Szimpla Kert

Szimpla Kert opened in 2002 in a small building in Budapest's old Jewish Quarter, the first of what became known as "romkocsma," or ruin bars — derelict buildings turned into informal bars almost by accident, after a group of friends filled a condemned courtyard with secondhand furniture rather than renovate it properly. Two years later, in 2004, the growing bar moved to its current home at 14 Kazinczy utca, a crumbling 19th-century apartment building that had once housed a stove factory and was slated for demolition.

What began as a cheap, improvised hangout for a handful of friends grew, largely by word of mouth, into the anchor of an entire nightlife district — the streets around Kazinczy utca and neighbouring Gozsdu udvar are now lined with dozens of bars that followed Szimpla's lead, but it remains the one most visitors mean when they say "ruin bar."

"Szimpla" simply means "Simple" in Hungarian, and "kert" means "garden," a fittingly modest name for a place built almost entirely out of things other people had thrown away. Its maze of rooms is furnished with mismatched flea-market chairs and sofas, an old bathtub turned into a seating nook, and a battered Trabant car sawn in half and set up as a table, all under walls layered with graffiti, posters and years of street art.

On Sunday mornings the bar's usual role reverses: bands and DJs give way to a farmers' market, when dozens of small Hungarian producers set up stalls selling cheese, bread, honey and seasonal produce under the same mismatched roof, and regulars settle in upstairs for brunch.

Szimpla Kert is in the 7th district, Erzsébetváros, in the heart of the old Jewish Quarter and an easy walk from the Great Synagogue on Dohány utca — the neighbourhood's dense cluster of bars makes it a natural base for exploring Budapest's nightlife on foot. It's open daily from noon to around 4am, with the busiest hours starting well after dark, and there's no cover charge or dress code.

On Sundays it opens earlier for the farmers' market, a good time to see the building by daylight without the evening crowds. Drinks are inexpensive, both cash and card are accepted, and with several floors and a warren of side rooms, it's worth simply wandering rather than trying to see it all in one go.