Most first-time visitors to Budapest spend much of their time in the Jewish Quarter, which is also the city's nightlife hub and location for its famed ruin bars. Set in once empty residential buildings, these alternative nightspots generated a raft of new businesses, eateries, boutiques and galleries, and revived interest in what was the wartime Jewish Ghetto behind the area's key landmark, the Dohány Street Synagogue.
What are the best things to do in Budapest's Jewish Quarter?
Beyond the ruin bars, the Jewish Quarter is best known for its murals, which reflect the urban history of Budapest and those who shaped it. Take a walking tour and find out about the 1956 Uprising, Rubik's Cube and Empress Sisi. The ruin bars also begat Budapest's best breakfast spots and Middle-Eastern restaurants, not to mention new galleries, bohemian bars and a bric-à-brac market in the Gozsdu Udvar. And now, of course, you're only a step away from Time Out Market Budapest on nearby Blaha Lujza tér.
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Dan Nolan is a writer based in Budapest. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.