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Gay Budapest
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Budapest's
gay scene
has taken wing in recent years, with new, overtly gay clubs replacing the old, covert meeting places, and the appearance of a trilingual monthly listings magazine,
MA?sok
("Outsiders"). However, gays must still tread warily and lesbians even more so. The Hungarian word for gay is
meleg
- "warm" - while the pejorative term is "buzi" (from the word "buzerA?ns", which has the same roots as "bugger"). The
websites
A
www.gayguide.net/Europe/Hungary/
Budapest and
www.gay.hu
have the latest on gay accommodation, bars, clubs, restaurants, baths and any events that might be happening in the city, and the HattA©r
helpline
(daily 6-11pm; tel 1/329-3380,
hatter@hatter.hu
), run by the largest gay and lesbian organization in the country, is another good source of information.
Aside from the bars and clubs we've listed, the Turkish baths are a popular meeting place - KirA?ly Baths for the younger crowd, where you'll find a lot of Romanian prostitutes; the RA?cz for the more middle-aged gays; and the Rudas Baths, where a more mixed crowd is found mainly after 6pm - but, as tends to be the case in the city, these are gay hangouts for men only. The same is true of the first private gay bath, Magnum Sauna & Gym at VIII, Csepreghy utca 2 (Mon-Thurs & Sun 1pm-1am, Fri & Sat 1pm-6am; 1600Ft; tel 1/267 2532, gayguide.net/Budapest/Magnum; Ferenc kA¶rut metro). Restaurants with a particularly gay clientele include Club 93 (V, Vas utca 2; 11am-midnight), a cheap pizzeria near Astoria that is popular after 8pm, and Warlitzer (VII, WessA©lenyi utca 49; Mon-Sat noon-midnight).
The major event in the gay calendar is
Gay Pride Budapest
, a four-day festival taking place at the end of June. Organized by HattA©r, this is fast becoming a well-established event in the capital, incorporating a varied programme of film festivals, public discussion forums and gay parties. The event culminates with the very colourful Pride March on the final Saturday, which wends its way from DA?zsa GyA¶rgy A?t to the BelgrA?d rakpart via Andrassy A?t. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Hungary,
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