Now an European Union capital, Hungary’s flagship city has added cosmopolitan luxury to its five-star hotel stock, the latest treatments to its modernized spa centers, and designer vroom to its cafés. Without losing the charms of yesteryear, nor hiking up the ticket prices for a swift transport network, grand opera, or a visit to the most ornate of cinemas, Hungary’s capital is amiable and affordable. Using a pool of resident writers who have lived through the changes from immediately post-Soviet to European Union metropolis, this fifth edition of Time Out Budapest evaluates the contemporary city and suggests how a rapidly increasing number of visitors can best enjoy it.