Still looking for a getaway to call your own, that only the locals know exists? Look no further than Mlypnt!
Here’s a place I’ll bet you haven’t heard of. It’s a great student hangout, truly hidden away in the center of Budapest. Through a small doorway set in an otherwise residential street, down a short, steep flight of stairs and through another door at the bottom to….a place that looks like your grandmother’s living room, with old worn sofas, chairs, tables, coffee tables and one lone flat-screen TV high on the wall in the front room. There’s a Cso-Cso table (foosball or table football, depending on where you’re from) midway to the back, but otherwise this is a place for conversation over very reasonably-priced drinks, which is probably why there were so many students in the place. There’s a bar area for ordering, but no barstools. Mélypont has more than 40 kinds of single malt scotch, 25+ beers (Hungarian, German and Czech, including 10 on draft), almost 20 kinds of rum, (including Pusser’s!), cocktails and wines. I didn’t see food of any kind.
But it’s not a particularly easy find. Go to the Mercure Korona hotel at Kálvin ter; take the street just to the left and behind the hotel (Magyar utca) for about 50 meters and you’ll see a lone door on the left labeled Mlypnt. This funky little gathering place opens at 6 PM Monday through Saturday. When I was there at 7:30 on a Wednesday evening, it was packed with students and young people, chatting and chattering and working on their laptops and generally just relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. My white hair stood out like a beacon. This unconventional little place truly is one of Budapest’s Hidden Gems.