Under $100: Budapest

$100 gets you a little more 24,000 HUF (Hungarian Forint), and luckily for you, Budapest is one of the cheapest capital cities in Europe. Often referred to as the Paris of the East, Budapest is a great city for a traveler on a tight budget.

Start with breakfast at the First Strudel House of Pest, where you can choose from a variety of breakfasts complete with hot drink and orange juice — strudel, continental, three-egg dish — for 1,790 HUF.

After breakfast, walk over the Chain Bridge to Budapest’s Castle District and take the funicular railway up to Castle Hill (1,100 HUF one-way; 1,700 HUF round-trip). Follow this itinerary to give yourself a free tour of Castle Hill and fill up your morning. The Castle itself is the current home of the Hungarian National Gallery, where you can gain entrance to any of their permanent exhibitions for 1,400 HUF (some of the visiting exhibitions are more expensive).

Now it’s back to the Pest side of the river for lunch at the Gerlóczy Café— voted the best café in Budapest — where you can enjoy their lunch special: Two courses for 1,890 HUF or three for 2,490 HUF.

For the afternoon, take advantage of one of Hostel Culture’s several walking tours. Three of their daily tours — one general tour of Budapest, one which focuses on the Soviet occupation, and one which focuses on the Jewish Quarter — are free, while another, which brings you on a tour of Budapest’s thermal baths, is 5,037 HUF.

If you’d rather skip the tour and go straight to the famous Szechenyi Baths, admission to the afternoon baths, with a locker or a cabin for your things, ranges from 3,800 HUF to 4,500 HUF.

There are also indoor options for your afternoon. Brush up on your history and visit the Terror House, a museum and a monument to the victims of Hungary’s occupation by the Nazis and the Soviets (2,000 HUF; 1,000 HUF with international student card). You can also take a tour of the iconic Hungarian Parliament building (2,520 HUF; 1,260 HUF for students).

For dinner, head to Hunyadi Kisvendéglő where entrees start under 1,000 HUF and the most expensive item on the menu costs 5,290 HUF. No matter what choices you made earlier in the day, you can certainly afford to have a nice, authentic Hungarian meal to end your day.