An American's bad night in Budapest

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » March 4th, 2012, 3:59 pm

You should never go to a strip club in Budapest without reading reviews about it on the internet first! Many are just traps where big mafia dudes extort money from tourists.

http://www.thebackpacker.net/travel-gui ... ungary/36/

I can sympathize with the author's negative feelings; however, he clearly shows that he has no street smarts or common sense--essential skills when one is travelling in Eastern Europe! And for god's sake, be suspicious if beautiful girls suddenly appear out of nowhere and want to lead you someplace. Most likely, they're just setting up an ambush!

One easy way to avoid a lot of this shit is simply to go to cities in Hungary other than Budapest. Budapest can be great, but just like when you're in any other big city of the world, you need to be a little bit cautious.

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » March 11th, 2012, 11:50 am

There have also been some grenade attacks recently north of the 6th district. It seems to be some fighting between organized crime groups. I'll stay out of those areas until things settle down.
Budapest is usually peaceful, but occasionally some crazy shit happens there, just like in any big city.

E_Irizarry · Post by **E_Irizarry** » March 11th, 2012, 2:09 pm

@Jackal,

Thanks, but no thanks. I will go there to Eastern Europe, and thrive, baby. I went to the worst parts of Rio and of Santiago de Chile, and of Bogota, a near-border city to the border of Colombia and Panama out in the damn jungle! (and nobody f***ed with me) and of Guayaquil, Ecuador, and not once was I robbed nor pickpocketed.

I was almost pickpocketed by a 5 year old in Manila as the only instance. And in South America, the street dogs were trying to attack me more than the people from that area were. And I got into fights with westerners as opposed to the locals in the countries I was in.

So foreign adults are the least of my worries about being dangerous. Oh wait, everybody keeps telling me that Dominican Republic is very dangerous. El tiempo dira y nos veremos about that!

Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » March 12th, 2012, 12:11 pm

^My point was simply that people should stay out of that area of the city for the moment. In a month or two, things should be back to normal.

I once walked through the so-called "worst" part of Budapest (the 8th district) at night, and nothing happened to me.

It's unlikely that you will be robbed in Budapest if you stay away from the restaurants on VÃ¡ci street and stay away from the strip clubs which are run by the mafia.

aozora13 · Post by **aozora13** » March 12th, 2012, 3:23 pm

Wow, Jackal. I had this happen to me in Riga with a French guy and he said that this happened to him a lot and oddly enough I guess since I was a black guy (thought I was African which is rare for any black of whatever nationality to be in Riga). Of course nothing happened because the guy told me of crap that happened and it was good meeting people in another hostel. It was odd but I guess he told me that eastern European girls are the way to go since some do like black guys.

Anyway, that guy was dumb and I am surprised he did not research the cities more. I have heard of Riga having mafia at the special clubs where girls trick you into going and spending a lot of money.

Probably would avoid going to Hungary for night life for a little bit. I forgot what part of Hungary do you live?