From its modest Celtic and Roman origins, Budapest has grown into a beautiful Old World metropolis, thanks to its enviable location on the Danube River and a dynamic local population, which currently hovers around 1.7 million. The extremely walkable Hungarian capital is a vibrant, progressive and relatively diverse island in an otherwise rightward-tilting country, making it a popular destination for gourmets, designers, writers and artists, many of whom come here to sample — or help build — one of the best restaurant scenes in Central Europe. New museums, galleries and spruced-up parks counterbalance the city’s classic (and sometimes beautifully decrepit) architecture, thermal baths and other attractions, artfully blending its two halves: reserved, hilly, residential Buda, west of the Danube, and urbane, mostly level Pest, stretching out on the eastern side.…
