This is not what I expected from Budapest, I thought in the dark after something flew through the window. It was 4 a. The phantom loafer had invaded our apartment, sailing through the open second-story window like a pungent grenade.
I had witnessed a lot of drunken revelry my first few weeks in Budapest. But, projectile footwear was a new one. I processed in the dim light of dawn that, even though I had been in bed and of no threat to anyone, I was now under attack. It was the drunken horde from whence it came. At first, I thought nothing of it. I was, after all, in the bustling District 7 , also known as the old Jewish Quarter, where bars and nightclubs dominate.
Most evenings, a rock club across the way pulsates a steady soundtrack. The side street this window faced is a popular thoroughfare. It funnels drunk tourists like a current between watering holes and many affordable hostels nearby. Upon arriving in Budapest, I had a vague idea that this city was a prime drinking destination. One website breaking down such bang-for-your-buckness of popular European stag party cities points out the staggeringly low cost of beer in Budapest.
They suggest that 10 British pounds yields about nine pints. Cheap flights also fuel this phenomenon. One study examining the popularity of stag destinations in Europe points to the expansion of the European Union to new Central and East European countries in the early aughts.
Naturally, not all tourists come for a debauched weekend of heavy drinking — the legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire offers plenty of eye candy to architecture and museum buffs , and the local fine dining scene is starting to find its stride — but many of them do. Cheap flights not only seem to beckon the younger masses to Budapest, but encourage them that the party begins even before arrival.
