This was our first time in Budapest, so we hired a guide for our first full day, deciding to concentrate on the Pest side with a 6hr guided walk..a very good decision as it gave a good orientation of the city and invaluable local knowledge.

This was our first visit to Budapest and although we had swatted up on info from the internet and from our purchased guide book (Marco Polo..concise,very portable and helpful with v good maps) we nevertheless thought it would be money well spent hiring a local host to guide us on our first full day...and so it proved to be. Given we were only in Budapest for a long weekend we did not want to waste time getting lost and walking past points of interest in blissful ignorance! We were also looking to get a good orientation of the city prior to exploring it further on our own...and we did. We concentrated on the Pest side of the city for our 6hrs local host guided walk. We had been in email contact with our host, Richard, prior to the trip and gave him an outline of our WANTS. We spent a most enjoyable 6hrs mostly walking, but also for the experience, riding on a tube and a tram, during which time we were given an excellent introduction to the many sites to see in Pest, many of which we would have missed if not for our host knowledge. Richard spoke excellent English and proved most knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his city and its history and throughout the walk was attentive to our needs, checking if the tour was meeting were expecting, which it more than was. The walk also offered numerous opportunities to talk about varied aspects of living in modern-day Budapest. We would recommend Richard as your local host without hesitation. Chris and Lesley.

Esther was a wonderful guide and very knowledgeable. She was very sweet and fun to be with too. I would recommend her for anyone that wants a private experience in Budapest.

Alex was a great host and very knowledgeable. We wanted a mixture of landmark temples and off the beaten track and he provided an excellent experience. He accommodated our needs by meeting us at our hotel and finishing our tour at the Imperial Palace. I would recommend Alex, he helped us cover a lot of ground in our 24 hours in Kyoto!