Country - HUNGARY, Budapest
Experience: Resident
Cost of living- 8 - For someone who is coming from western Europe or the US, it's quite cheap. 1 US dollar=220forints, 1 euro=270forints
Budapest is more expensive then any other cities, but still cheap... For example a lunch for 2 person in a good restaurant is around 30-50euros. But in some restaurants, and many taxi drivers try to hustle anyone whos not Hungarian, so keep an eye open
But of course this is not the case normally...
A bottle of beer costs 1euro, a cigarette costs 3euros
Renting... A normal 1 bedroom flat is around 250-300euros a month... Really nice and modern 2-3 bedroom flats are starting from 500 euros
Recreation - 10 - Budapest has a population of 2 million, plenty of opportunities to have fun, or get a piece of culture. Many parks, green areas, a big river in the middle of the city.. There are endless number of malls, nightlife is awesome with endless clubs and bars, with all different kinds of music... Clubs for girls are free, and for men is around 4-8euros usually. Also there is a saying, that "Hungarian girls are the most beautiful in the world" and I couldnt say this is not true
And lot of girls are easy(which I personally dont like), but thats also why many likes Hungary
Our gastronomy is famous, but you'll find all different kinds of restaurants, so you can eat any nations foods.
There are lots of museums, galleries, beautiful temples, castles, famous natural spa-s and the architecture at all is really beautiful, keeping old values...
Cited as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe...
How Scary - 7 - Basically Budapest is safe, there are 23 districts, and there is only one which is quite dangerous at night because of the gipsys, and its the VIII, the 8th one... So you might want to avoid that at night, but all other parts are fine
Playing Poker - 8 - Playing live, there are 2 bigger casinos, but wont find large games, only if you ask around... Of course very high stakes cashgames are played, you have to find them... Usually from 0.25-0.50 to 2-4 the regular games are... There are also a few poker clubs with the same stuff.. Rake is 5-10%. Live tournaments really suck i have to say. Average buyins around 5000 forints--- roughly 20 euros
Playing online is legal, tax free, internet connections are really good, quite a few pros happened to move here and playing from Budapest, for example Daniel -Jungleman 12 -Cates, and many other high stakes pros from the US...
How Easy to Get There and Stay There - 9 - Pretty easy. Hungary is an EU member, its in middle Europe, there are really cheap flights from Budapest to every European countries, and flights to Budapest from anywhere in the world... You can reach European capitals for like 50-200 euros...
Train connections are very good also...
Budapest has 3 underground lines, so you can get anywhere in the city quickly... A one way ticket costs 270ft- 1 euro