Budapest Historic Cafes Small-Group Walking Tour

This was our third tour in Budapest, so perhaps the comparison with the other tours was a factor, however there are far better organized tours in the city for much less money. Our tour was exclusively walking, it did not include the tram referenced in the write-up. Not a huge deal in and of itself, but one problem on a list of many. Our guide was a recent graduate who said this was one of her last tours, which may also have been a factor. In all fairness, the tour is a literary and history tour, our particular tour focused almost solely on the political history of the area, and barely touched on the literary history. One journal, one editor and one poet were mentioned by name, otherwise literary figures were referred to only as 'the writers.'

This was the only tour we have taken through La Vacanza Travel where stops at businesses were clearly not coordinated ahead of time. Our tour guide was asking permission to access local businesses as she went, which is unusual in our experience. We ended up touring her campus, while the locations she pointed out were interesting, again they had nothing to do with literature. We then went into an apartment complex the guide said she had a code for, even though we specifically voiced concern with the unscheduled stop to a private building. The tour was scheduled for three hours, we left after two due to the general awkwardness of the ongoing negotiations.

If this was advertised as a socio-political history tour and locations were pre-arranged better with the local businesses, this would have been a fine tour. However as a literary tour, my husband and I were hoping to learn more about the specific authors and poets who called Budapest home, which this tour did not provide.

Anet was my tour guide. Excellent English and very knowledgeable and passionate about her Cafes - definitely part of the historical Budapest! We walked and walked but the weather was perfect, adding to the wonderful tour!