A Guide To Budapest's Ferencváros (District 9)

Note that I planned, wrote, and recorded several Budapest tours on VoiceMap. The app uses your location to play audio automatically at the right time and place – you can put your phone away and roam the city with me, so to say. My tours: City Center, Jewish Quarter, Andrássy Avenue.

Officially part of Ferencváros, the Great Market Hall opened in 1896 as the city's biggest indoor market. The ground floor contains fruit and vegetable vendors and butcher shops hawking paprika-speckled cold cuts. Small bags of ground paprika are also to be had, as well preserved vegetables at the below-ground stalls. The upstairs is more touristy, teeming with vendors of knick-knacks and food stalls serving overpriced traditional dishes such as lángos and goulash. Exit the building through the back via the mushroom vendors.

The imposing Renaissance Revival building beside the market along the Danube is the economics and business-focused Corvinus University ("Karl Marx University" during the Communist era) and originally a customs house placed strategically near the river where goods were transported. In 2007, Corvinus expanded into a state-of-the-art facility straight ahead at #4 Közraktár utca. Fans of jazz music should consider returning in the evening to the Budapest Music Center, the hub of Budapest's jazz scene, with daily concerts inside an updated pre-war building (the composer György Kurtág lives on the upstairs).

What do Elton John, Quentin Tarantino, and Robbie Williams have in common? The unlikely answer is they all own Vinylize glasses, frames made of recycled vinyl records by local designer brand Tipton Eyeworks. Their showroom sells hundreds of prescription and sunglass-ready vinyl frames and it is possible to catch a glimpse of the meticulous production process. I like to get my breakfast pastries (kakaós csiga!) and coffee at Butter Brothers. One of my favorite pizza shops, Pizza Manufaktura, is also nearby.

Sandwiched between two 19th-century warehouses, the giant steel-and-glass building lying prostrate along the Danube's bank is the Bálna, an impressive piece of contemporary architecture that is yet to find its purpose and long-term tenants. The panoramic river views draw many locals to the cafes and bars on its ground floor.

Lined with bars and restaurants, Ráday utca is the commercial heart of the inner part of District 9. I like to drop in to the Bible Museum of the Calvinist Church, usually with excellent temporary painting exhibitions. My other go-to is Jedermann, an all-day café and jazz bistro with a diverse crowd and magnetic charm. On any day, the small tables might be filled with senior citizens fiercely debating Hungarian politics, students gossiping over a cup of coffee, and a theater director mapping out projects with the staff.

Jazz is the central theme: jazz posters drape the walls, jazz is playing in the background, and jazz is performed live on Friday and Saturday evenings (booking via email: [email protected]; the place fills up quickly). The dishes, vaguely Hungarian, are solid and well-priced and served from morning until midnight, seven days a week. A true-to-Budapest experience, this one!

Nándori is a neighborhood pastry shop of the best kind. Dobos, Esterházy, and krémes, yes, but also delicious mákos guba torte and ice cream. The precious Romanesque Revival church on Bakáts tér is proof that architect Miklós Ybl, also in charge of Budapest's Renaissance-Baroque Opera House, could design in any style he wished or had to. Behind the church lies Tsewang Namgyal’s tiny Tibetan eatery with delicious momos and hearty noodle soups.

Dart across the street to Tompa utca. Ferencváros beyond the Grand Boulevard looks different than comparable neighborhoods due to an urban renewal program of the early 1990s which replaced the crumbling pre-war houses with modern buildings and pedestrian-friendly streets. The success is evidenced by the army of young families with baby strollers on Ferenc tér, which is ringed by neighborhood cafes, bakeries, and restaurants.

Located inside a former glass manufacturing plant, Élesztő was among the first craft beer bars in Budapest. 25 taps serve everything from locally made West Coast-style IPAs to crisp lagers. Next door to it is Trafó, Budapest's seminal hub for contemporary arts, with experimental music, dance, and theater performances, some with English subtitles. Trafó's cafe is a good place to break for coffee. Hungarian natural wines and delicious vegetable-forward dishes are served from the open kitchen of és Margarita.

While Budapest remains the largest Ashkenazi city in continental Europe, the city and Hungary as a whole did not escape the tragedies of the Holocaust. In fact, about half a million Hungarian Jewish people were killed at Auschwitz and other concentration camps in 1944 and 1945. The Holocaust Memorial Center on the corner of Páva and Tűzoltó utca presents an informative and poignant exhibition about Jewish life in Hungary and the events leading up to the Shoah.

The corner of Tűzoltó and Thaly Kálmán utca is anchored by the facilities of Semmelweis, Hungary's main medical school. The ambient construction boom is fueled by the housing needs of the university's legion of foreign students. Turn right on Thaly Kálmán utca and amble all the way over to the Zwack Museum, about a ten-minute walk. The museum's engaging exhibition depicts the history and the production process of Hungary's most famous herbal liqueur, the Unicum (yes, the tour includes a taste). Dandár Baths, next door, is the least popular but one of the most enjoyable of Budapest's thermal baths.

Cross the busy road toward the Danube promenade lined with a row of gleaming office buildings. International companies such as Vodafone and Morgan Stanley have spurred the neighborhood's transformation, bringing white-collar jobs and a service sector to the area. The architectural highlight of District 9 is Müpa, a vast cultural complex completed in 2005 and home to the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art and two high-tech auditoriums with excellent concert schedules. Being away from the center, Ludwig falls under the radar of people despite artworks by the likes of Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Sigmar Polke, Vera Molnár, and Chuck Close alongside local contemporaries.

Shaped like a ship that is about to set sail, the Hungarian National Theater (2002) is a postmodern building with both fans and detractors. One could walk or bike back to the city center along the river path (there's a MOL Bubi docking station by Müpa) or take tram #2, also with panoramic views.