The Tale of an Irishman's first Budapestian Party..

As an Irish person living in Budapest, it’s easy to see things a little differently than the the hungarians… Particularly the night life… it is safe to say that the Budapest night life is incomparable to anything I’ve ever experienced. Growing up in Dublin, Ireland, the clubs are good, some may even say great, but there are far too many ‘mainstream’ venues that flood the Dublin scene... 

I still remember the first time I discovered one of Budapest’s most underground, untainted (by this I mean not filled with drunk tourists) and absolutely authentic clubs I have ever found…  Corvintető!

It was February 2011, my roommate and I heard ‘through the grapevine’ about this place worth checking out.. We approached this interesting multistory building that looked as it had seen a huge amount of history throughout its years. Up to graffiti-covered rusted gates we walked, rap rap rap on the shutters. Three huge men in black open the gates, 800ft was exchanged (for those euro lovers out there, it’s about €2.75) and up the stairs we went…!

I still remember the ambiguous feeling of not really knowing what was going on… graffiti everywhere, silence. Up the stairs again. Up, up up, endless. Was the whole place abandoned? We should turn back…? No! Up and up.... do i hear music? Bass shakes the elevator shaft running through the twisted staircase... Up and up, to the very top… the stairs seemed endless, mainly because of our ignorance and lack of knowledge of what type of place we were in… but alas we continued…

At the top of the stairs stood a black, rust-flecked pair of double doors. Still that feeling. Should we turn back? As this unadventurous thought passed though my mind, the decision was made for me as the doors flung open to reveal the most incredible party I have ever seen in my entire life. 

It hit me like a gust of warm air on a winters eve…  hundreds of people dancing like its the last party on earth… the deepest bass I have ever felt… chandeliers hanging from old industrial pipes, art everywhere, bars themed with deep reds and blues… 18 year olds dancing beside 30+ year olds, everyone friendly, everyone loving, everyone there simply to have a good time…

The best 'underground' nightclub in Budapest, found 5 stories above the ground..  by far the best I've ever been to! An entire top floor of a building, no place is off limits, you either follow the incredible bass that shakes the soul... or go for an adventure... 

We stayed and partied until 7am, where we watched the sun rise from the rooftop… after an incredible night of discovery, and realising that these 6 months in Budapest were going to be quite an adventure, we descended to find an old ‘cage’ style elevator with a tattered, old, red-leather couch, some plants, and some pálinka to ease us back to reality...

Needless to say, this was one of my regular haunts during my 6 month adventure in Budapest, and now that I'm back, I think it is safe to say it won't be hard to guess where to find me every Wednesday night...

What an absolute wonderland...!

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Written by Ciaran Jackson

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Check out their website for a list of programs and pictures etc - http://corvinteto.hu/en/programok

To learn more about the history of Corvintető, check out one of our previous blogs here.

Also, if this is your type of scene, check out:

Instant              - http://www.instant.co.hu/en

and Szimpla     - http://szimpla.hu/budapest/home?Itemid=22