tenants, and the ownership of the property is questionable, making renovations impossible. As in all real estate deals, location is the prime ingredient for success. They peruse the notices for abandoned properties ripe for squatting. These are the places that have fallen from the radar of the bureaucratic. Add this situation to a bit of rebelliousness, and the desire to make money and before you know it, a star is born on the party scene. However, to stay undercover, these party places are generally advertised by word of mouth only, so you have to ask around to find the current hotspots. When the wrecking ball is looming above, the party is over and then it is on to the next spot.

One kert success story is the bustling bar known as Szimpla Kert. Colorful paintings hung on the walled-up doors, a bar and jukebox occupied the empty courtyard, and paper lanterns and strange sculptures were hung from above. The party was eventually shut down, but the "Szimpla Kert" party moved on to other venues with a dark cloud hanging over it waiting for the swan song to announce the end of a decade. However, that did not happen. Szimpla Kert is still going strong and is more vibrant than ever before. With an actual roof covering it now, it is no longer the kert of days past, but still a hot, hot spot to be with the in crowd.

Corvin kert, the very first rooftop kert opened in 2007 atop the Corvin shopping complex at Blaha Lujza tér right on the square, so you cannot miss it, but don't confuse it with the Corvin movie complex. Unusual in two ways, the stores below are still operational and the kert is a rooftop, the first in the city. Though doomsayers have said this will not last, it seems to have become popular and whispers are that it will last a few years, until the building below is sold off, which could take years. Speaking of Corvin theaters, right behind it is the West Balkan (VIII. Futó u. 46). It is open from 2pm to very late until the developers continue with their plans to make this a complex of shops, apartment buildings, and offices. Until then West Balkan is playing funk, ska, and any other splinter genre imaginable. Look for the false front of a beachfront cafe.

Túz (Fire)Tate will heat up your night. After 3 years of occupying an old laboratory, this place is still going strong, though the name has changed more than once. The main action is in the inner courtyard where the music is spun out by DJs while light paintings are projected on the four-story high walls. If you are feeling adventurous, explore the interior of the abandoned building in the dark. Careful, there are piles of rubble in the rooms. This is the most ruined of the ruin pubs.

Although Budapest's courtyards seem to disappear one after the other, there are always one or two open somewhere in the city, but the seventh, eighth, and ninth districts seem to be the popular places of choice, perhaps due to the number of vacated buildings.