It seems like you can hardly mention ‘Budapest’ without people immediately jumping to recommend an ‘unmissable’ ruin bar in Budapest. You’ll be told that they are a must do in Budapest. Something that you need to see. Something that you simply can’t not see. Trust me; you can definitely not visit a ruin bar. In fact, they are something you should avoid. Avoid like the plague.

ruin bar 1.jpg — Why You Should Skip the Ruin Bars of budapest

UNDERSTAND

As you may be aware, up until the 90’s, Hungary was run by a fairly oppressive communist dictatorship. Under this dictatorship, as under many communist set ups, heaps of construction was commenced after the second world war to help rebuild and reinvigorate the economy. Under this, Budapest experienced a huge amount of building development from the 50’s onwards. However, many of these buildings fell into serious disrepair as communism waned in the 80’s. However, after Hungary’s transformation into a democracy, some savvy young people decided to make use of these crumbling buildings. The rent was cheap and the local government was more than happy for people to make use of the otherwise ignored buildings. Largely set up in the historic Jewish section of the city, these bars were at first at insiders secret in Budapest; a place to find an unpretentious crowd, have a quiet beer, and maybe get a little drunk.

In these early days, the bars weren’t on any lists, blogs or guidebooks - they merely were, and were known to be fairly fun places to have a decent night out in Budapest.The main ruin bars that sprung up during these years were Szimpla Kert, Instant & Fogas Ház, Szatyor Bar, Mazel Tov, Csendes, and Udvar Rom. However, like with any pure thing, as the bars started to grow in popularity with college students, locals and visitors alike, the owners of the ruin bars began to add furnishings such as vintage furniture, cold-war era pornography and a host of eclectic interior design, giving them their current psychedelic appearance.

In recent years, however, the popularity of these bars has absolutely skyrocketed; now you can fully expect to see people wandering around with selfie sticks, go pro cameras, walking tours and blank faced tourists, all of whom seem to be there for that perfect instagram photo. Every guidebook and blog about Budapest will recommend a Ruin Bar, and every single tourist visiting the city seems to find themselves at one.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

Although ruin bars have helped to revitalize the run down jewish quarter of Budapest, and provide employment for students, they are certainly far from a genuine experience in town. Primarily, these bars are hugely inauthentic; if you visit you will be drinking only with tourists, drunk backpackers, and people on walking tours whom seem perpetually glued to their phones, looking for that perfect photo. You seriously cannot enjoy a drink here, there are tourists everywhere, posing on the stairs, framing a photo from the balcony, buying a t-shirt or queuing up to pose in front of an art display. They are everywhere. If you visit, look around; can you see any locals here? Do you see anyone who is there to have a quiet drink and a chat? Absolutely not. The only people that seem to be at ruin bars are those looking for an instagram moment; these bars are practically built for it.

To make matters worse, aside from the tourist trap nature of the bars themselves, the price of a drink is ludicrously expensive. Take Szimpla Kert for example; there, a beer will cost you minimum $5 USD. Go to any other relaxed pub in the city and you’ll pay no more than $3 USD. Any cocktail, wine or mixed drink will nearly require you to re-mortgage your house. The prices are staggeringly inflated. The reason for this? Because only tourists drink there. The locals are smarter.

Furthermore, the Ruin Bars are inauthentic. The premise of a ruin bar is that they are re purposed dilapidated spaces acting as a form of speakeasy. Now, these bars are carnivals of contrived art, fake displays, excessive drink prices and disinterested bar staff. try having a conversation with any of the people working the bar; you won’t get far. They too are fatigued by the endless stream of tourists streaming through. Ruin bars couldn’t be further from the ‘speakeasy’ vibe that they were initially intended to be. Have a beer at one and you’ll be surrounded by young families on vacation. The places are sterile and very, very far removed from what they were set up to be.

Should you check them out?

Have you read any of this post at all? Absolutely not! The Ruin bars of Budapest are built for the mindless, ignorant tourist who can’t be bothered deviating from the set route to find something actually worth seeing. Take a trip down any side street in Budapest and you’ll come upon a bar more worthy of your patronage. Unless you particularly enjoy rubbing shoulders with other tourists whom seem all too keen to unleash their life savings on a beer, these places aren’t worth your while. If you’re desperate to check one out; ask yourself why? are you going just for the instagram moment? Are you going because everybody else said that you should? If so; take a long hard look at yourself and probably cancel your flights; that ain’t travel. Be brave; explore, find a bar worth visiting. Ruin Bars, in my opinion, certainly aren’t.

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