12 Excellent Bakeries in Budapest

#1 Artizán Bakery

Specializing in sourdough breads and morning pastries, Artizán is one of the leading craft bakeries in Budapest. Under the helm of Gergő Fekete, who honed his skills across Western Europe, Artizán in 2015 introduced a new standard of excellence in a city where dreary bakery chains and bland croissants are still the norm.

Artizán is the kind of place I admire: one foot steeped in local traditions, the other leaping forward and facing ahead. What this means in terms of the offerings: you’ll find here túrós batyu (buns filled with sweetened cottage cheese), kakaós csiga (chocolate rolls), Buchteln, which are wonderful yeast buns layered with túró and plum jam (so rarely seen these days in both Budapest and Vienna!), and long-fermented sourdough breads of wheat, spelt, barley, and rye.

At the same time, any cravings will be satisfied for cardamom buns bursting with red berries and vanilla custard (might just be the best thing they make), sweet and savory croissants, and all sorts of home-designed concoctions. Expect a line outside at all times – office workers, local residents, tourists – so try to go early for the best selections. Once here, be sure to glimpse the Art Nouveau masterpiece of Ödön Lechner across the street.

#2 Arán Bakery

Arán, which means "bread" in Old Irish, is a craft bakery in Budapest's hip Jewish Quarter run by Kinga and Attila Pécsi. The couple spent a decade living in Ireland and it was there that Kinga mastered her baking skills. Arán lives up to its moniker: the whole wheat, rye, and white breads are all wonderful, imparting the signature, slightly sour taste of long-fermented sourdough. On Fridays, they also make kalács, a sweet roll similar to a challah.

Bread is the specialty, but the morning pastries are also good, especially the light and moist and sugary cinnamon bun, which is impossible to stop eating (and the first thing they run out of). There's also cruffin, a half-croissant, half-muffin concoction, and all sorts of savory filled pastries. Unfortunately, Arán doesn't make Hungarian classics like túrós batyu (cottage-cheese bun) and kakaós csiga (chocolate roll).

#3 Pékműhely Bartók

Pékműhely's motto – "all you need for a good bread is excellent flour, water, salt, sourdough, and a pinch of love" – encapsulates the candid spirit of this unassuming Budapest bakery, which has two additional locations. Unlike other craft bakeries with on-trend minimalist design, here the focus is purely on the treasures of the oven.

Take the whole wheat bread, for example: the crunchy crust yields to a tender, air pocket-filled interior that impars the unmistakable tang of sourdough. But best of all is the kakaós csiga; I know people who journey from the other side of the city for this tiny but delicious chocolate roll (often spiked with sour cherries).

#4 Vaj

Vaj, which translates to "butter," is a spacious all-day bakery located a bit outside the city center by Rákóczi tér. The sprawling glass display is crowded with flaky, steaming, and aromatic breakfast pastries, breads, and bagels just out of the oven. Some people claim that Vaj serves Budapest's best túrós táska, a traditional Hungarian pastry filled with sweet-tart túró. I wouldn't go that far (more stuffing please!), but it's very good, as is everything else: the chocolate and the pistachio croissant, the apple and vanilla-topped danish, the plum and pecan-sprinkled roll. The only problem is the prices, which are prohibitively high for most Budapest locals.

#5 nor/ma

Nor/ma is a pricey craft bakery in Budapest serving the usual suspects of contemporary global favorites such as cardamom buns, filled croissants, and sourdoughs, as evidenced by the beautifully crusted loaves of rye, oat, and whole wheat breads crowding the electric oven behind the counter. The morning pastries include two local favorites: the túrós batyu, a soft bun stuffed with a generous portion of sweet-tart cottage cheese (túró), and the kakaós csiga chocolate roll. Nor/ma's moniker is a portmanteau of "Nordic" and "Magyar," inspired by the time the Hungarian owners spent in Copenhagen. Nor/ma has another location with more seating on the Buda side.

#6 Három Tarka Macska Bakery

Három Tarka Macska is a fashionable bakery in the heart of Újlipótváros, a well-off residential area north of the Parliament building. Step inside, and a paradise of aromatic and still-steaming sourdough, whole wheat, and rye breads, brioches, and rolls in all shapes and sizes accost you. The two must-try local standouts are the túrós batyu (a sweet-tart cottage cheese-filled laminated pastry) and the kakaós csiga (a snail-shaped chocolate pastry roll).

While mainly a takeout bakery, omelets and freshly made sandwiches are also available for a sit-down meal. Customers are a cross-section of the local residents, comprising snazzy Millennials, families with young children, and moneyed senior citizens with purebred dogs by their sides.

#7 Villa Bagatelle

You’ll need to leave downtown to experience this upscale, see-and-be-seen breakfast restaurant in a residential Buda neighborhood where the city's moneyed elites wind down. Located inside a wonderfully refurbished residential villa, Villa Bagatelle serves excellent egg-based dishes, frankfurters, breakfast pastries and there’s also a to-go bakery on the ground floor. The place is reachable in fifteen minutes by public transport from Pest (you’ll likely be the only guest arriving by bus, judging from the line-up in the parking lot). Try to sit on the outdoor terrace in the warmer months.

#8 Lui

Very pricey and very good, Lui is a specialty bakery in downtown Budapest. The place is hidden on a tree-lined side street of the most elite part of District 5 by Liberty Square, which means that customers comprise office workers from the nearby banks and the American Embassy (and tourists). The vanilla custard-filled bun is especially good and there are savory breakfast dishes such as quiches and egg-topped sandwiches. Check upstairs if the ground level is full. Specialty coffee is available to-go.

#9 Freyja - the croissant story

A hipster paradise, Freyja bakery brings a pocket of East Williamsburg to Budapest – and now also to Vienna – complete with tattooed bakers, bearded baristas, and minimalist design elements. Freyja specializes in croissants, which are among the best you'll find in Budapest: rich and flaky and buttery. Every three months, they rotate the fillings, but you'll usually find pistachio cream, marzipan, and raspberry jam among the options (some savory stuffings too). Also here: new-wave coffee and space to linger.

#10 Bageri (Ráday)

Ráday utca and its environs isn’t known for its exceptional culinary offerings so Bageri, a specialty bakery, is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Excellent túrós táska – cottage-cheese filled buns, brighter than a cheese Danish – and chocolate, cinnamon, and poppy-seeds rolls are to be had. There are also some completely exuberant-looking layered pastries I'm too timid to try. Service is very kind, the specialty coffee very good.

#11 Butter Brothers

Opened in 2012, Butter Brothers has been putting out sourdough breads and expertly made croissants for longer than most of Budapest's specialty bakeries. Today, you can still get a tasty whole wheat loaf or kakaós csiga (chocolate roll) here, but not all pastries stand up to the ambitious new bakeries around town.

You’re mainly here for the rolls – chocolate, cinnamon, walnut. There’s also coffee and half a dozen tables for lingering. Butter Brothers is located on an uneventful side street in Budapest's District 9, which means that customers consist of local residents and students from the nearby Corvinus University.

#12 Jacques Liszt

In 2012, Mihály Juhász decided to leave his cushy corporate legal position and instead try his hand at baking. This bold move seems to have paid off as Mr. Juhász's tiny craft bakery, Jacques Liszt, hiding on a downtown backstreet, has become a popular destination for bread fanatics in Budapest.

Sourdough loaves of all kinds and sizes take center stage here and there's also ciabatta, baguette, and kalács (rolled bread). The morning pastries don't always stand up to the best ones in town, but they're still miles ahead of what you'll find at most bakery chains. Note that the space is tiny and most people take their orders to go.