Szimpla Kert

In the early 2000s, Budapest's seventh district was a wreck. The old Jewish Quarter, once home to a thriving community before the Holocaust, had spent decades crumbling under communism. Buildings were abandoned, walls were peeling, and demolition orders were piling up. Then a group of university students had an idea that changed the city: rent a condemned building, fill it with salvaged furniture, and sell cheap drinks. The result was Szimpla Kert, which opened in 2002 and accidentally invented an entire genre of nightlife.

The original location was a small courtyard on Kertész utca. It moved to its current home on Kazinczy Street in 2004, occupying a former stove factory that was scheduled for demolition. The founders filled the multi-storey space with bathtubs repurposed as seating, old Trabant cars turned into booths, mismatched chandeliers, and enough graffiti to wallpaper a cathedral. Every room is different: one has a cinema, another a garden, a third looks like someone raided a grandmother's attic while hallucinating.

Szimpla sparked a revolution. Within a few years, dozens of ruin bars appeared across the seventh district, transforming it from a forgotten neighbourhood into one of Europe's most vibrant nightlife scenes. Lonely Planet named Szimpla the third best bar in the world. The irony is sharp: buildings that were left to rot because no one cared about the Jewish Quarter are now some of the most visited venues in Hungary.

During the day, Szimpla hosts a Sunday farmers' market where locals sell homemade cheese, pickles, and pálinka. It is a genuine community space as much as a bar. Go on a weeknight to avoid the stag-party crowds and see it at its weird, wonderful best.