The Best Ruin Bars in Budapest, Compared
Updated September 2026 · Verified against official sites and current listings
Budapest's ruin bars all get described the same way: quirky, abandoned buildings full of salvaged furniture. That description covers Szimpla Kert and a genuinely upscale restaurant equally well, which is the problem. Every list of the best ones covers three or four in prose and moves on; none puts the real differences (hours, size, whether it is actually a ruin bar or something else wearing the look) side by side.
The table below covers the bars that come up consistently across multiple independent sources, not just one blogger's personal favourites, cross-checked against each venue's own site or current Google listing where one exists.
The bars, side by side
| Bar | Area | What it is | Hours | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Szimpla Kert | Kazinczy u. 14, Jewish Quarter | The original, a sprawling multi-room maze of bars and lounges | Afternoon to early hours | Free |
| Instant-Fogas | Akácfa u. 49-51, Jewish Quarter | Seven themed venues under one roof, the biggest dance-and-party complex | Every day, 6pm-6am | Free |
| Kőleves Kert | Kazinczy u. 37-41, Jewish Quarter | Calm courtyard garden behind a restaurant, better for an afternoon drink than a night out | Afternoon to around midnight | - |
| Csendes | Ferenczy István u. 5, near Astoria | Small, sit-down bar with vintage decor, further from the main Kazinczy u. cluster | Every day, 13:00-24:00 | - |
| Ellátó Kert | Kazinczy u. 48, Jewish Quarter | Former meat-processing plant turned taqueria and bar | Closed permanently | - |
| Anker't | Paulay Ede u. 33, District VI | Former factory-courtyard ruin bar | Closed permanently (2020) | - |
| Mazel Tov | Akácfa u. 47, Jewish Quarter | Upscale Israeli restaurant, not a real ruin bar despite the reputation | 9am-2am | - |
How to choose
Three questions do most of the work:
- First time, want the classic experience? Szimpla Kert, ideally before 9pm if you want to actually see the rooms.
- Want to dance until sunrise? Instant-Fogas, the only one built around that from the ground up.
- Want a drink without the club atmosphere? Kőleves Kert, which is closer to a beer garden than a nightclub. Ellátó Kert used to be the other answer here and is now closed.
Szimpla Kert, in detail
Szimpla opened in the early 2000s in a derelict building in District VII and is credited as the original ruin bar; most lists (this one included) put it first for that reason. It is a maze rather than a single room: mismatched furniture, art installations, a farmers' market on Sundays, and enough separate nooks that first-time visitors reliably lose their group at least once. Entry is free, though a paid skip-the-line option exists for busy nights.
It is also the one that most needs its own page, because almost nothing published about it agrees: the opening hours differ from guide to guide, and platforms sell "tickets" to a bar you can walk into for nothing. We take the prices straight from Szimpla's own menu, explain why nobody can quote the hours correctly, and work out what an evening there really costs, in our full guide to Szimpla Kert.
Instant-Fogas, in detail
Two separate ruin bars, Instant and Fogas Ház, merged in 2017 into one complex at Akácfa utca 49-51. Free entry, open every day from 6pm to 6am, seven rooms with seven different sounds, and it is the pick for people who want to dance rather than sit and drink. Two things the lists leave out: it is 18+, which only the event listings say, and the seven rooms do not all open every night. We go through the rooms one by one, and what the resellers are actually selling at a free door, on its own page.
Most guided pub crawls stop at several of these bars in one night rather than one:
Budapest Ruin Pub Crawl: 6 Free Shots, VIP Entries and Drinking Games
Six hours across several ruin bars with a guide, free shots included and VIP entry so you are not queueing at the door. The best rating on this page by a distance, 4.95 across more than a thousand reviews. It is also the cheaper of the two crawls on this page, and the one we would book.
The Original Budapest Pub Crawl
Four hours instead of six, at 19 euros discounted from 20, run by a different operator. The shorter night is the reason to pick it: if you want a couple of bars and your bed before 2am, this is the one built for that. Going in with your eyes open, it is rated 4.2 against the 4.95 above and costs a few euros more, so choose it for the length, not for the price.
Kőleves Kert, for an afternoon in the garden
Kőleves Kert sits in the courtyard behind Kőleves, a restaurant of the same name at Kazinczy utca 37-41, in a building that started life as a kosher meat-processing plant before the Jewish Quarter filled up with ruin bars. It is a proper garden rather than a bar with plants in it: strung lights, mismatched outdoor furniture, and table service from the attached kitchen, including weekday lunch deals with soup and dessert. Go in the afternoon or early evening; it is built for sitting and drinking slowly, not for a big night out.
