Budapest birthday

Being at work on your birthday is over-rated, and the last couple of years has seen me jet off somewhere as the UK's weather gets increasingly unpredictable in June! This year (due to far too many other holidays) we only had time for a long weekend and, after a bit of research (also known as asking people on Facebook), Budapest beat Copenhagen.

Surprisingly quick to get to (about a two-hour flight), this wonderful city of Buda on the left bank of the Danube and Pest on the right bank is relatively compact, with decent public transport and certainly has enough to entertain you for four days. It's renowned as a stop off for river cruises and for its Christmas markets, but what else does it have to offer?

During my research three things really jumped out at me - one, the number of romkocsma, or ‘ruin bars’ to me and you - where enterprising locals have used the shell of incredible edifices left hollow from war and revolution and created bars filled with gardens, music venues and other spaces such as, (and this is number two) escape or exit rooms. I don't know whether this originated in Budapest, but with over 60 of them springing up in the city they are a fantastic way to spend an hour - imagine Crystal Maze with your mates and you've got the general gist. The third thing and actually my primary reason for choosing Budapest, was their version of art nouveau - secessionist architecture.

We based ourselves at the Hotel Nemzeti, an elegant 4* a little way out of the centre of Pest but perfectly located next to a tram and metro stop, so getting about was a doddle. We like a good walk anyway and the area we were in gave us easy access to Erzsebetvaros, home of many a fabled ruin bar (the photo with the kangaroo is one of the rooms in Szimpla Kert, considered to be the mother of ruin bars); as well as only being about 20 minutes from the banks of the Danube.

We spent the first afternoon getting our bearings, which involved scrambling to the top of Gellert Hill on Buda, past the famously grand Gellert Baths and taking some out-of-breath photos of Budapest lying out before us from the top by the Liberty Monument. That evening we sampled a ruin bar (or three) along with half of Budapest and the odd stag do - and I mean odd.

My birthday was spent enjoying the extensive breakfast (including sparkling wine) offered at the Nemzeti before visiting the nearby Jewish Quarter to see one of the world's biggest Synagogues and to read about the ghetto created by the Nazis. Maybe not everyone's idea of what to do on your birthday but I'm a bit of a history buff and I thought it was incredibly interesting, not to mention moving to find out more about the resilience of the city's residents in their darkest hours.

Onto lighter stuff; that afternoon we trusted some very detailed instructions to reach our very own escape game. I obviously can't tell you too much (find the clues and work out the puzzles). But I was very surprised and pleased that my husband and I managed to escape with more than 20 minutes to go - a good team effort and I think I've got the bug!

The next day we took the ‘Hop-On, Hop-Off bus’ to get around with a bit of commentary and visited the Castle Hill, swung past the truly stupendous Parliament building and headed to the City Park. This is a huge green space with a world-class zoo, circus, ice rink and boating lake, but the reason we were there was to visit Szechnyi Baths. No visit to Budapest is complete without stopping off at one of the thermal baths and this was a wonderful experience. These particular baths are in a purpose-built palace and have three outdoor pools with a further 15 inside - everything about the place was impressive. The beautiful weather drew out locals and tourists alike to soak in the water, soak up the sun and soak up the atmosphere - a great people-watching opportunity, that's for sure.

Throughout our time wandering around Budapest I'd been struck by the beautiful architecture, so I'll be adding another photo album to my Facebook page just on that - some buildings shouted art nouveau from top to bottom, while others just had the occasional nod to the movement. You get the impression that nothing stands still in this city - if something lies empty for more than a couple of weeks I imagine someone will move in and turn it into something special. I also imagine this will make it difficult to keep guide books up to date, so I'll have to keep visiting on a regular basis so I can pass all of the best places onto my clients - all in the name of research, of course.