We went back to Budapest! After our previous trip in October 2016 we knew pretty fast we would go back and at the end of February it happened. Eind februari was het dan zo ver. This time we even played fourteen rooms. Curious to see what we though? Read on!
Saturday the 25th of February
Magic Rooms
Played room: Atlantis
Address: 1095 Budapest, Gát utca 36
Website
This was the first escape room of this trip. We had some trouble finding the entrance (hint: it's around the corner), but were welcomed by a friendly owner.
The Atlantis room reminded us of Pirate Cave (also in Budapest) both in atmosphere and the way everything was put together which is absolutely no insult since that was one of our favorite rooms on our previous trip. The difficulty level of the puzzles rises slighty during the game which results in a nice flow puzzlewise. We forgot our exact time, but we managed to escape well within time.
Afterwards we had a nice chat with the owner and he showed us their new Pirates Of The Carribean room. It wasn't finished, but the paintings on the wall looked great! If we ever go back, we want to play that one too. All in all a great start of the trip!
Sunday the 26th of February
E-Exit
Played rooms: Circus & 1984
Address: 1072 Budapest, District 7, Nyár street 27.
Website
Because we really liked Heaven & Hell by E-Exit on our previous trip we we curious to see how their other rooms were. Because of public transit we arrived a bit late (never a good thing) but we were welcomed really friendly! We were able to start with Cirus right away. The use of children's toys and typical circus elements (with a twist) were much fun. We were on fire and with 18:23 left we exited the room. After this it was time for 1984, inspired by the book. We got stuck at the beginning until someone put a note under the door. Afterwards it turned out the employee forgot to start something (stuff like this can happen of course). Afterwards we got on track pretty quickly and enjoyed the puzzles and use of technology. Pim liked this room even better than Heaven & Hell. In the end we managed to escape with 10 minutes left.
Mindquest
Played rooms: Legacy Of Noo'Zaca & The Matrix
Address: 1072 Budapest, Klauzál street 19.
Website
We heard good things about Legacy Of Noo'Zaca so we couldn't wait to play this room. After making our way through some kind of Biergarten we ended upstairs where the escape rooms are.
Our expecations were fully met. Atmosphere, decoration and finishing wise this is one of the most beautiful rooms we ever played. With the fun, original and active puzzles we felt like we were Indiana Jones himself. We would love to see every escape room look as beautiful as this one. For us, the difficulty level could have been a tad higher or it could use some more puzzles, but a recommendation for sure! We escaped with 18 minutes left.
The next room was The Matrix. This room isn't as amazing looking as Noo'Zaca but this one already had some fun puzzles. And like you expect with this theme technically it was great. The passage from one room to another is also totally in style with the movie. We managed to escape with 8 minutes left.
Locked
Played room: The Motel
Address: 1061 Budapest, Székely Mihály Str. 4
Website
When we entered Locked we thought we entered some kind of escape room factory. Lots of playing groups and lots of rooms. For some reason because of that we expected less of a franchise, but they proved us wrong. We were welcomed enthusiastically and together with an other group we watched a fun introduction movie about the rules. Afterwards we were guided to our room were they, still enthusiastically, told us the story. It totally look liked a hotelroom. The puzzles were fun and original and they made good use of technology. No number locks to see! We escaped with 12 minutes left.
The day after our visit they opened a new room 'Research Lab'. We tried, but we couldn't fit it into our schedule, but if it's of the same quality of The Motel that one might be interesting too!
Scavenger Escape
Played room: Mozart
Address: 1075 Budapest, Asbóth utca 15.
Website
We got here early, but we were able to start right away. We ended up in a great looking room and immediately felt like we traveled 30 years back in time. A classic escape room like you want to play them. Everything in theme. Nothing wrong with it whatsoever, but also no real highlights. With 12 minutes left we managed to escape.
Claustrophilia
Played room: Wicklewood Heritage
Address: 1073 Budapest, Erzsébet krt. 8.
