Szimpla Kert

Szimpla Kert is the bar that started Budapest's ruin bar movement, and it remains the best known. The first Szimpla opened in 2002 a few blocks away. In 2004 its four owners took over a run-down building at Kazinczy utca 14, a former home and stove factory that was due to be demolished, and turned it into a bar and garden cinema, Szimpla Kertmozi, screening independent films in the courtyard. The formula of cheap drinks, mismatched furniture and an atmosphere of creative improvisation in an abandoned building was copied across the old Jewish Quarter and gave District VII its reputation for nightlife.

Inside, the building is a maze of rooms and staircases arranged around a large open courtyard, each space filled with salvaged and mismatched furniture and objects in the ruin bar style. There are several bars, so you can wander between them with a drink, and food is available. Concerts, DJ nights, film screenings and art exhibitions take place regularly; the official website links to the current programme and drinks menu.

Szimpla is also a community space by day. It hosts the Szimpla Farmers' Market, with local producers selling food, as well as a bicycle flea market and a living library project. Visiting during the day is a calmer way to see the building's decoration before the evening crowds arrive.

At night it is extremely popular, especially at weekends, in summer and during big festivals such as Sziget, when queues form on Kazinczy utca. Most guests are international visitors, and it can feel very crowded, so go early in the evening if you want space to explore. Drinks are inexpensive by western European standards. Keep an eye on your belongings in the crush, and remember that Kazinczy utca is a residential street, so keep noise down when you leave late at night.

Szimpla is in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, between the Dohány Street Synagogue and Király utca. Astoria on metro line M2 and Deák Ferenc tér on M1, M2 and M3 are both around ten minutes' walk away, and trams 4 and 6 stop on the Grand Boulevard. Mazel Tov, Kőleves Kert and Gozsdu Courtyard are all close by, making it easy to plan an evening of bar-hopping on foot.