Csendes, for a quiet drink near the museum
Csendes Létterem, a few minutes' walk from the main Kazinczy utca cluster at Ferenczy István utca 5 near the National Museum and the Astoria hotel, is the one on this list that most breaks the ruin-bar stereotype: a former literary café done out with the same mismatched decor, but run as a sit-down spot for wine and cocktails rather than a party venue. It opens early, from 1pm, and stays open every day of the week until midnight, unlike several of the bars closer to Kazinczy that shut on Sundays. A sister wine bar, Csendes Társ, sits a few doors down facing Károlyi kert park.
Ellátó Kert has closed too, and we had it wrong
This page told you, until 29 September 2026, that Ellátó Kert opened at 5pm every day and stayed open until 2am. That was wrong. Ellátó Kert & Taqueria, at Kazinczy utca 48, is permanently closed, and its Google listing has said so for some time. We are leaving the section here with the correction rather than deleting it quietly, because a reader who planned a night around it deserves to know what happened.
Why Anker't is not on this list anymore
Anker't, at Paulay Ede utca 33, was one of the biggest ruin bars in the city, an 1830s factory courtyard with the closest feel to the original ruin-bar look. It closed permanently on 1 February 2020, confirmed by the operator's own closing announcement at the time. It never reopened at that address or, as far as could be confirmed, anywhere else, and yet it still turns up on other "best ruin bars in Budapest" lists, some of them updated within the past year. If an older guide or a friend's recommendation mentions it, treat it as out of date.
Why Mazel Tov is not really a ruin bar
Mazel Tov shows up on most "best ruin bars" lists, including some of the ones this page was checked against, and it does not belong on any of them. It is a Middle Eastern restaurant with table service, open since 2014, and it has never described itself as anything else. The building has the look, which is where the confusion comes from. The experience inside is dinner.
Two things are worth knowing before you plan around it, and neither appears on the English pages about it. Its booking system does not offer evening tables at all, on either of the two dates we tested, and 15 percent service is added to the bill. Paying in euros costs a further 4.7 percent, because the house rate is 350 forint when the real one is 366.38.
We put all of it, with the full menu prices and a straight price comparison against Szimpla, on its own page.
Frequently asked questions
What is a ruin bar?
A bar built inside a derelict or abandoned building, usually in Budapest's District VII Jewish Quarter, decorated with mismatched salvaged furniture rather than hiding the building's decay. The trend started in the early 2000s when young locals took over cheap, crumbling courtyards and buildings that were otherwise sitting empty, and it grew into one of Budapest's defining attractions rather than staying a niche local secret.
Is Szimpla Kert worth the hype?
Yes. It is the original ruin bar, the one every list leads with, and it holds a 4.6 rating across more than 74,000 Google reviews, an unusually large and consistent sample for a bar. It is also the most touristy of the group, so go in the afternoon if you want to actually see the rooms rather than just the crowd.
Is Mazel Tov a ruin bar?
Not really, despite showing up on most "best ruin bars" lists. It is an upscale Israeli restaurant with table service, a proper menu and prices to match, in a building that only loosely fits the ruin-bar look. Go for the food and the design, not for the ruin-bar experience the name implies.
What time do ruin bars open in Budapest?
It varies by venue rather than following one citywide pattern. Szimpla Kert opens in the early afternoon and runs into the early hours; Instant-Fogas, confirmed on its own site, opens at 6pm and stays open until 6am every day. The smaller garden-style bars tend to open and close earlier, some as early as midnight.
Do you need to book a ruin bar in advance?
No, they are walk-in venues, and entry is free at the two biggest ones (Szimpla Kert, Instant-Fogas). Guided pub crawls exist mainly to bundle several bars into one night with skip-the-line access and a group to move with, not because the bars themselves require a reservation.
Are ruin bars only for late-night partying?
No, several of them work as calm daytime spots. Kőleves Kert is a garden built for sitting and drinking in the afternoon sun, and even Szimpla Kert is a different, much quieter place before around 9pm than it is after 11pm. If loud, crowded nightlife is not what you want, visiting earlier in the day is a real option, not a compromise.
Is Anker’t still open?
No. Anker’t, once one of the biggest ruin bars in the city, closed permanently on 1 February 2020 and never reopened at that address. It still shows up on several other "best ruin bars" lists online, some updated as recently as this year, which means a real share of people planning a night around it are working from wrong information.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It does not change what we recommend. Full disclosure.