Website
The final room of the day had an interesting way to start the game. We didn't experience that before. Aside from that a classic escape room in every way, but it had some original and very fun puzzles. We were on fire and escaped with 20 minutes left. Pim really loved this one, but Nathalie was less impressed.
Tuesday 28th of February
Titanic
Played room: Titanic
Address: Budapest, 1062 Szinyei Merse u third
Website
After a days rest we were back at it again. On our way there we nearly got killed by a stone that dropped from the building we were walking below... Oh well, we survived :)
We were welcomed by a host who couldn't speak English very well, which made the start a bit uncomfortable somehow. We did manage to get started and it appeared to be a very lineair and simple room with very repetitive puzzles. We got out with 20 minutes left. That could have been more if we didn't manage to overlook 1 puzzles in a way only we can. Not that we didn't have fun, but this without a doubt the least interesting room of all the rooms we played in Budapest.
Királyok Völgye
Played rooms: Királyok Völgye & Királyok Kingse
Address: Budapest, VI. district, Benczúr street 1.
Website
Originally only Királyok Kingse (Valley Of Kings) was on our schedule. This big room was full of puzzles (also literally). The excitiment kept rising and we need some hints to escape in the very last minute. We were offered a discount for our next visit and since we had some time left we decided to use it right away.
The Egyptian room was totally different. Where Valley Of Kings was a lot of searching and puzzling the Egyptian room (which is a bit smaller) is a lot of Hierglyphics decyphering. There's a nice element to the room though that we don't want to spoil. We forgot our exact escape time, but we managed to escape well within time.
If you only have the time for one room, we suggest Királyok Kingse, this is bit more challenging, more diverse and simply bigger.
Logiqrooms
Played rooms: Code 13 & Napuche
Address: 1077 Budapest, Wesselényi Utca 78.
Website
We heard good thing about Napuche from some escape room owners who made the trip before. So we were excited. We received a really friendly welcome and started with Code 13. This was supposed to be the more easy room of the two. Maybe it was fatigue setting in, but we only managed to escape in the last minute from this classic escape room. The quality of the puzzles and the room is fine, we just didn't get into the flow properly.
Then it was time for Napuche. This room totally met our expections. Fun puzzles and great use of technology. A great story and everything in theme. We needed some hints and even some extra time to finish the room, but as far as we were concerned it could have lasted a lot longer. We can totally recommend this room!
Logikamra
Played room: Wonderground
Address: Muranyi street 50. 1078 Budapest
Website
The last room of our trip. Because we had more time left than we had planned, we called and asked if we could play two hours earlier. At first this wasn't possible (which we totally understood) but then they called that 1,5 hours earlier was possible. Great service! But due to public transit we managed to arrive 15 minutes late... Ashamed we entered the building, but we were welcomed really friendly by the owner of the place. So nothing but praise for the service of this place.
This room didn't really have a theme, more seperate puzzles in each room. It was a constant surprise what would come up next. This also resulted in divided opinions: Nathalie wasn't as positive as Pim. You get 80 minutes to escape, but we got out within 60. A nice conclusion of our trip though!
Conclusion
Our expecations were lower this time. We thought we did the best escape rooms on our previous trip, but we were pleasantly surprised. The level of quality seemed even higher than during our previous trip.
You probably picked it up from the above text already but our favorites this time around were Noo'Zaca at Mindquest and Napuche at Logiqrooms. Aside from that Nathalie really liked The Motel at Locked and Pim loved Wicklewood Heritage at Claustrophilia.
If you put both trips together you end up with the following four favorites (in no particular order):
- White Mission at Gozsdu Mission
- Pirate Cave Escape Room
- Legacy Of Noo'Zaca at Mindquest
- Napuche at Logiqrooms
We can totally recommend these rooms!
Aside from that we didn't get any new insights. The level of quality is still similair to the Netherlands / Belgium and it's still great they're all close to eachother and the prices are not too expensive.
After playing 24 rooms in Budapest we don't expect to go back as fast this time though. What should be our next destination? Russia? Prague? Germany?