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I'd suggest the Masodik Kerulet, (district II). It's the nicest area in my opinion, probably the most expensive too; down around near what used to be called Moskve Ter, and the Mammut shopping centre if you want an apartment in a large building and be near lots of restaurants, cafes and bars, a bit further up the hill if you want something a bit leafy and maybe a yard (garden).

VI is the place to be.

Inside the korut (I live in Lovag utca) should be able to walk to work too.

Thanks to both of you.

@sg2 : It seems like the train station is right in the middle of the district. Is it that bothering ?
Why not the V ?

Imho, district II (Moszkva slash Széll Kálmán tér) is unnecessarily far from your work, unless there is a strong reason to live there, why would you.
District VI is obviously closer (I don't know how the local vibe is) - I do not understand how you could 'walk' from there to outer XIII,  sg2 probably meant walking to the Metro.
And no, the Nyugati pu/Western Train Station is not a disturbance, I mean it is a busy place, but not too unsafe (well, the underpassage is not too pleasant) and the trains are not noisy (or: traffic generates way more noise).

About XIII:
Forgách utca is at the outer fringe of XIII, perhaps not a pleasant place(Even as someone who grew up in XIIIth, it is already a bit too 'outskirts' to know:)

So, I would like to kindly suggest to consider the area 'Újlipóváros'. It is the more central part of XIII, kinda opposite to Margaret island, on the Danube site of Váci út,  it ends approx. at Bessenyei utca:

Very pleasant, safe, especially parts close to Pozsonyi út, and the Ring. It offers enough restaurants and cafés, but not quite the amount of Nightlife or tourists to be noisy (tourist numbers going up though, but still low compared to V or Király utca).
Kind of upscale, i.e. pricey,  but certainly cheaper on average than more central areas around the Parliament (which is exactly 1000m from St. István Park; the flats overlooking that park may well be among the most desired in Budapest).
Some info:


They just remodelled the Pozsonyi út (=Bratislava street), here a few pics:

The few streets parallel to Pozsonyi are also charming (Imh and subjective o!)

One of the most elegant residential buildings in budapest (here looking from Pozsonyi street, Café Dunapark looks much fancier nowadays):


Public transport/centrality:
Obviously, you'd want to live near a blue Metro station. (You should check for other possible connections by bus.)
The Ring offers Tram 4/6 i.e. 24/7 connection to many other places, Trolleys 75,76 are handy, too.
E.g. living around/behind Vígszínház (Comedy Theater) would mean you can walk to the Metro at Western Station (Nyugati Pu) in ~5 min. If you can afford it, this is certainly a nice place to live, e.g. you can find places like this:   

About Lehel tér station - I cannot tell right now, how the area around that is. Afaik, it is still not cheap by any means, but perhaps some streets aren't that good.

As Ujlipótváros is still a residential area with tradition, it has a bit of a community feeling, as many intellectuals (often of some jewish origin) live/have lived here, e.g. has an culture-fare-event every year:       
(Here I learned that the wife of late Miklós Radnóti, one of the most notable hungarian poets - killed by hungarian nazis in the 'Munkaszolgálat' - still lives on Pozsonyi út, and just turned 100     
So, I walked to school for a decade just below her window, to study his husband's poems...)

Ok, you have realized by now, you are listening to a local patriot... (Balzac utca is still my budapest base)
So, just have a look.   I am sure  there are other nice places too, I... just cannot think of any right now :-p

Yann415 wrote:

... safe and "beautiful" (even if it is relative )...

Hey Yann, what is this crazy-talk about "even if it is relative"? it is Budapest, one of the coolest cities in europe...!

Yann415 wrote:

- Are there districts to avoid at all costs? Both day and night?

As we know, safety is relative, too (are you used to Zürich or São Paulo standards?)
I think Budapest is roughly comparable with Berlin or Paris(perhaps a bit safer than the latter ?), and perhaps still slightly better than some larger UK cities in this matter, however, this is a (well) educated guess, and things change, too. E.g. violent crimes are still rather rare, but pickpocketing is not. Don't buy an expensive bike for regular in-city usage...

