Visiting the Central Market Hall in Budapest

The Central Market Hall was my favourite part of Budapest - It was a real piece of Hungarian culture, a chance to watch the locals, sample some traditional cuisine and enjoy the atmosphere of a bustling marketplace. I have never been to a place like it before - Only a local indoor market near my place of work; the sheer scale and size of the Central Market Hall dwarfed this in comparison.

Savouring the sights, sounds and smells of this delightful place

So, what is the Central Market Hall? As the name suggests it's a large indoor market located on Vamhaz Street and is just off of Liberty Bridge. It is quite a distance from the main sights (Parliament, Széchenyi bridge etc) however if you don't mind a walk then you can enjoy a really pleasant stroll down the Danube to get there – We walked from the Széchenyi bridge section of the Danube and it took roughly 20 minutes – there is a large promenade that runs a great deal of the way and along this are some quirky statues and also some restaurants if you want to have a bite to eat.

You cannot miss the Central Market Hall building – It's a huge structure with a beautiful archaic façade and a colourful tiled roof. The main entrance is facing the road – Simply walk in and immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and smells of this unique place. The hall is split into three floors - The basement and ground floors contain a great variety of meat, fish, pastries, candies and spices while the first floor has souvenirs, eateries and clothes stalls. We spent ages walking round the various stalls, taking photographs, goggling in wonder at the displays, and generally enjoying every second. My favourite stalls were the Paprika vendors and Butchers - The colours and smells were amazing in the Paprika stalls and it was brilliant to see all the different cuts and types of meat for sale.

Sampling the delicious local cuisine

I would urge anyone visiting the Central Market Hall to sample some of the local food - As we walked round gazing in wonder, we could see people eating what looked like large pancakes - They looked so tempting so we hunted down the vendor. The pancake turned out to be a "Langos" which is a deep fried flat bread made of dough and is a Hungarian speciality. We both opted for the sweet Langos with icing sugar and cocoa - extremely tasty and very good value for the size it was. You could also have a savoury Langos with a variety of toppings such as cheese, salad and Bacon - You would not believe the concoctions people were eating, and the sheer amount of filling they crammed ontop of each Langos - A definite must-eat!

After chomping down our Langos we carried on around the first floor and had a bite to eat in the cafe (Sadly I can't remember the name); it was a self service style layout with trays and various stalls to pick hot food, deserts and drinks from. We both chose the Goulash Soup, with some cobs (Bread rolls for people not from England!) and a drink - it was great value at around maybe £3.50 each for the lot? The Goulash was really tasty - I would compare it to an English Beef Stew, but with a tomato flavoured broth - The chunks of meat and vegetables were gorgeous. While eating our Goulash, we enjoyed watching a duet playing the violin and serenading people - Really good fun and great quality live music.

If you do one thing in Budapest, make sure it is a trip to the Market - The experience will be unforgettable! If you have been to the Central Market Hall let me know what you thought - I would love to know what other people think!