Thinking about moving to BP...

Hi,

The upscale parts of Buda are great if you can afford them. Not many other places are likely markets for Yoga classes in English, either :-)

Maybe Budaors or Szentendre, within commute distance from Budapest, see the related thread.

There's a related topic thread for Szentendre, but not one for Budaors...

The only thing I remember about Budaors is a giant Tesco superstore.  That's certainly a start for someone coming from Cincinnati (a difficult town to spell correctly!), but could you tell us a bit more about the other attractions of Budaors please, szocske ?

Szia!  I am a single-mother and have been living in Budapest since February 2010.  It can be very difficult to live here (especially if you choose certain tourist-driven areas,    ).  However, I find that, even still, the positives far outweitgh the negatives.  Most individuals would recommend however, that you choose a district further away from the city, plus it is a lot less expensive.  On the other hand, if you are up for an adventure and love navigating the various avenues of city life, then you may prefer Budapest.

logger wrote:

There's a related topic thread for Szentendre, but not one for Budaors...

The only thing I remember about Budaors is a giant Tesco superstore.  That's certainly a start for someone coming from Cincinnati (a difficult town to spell correctly!), but could you tell us a bit more about the other attractions of Budaors please, szocske ?

I live about 5km from Budaors and it's our main place for services. But there's not a lot going on really. It has a lot of the large out of town shops and the main highway to Budapest/Vienna. There is town like part with a main road going through it. It's really just a commuter suburb of Budapest and blurs into the surrounding towns (like Torokbalint). I was told once that it's the richest town in Hungary (presumably it collects plenty from Tesco, Auchan etc). It seems to have had an aggressive policy for attracting businesses which has worked well.  There's a small airport with a grass strip (Budakeszi has one as well) but there are no commercial services - just for small sport planes and helicopters. If you didn't know Budaors was a separate place, you'd just think it was an extension of Budapest.

Many high-tech and R&D firms moved to Budaors about a decade ago, causing an influx of highly educated and well paid employees, driving real estate prices high.

I don't know the place much, just base my expectations on this.

Oh, and with a 2.5 yo, I assumed Suzi would prefer a place where nothing happens :-)

szocske wrote:

Oh, and with a 2.5 yo, I assumed Suzi would prefer a place where nothing happens :-)

Haha, I guess you mean the average Hungarian village?!

I think she'd like somewhere good for families but that doesn't mean nothing happens. Certainly not down in the city. Budakeszi isn't so bad for nothing happening - good for people with young kids. But I would think for expats who do not speak Hungarian, it would look deadly dull. If one speaks Hungarian, then really, anywhere in the suburbs would do.

BTW, for housing Budaors (more built up) is cheaper than Budakeszi (which is greener), but the real price drop is Biatorbagy (which is considered too far away and housing estate like in the new part). There's also Paty and Telki - these are being promoted as new housing areas. However, until they improve the roads, it's not as attractive as closer into town.

My two cents would be Nagykovacsi or the district 2/a - North-West Buda, still within city limits.  Esepecially, if you'd start the pre-school or first grade with your baby from September. Since the American International School of Budapest is there. Of course I do presume your husband have an expat budget.
Both of the mentioned areas are expat populated and family friendly.
Otherwise I agree with the housing overview of @fluffy2560.
Good luck for your decision,

Dez

P.S. Biased towards district 2/a where I happened to live with my growing but young family

dezpapp wrote:

My two cents would be Nagykovacsi or the district 2/a - North-West Buda, still within city limits.  Esepecially, if you'd start the pre-school or first grade with your baby from September. Since the American International School of Budapest is there. Of course I do presume your husband have an expat budget....

Yes, I forgot about Nagykovacsi and District II/a, both interesting choices. I used to live in District II - quite bad in the winter due to lack of snow clearing and the hilly terrain. The only thing I dislike about Nagykovacsi is the single road in and out. I expect for the commute into the city it would be not so good. I suppose during the winter, it's very hard to get in and out of. Alternate transport would be helpful (blue buses in Nagykovacsi?). Solymar has a railway station but it looks underutilised and needs refurbishment.