Visiting another country or city always makes us wonder, almost right away, what can we take with us back home? What little piece of this exotic world can we retain? Escaping from our everyday life, gives us the extra energy when getting back to our daily routine. We like to think back on our nice memories, just by looking at the smaller or bigger souvenirs we purchased for ourselves. Finding some suitable gifts for our friends and family members is also a great pleasure, as we like to make them happy, and express our love towards them.

Searching for nice gifts is not always easy. “Gift Shop density” of Budapest is quite high in the city center and in the castle area, and fortunately the number of shops, offering higher quality and more unique ideas, are also increasing. At first I do need to mention the Great Market Hall, which offers a great variety of smaller souvenirs: from kitchen utensils to beautifully embroidered home textiles. Strolling down in the surroundings of Váci street, the Castle and the Basilica you can also discover shops offering “kalocsai mintás” (patterns from Kalocsa) on most of their product, that is considered the Hungarian pattern (modeling by Nicole Kidman here).

If you feel you are looking for something else, here are some suggestions for you:

Artushka, on the corner of Klauzál utca and Dohány street. The shop is really the pet lovers corner: it offers a great variety of doggy and cat puppets for children, and my personal favorite: t-shirt with all the Hungarian dog breeds. Preparing for the festival season you can also find colorful belt holsters.

In this festive season you can really treat yourself (or your lady) as a princess with a piece of luxury. Tóth Bori, a young fashion designer has beautiful and original pieces in her couture collection. Either her collections are influenced by a Japanese painter or  Chinese folding screens, they are always associated with high quality materials, workmanship and creative solutions. www.maisonmarquise.com

Tipton glasses have started their world conquering tour in 1998 from Seattle by Zachary Tipton Milaskey, and the company was re-founded in 2004 by Zach and his brother in Budapest. Today not only eyewear, but suitcases, lamps, and crazy other stuff, like nipple pasties are among their products, that are made of vinyl frame. Check them out: www.tiptonworks.com

Lately a new fashion concept was born in Budapest, called the Szputnyik Shop. The name immediately brings us back to the communist-socialis era, which is somewhat the idea behind the founding of these stores, stylishly combining vintage and new creative pieces of jewelery and clothes. Find your own piece, to match your character, and do not be afraid of showing your personality! There are two Szputnyik shops in Budapest: Dohány street 20, or Bakáts tér 8. http://www.szputnyikshop.hu

 

 

Would you like more ideas on creative shopping in Budapest? Please visit here.