Other reviewers have done a good job of reviewing this mystic but beautiful city. One does get a bit spoilt by living in Western Europe, Budapest is a city which reminds me of back home always. This may surprise a lot of you but the comparison starts from the Airport which reminds me of the IGI airport in delhi which arrivals and departures in the same terminal building. Malev the hungarian airline looks and (smells sorry) like our Air India planes. The Airport is about 30 KMs from the City Centre and sorry there is no U-Bahn or Metro linking it to the city. You are at the mercy of the Cabbies which will sense you are an Ausslander and give you nice Quote on one of their Peugots or VWs (sorry fellas this is eastern europe so no Mercs for cabs). I love the currency its easy to be a millionaire in the City as One Forint is equal to 5 Indian Ruppees (Yeh Yeh!!).
The City can also be called as Poor Mans Paris. Danube splits the city into Buda and Pest. The River is lovely for evening strolls but avoid shady alleys and dark roads.
People are warm and nice and the Hungarian Girls are the Prettiest in the World!!
Enjoy hot Goulash Suppe, they love lots of Butter and Cheese in the meals. City is inexpensive as compared to the Western Europe Cities. The communist era has influence on a lot of buildings and one can stand on top of the small hillock and look around and get of feel of being back in India for some time.
Dont even try to learn the language. Ut is a road and Ut ca is a small road.
Some other facts:
Hungary has some of the best universities in the world and is a global study centre (low cost, good standards, english).
Hungary students come closest to Indians in the hard work they put into studies, (another resemblence to India).
Hungarian Beers sucks but the Wines are great!
Budapest is also the sleaze capital of Europe so tread carefully its all around you always.
All in all a great city which needs to be explored slowly and even if you are spoilt West european brat you will start liking it.
Enjoy!