A trip to Budapest can certainly be a vibrant tourist adventure. The memories of this ancient European city with an amazing history and unique architecture will long remain in the memory of any traveler visiting a Hungarian pearl. However, the city’s guests are faced with a difficult task: how to manage to buy souvenirs from Budapest during breaks between tasting local dishes and visiting many sights? What to choose as a gift to friends or relatives? You can, of course, go along the simplest path and fill travel bags with colorful magnets, posters and other trinkets with the inscription “Budapest”. And, meanwhile, in this city you can buy a lot of really unique things that have true Hungarian flavor. Therefore, do not miss the opportunity to please yourself and loved ones with outstanding "foreign" presents. So, what to bring from Budapest as a gift to relatives, friends, colleagues or yourself as a keepsake of the delightful “pearl of the Danube”?
Alcoholic drinks
One of the leaders in the souvenir market is Bulgarian wines and spirits. A real work of art - the Hungarian liquor-balm “Unicum” - is recommended to be bought by all city guests. The drink is known as a powerful healing agent that has a beneficial effect on the circulatory, digestive, nervous, respiratory systems, gives strength and strengthens the immune system. The recipe "Unicum" has existed for several centuries and is kept in the strictest confidence. The only thing known is that in the manufacture of liquor, no less than forty medicinal herbs are used.
Another famous gift from Hungary is the vigorous local drink Palinka, an analogue of vodka or vodka. It is made from a variety of fruits and berries: plums, apricots, pears, mountain ash, cherries and more. Despite the palinka’s decent fortress, 43 degrees, the drink is famous for its mild, pleasant taste.
And, of course, the main thing that can and should be brought from Budapest is Hungarian wines. Various varieties of world-famous Tokai white wine, exquisite riesling, sweet red wines from local vineyards - all this can be found in Budapest stores in large quantities and in the most unusual bottles and gift wraps.
Paprika
Another, no less popular souvenir from the Hungarian capital is paprika, the main seasoning of traditional national cuisine. Sometimes it seems that in Budapest there is a real cult of this amazing spice. Dried, whole, fresh, ground, pickled or processed in the form of a paste paprika of various varieties, delivered from different parts of the country - the variety of choices is quite easy to get confused. You can buy paprika by weight, but it is best to purchase spices in bright unusual packaging: branded cans, barrels, canvas bags. A “garland” of dried paprika peppers strung on a rope will look very beautiful - at the same time both seasoning and decoration for the kitchen interior. As a rule, sellers can offer other agricultural goodies to a bag or bunch of paprika: fragrant honey, fruits, fresh local cheeses, herbs and beautiful bundles of fragrant local garlic.
Deli meats
A visit to the Hungarian capital is a chance to surprise your guests with amazingly delicious meat delicacies. The truly legendary cervelat “Peak” produced by the factory of the same name (Szeged town), especially the branded “winter” salami, is something that you must bring from Budapest. In addition, a delicate Hungarian liver and sausage paste Chabai and Gyula is in great demand.
Clothing, textiles, embroidery
Budapest has a huge selection of textile products in stores and markets in Budapest. The main souvenir, which is always in demand among tourists, is items decorated with embroidery in the traditional Hungarian style “Matio” and “Kalochai”: scarves, tablecloths, curtains, towels, bedspreads and more. You can also bring upscale knitwear, delicate lace and high-quality printed fabrics from Budapest.
An excellent gift for adults and children can be national clothes from Budapest, sewn exclusively from natural fabrics and decorated with elegant embroidery. Blouses, vests, scarves, shirts, shawls, dresses in the Hungarian style are worn by modern fashionistas with pleasure.
Crystal, porcelain, ceramic products
If it comes to porcelain, then the first thing all tourists are told about is the Hungarian “white gold” - Herend. The factory for the production of this famous porcelain begins its history from the middle of the XIX century. To this day, services, utensils, figurines of this brand are completely made, from beginning to end, by hand. Milk-colored delicate porcelain is painted by professional artists. Such a souvenir is very expensive. Herend products are often bought by very wealthy people: millionaires, successful businessmen, members of European royal families.
Another porcelain producer, no less famous in European countries, is the Zholnai Hungarian factory. The products of this brand have repeatedly received recognition at international exhibitions. Founded, like Herend, two centuries ago, the plant produces porcelain of no less high-quality but more affordable price, as well as incredibly beautiful painted tiles - majolica.
Voiced Hungarian crystal is much more affordable, but such a souvenir can also become a real heirloom. But the main thing that even a budget traveler can bring from Budapest is the amazingly beautiful and varied Hungarian ceramics: bright painted jugs, plates, mugs, medallions, bells and much, much more. Mugs “with a secret”, figurines with national colors, dishes with paprika and unusual over-pottery ceramics of black color will become a very original gift from Hungary.
Hungarian dolls
Do not think long about what to bring a small child from Budapest. Bright unusual toy will be the perfect gift for the baby. And adults will certainly be happy to receive national dolls from Hungary as a souvenir. They are made of porcelain, wood, fabric, doll clothes are often decorated with traditional Hungarian embroidery. Particularly popular are dolls in national Hungarian costumes and funny dolls - “witches”, which our compatriots jokingly call “Grandma - Hedgehog”.
Folk crafts
It is worth paying attention to products of original Hungarian folk crafts. In the markets and in souvenir shops more than one will find all sorts of things: leather, wood, stone, clay. Woven leather belts and whips, bags and purses made of the same material, traditional "peasant" flasks made of wood trimmed with leather and fur, clay smoking pipes, Buso folk masks, small wooden utensils and much more are in great demand.
Sweets
An ideal sweet gift is delicious candies and confectionery figures made of marzipan. Marzipan sweets are not only multi-colored and have excellent taste. Confectioners create real works of art from this pliable material. The inhabitants of the Hungarian capital themselves consider these sweets to be one of the symbols of the country and are proud that it is impossible to meet such a variety of figures made of marzipan raw materials anywhere else. In addition to marzipan, in the capital of Hungary you can buy hand-made chocolates in small pastry shops.
Cosmetics
An excellent investment - natural cosmetics from Budapest. The most famous Hungarian cosmetology products:
- Elite cosmetics Omorovicza based on thermal water from mineral sources. Under this name, skin care products, men's shaving cosmetics, sunscreens, concealers and tones are produced.
- A classic of Hungarian cosmetology is Helia D, natural products based on valuable oils and mineral components.
- Pandhy's Natural Cosmetics.
- Cosmetics for children "Gaby", "Kaomila".
- Lavender soap.
Fashion clothes and shoes
Vazi metropolitan street and the largest shopping center called Arena Plaza - the place where the maximum number of branded stores of the most popular brands is concentrated. Fashionable clothes and shoes from Budapest are much cheaper than in similar boutiques of Russian cities.
We should also mention jewelry and accessories. The Hungarian capital is the place where you can easily buy a souvenir in the form of watches or jewelry of the most famous European companies. In Budapest, the shops of the legendary Swiss watch brands Breguet and Bretling, jewelry boutiques of the French houses Boucheron and Sartier, and the elegant Italian brand Bulgari are successfully operating and are in demand.
Antiques, Antiques, Art
The largest and most famous in Europe “flea market” Echeri on Nagykörösi Street, like a magnet, attracts true connoisseurs of antique objects to Budapest. The range of goods on the local shelves is amazing: they sell everything from vintage toys and clothes to military orders and antique furniture.
It is especially important that all sorts of things bought for relatively little money can turn out to be an expensive artifact. Antique items can be found in specialized stores in Budapest, but to make purchases at Echeri, as avid collectors admit, is much cheaper and more fun.