It is not so useful to talk about whole districts (VIII had a bad reputation) as it is mostly smaller areas which are bad/good. Most of the central areas are OK, but:
when our bike was recently stolen from the street (quite an action, we missed the guy by a few centimeters, as he was - on a bike), and someone said "There are good chances, it is waiting in Szabolcs utca 11"...
         
I realized that it is OK to ride once through that street on my (other) bike at down... but I honestly didn't dare to stop and have a closer look. I don't know if it is less scary at daytime, but there were a few young, obviously not too well off gypsie guys on the street, and, well, that makes it scary. (I am *very* lightweight...)


That is, of course, consistent with your information about outer-XIII, where you may have similar experiences, but kind of strange how close that is to the posh residential areas...
I just googled this link of a forum:


the answers say
Avoid:
Hős utca, Illatos út, Práter utca, Szabolcs utca (oh does it ring a bell?)
Baross utca, , Boráros tér, Matyás tér

distr. 8 only inside Ring parts are ok,
distr. 7 area near Keleti/Eastern Train Station a.k.a.  "Csikágó" - bad idea (in spite of the charming spelling).
distr 9 the part called "dzsumbuj" or  "cigánytanya" i.e. gipsytown(my bad translation) - does not give the actual place.

yepp, we are inching towards one of the hottest topics in many C.E.E. societies - the impossible pronounciation of street names...?

Yann

Although Fireroller is a resident and I am just a regular visitor at this stage; I must take issue with his dismissal of District II, (Moskva ter/ Szell Kalman ter) in favour of somewhere near Pozsonyi u. because of the distance to your work. The distance from District II might be 6-8 kilometres, both have a nearby metro stop, travelling time would be about 25 to 30 minutes. While from Pozsonyi u. it would be around 15 mins.

Public transport in Budapest is very good; in my opinion the quality of life, inc. choice of entertainment, shops,(produce) markets, (though there is a good one at Lehel ter) and air quality, offered by District II is well worth the extra few minutes travel time.

While I don't consider personal safety much of a problem in Budapest, I would suggest this too would be better on the Buda side of the river.

Perhaps the best advice might be to spend a few weeks in temporary accommodation, (my sister and her other half found a very nice fully furnished apartment just off the korut near Blaha Lujza ter for 23 euros a night). Give yourself time to get a feel of the city, perhaps check out the suggestions made here and elsewhere.

Oh, and have a beer at this place, my favourite pub in Budapest.

Ahah Fireroller, I was just saying that it is relative depending on people's judgement.

District II seems quite residential and not really what I'm looking for at that point (I'm 22 years old and still looking for partying )

According to what you guys say, I think district VI is the place to be for me. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems to be dynamic, young, good amount of bars - restaurant, good nightlife, and "beautiful"...

Other question (that may seem recurrent) but I can't find a clear answer to that :

- What is the best salary to have an easy lifestyle in Budapest ? I mean not having to worry at the end of the month...

And I'm sorry to insist but why not district V ?

"Ahah Fireroller, I was just saying that it is relative depending on people's judgement. "
ok,ok, I will take that as an answer for now - but I'm watching you ;-p

I totally agree with Phil S. Stine in that you *must not* decide for a flat before you arrive there - but I guess you did not intend that? So, obviously, get a room/flat for 2-4 weeks first. (I can even try helping with this in the unlikely case that this is not easy - it is 'buyers market' in Hungary)

I am sorry Phil, but I still disagree with you on the Moszkva tér vs Pest debate:) (to me, 15min vs. 30 min travel do make a difference)
I actually feel that Yann is kind of right that nice places around Moszkva (tér!) are way more residential than central Pest. Pest and Buda generally offer different athmospheres, (although e.g. around Buda's Batthyány tér (opposite to parliament)  almost feels like Pest.) If you want to be near a 'forest', indeed Buda is the place to be, and I think it is still true that on average Buda is more expensive - obviously, some places in Pest(e.g. Vker, or even 'Újlipócia' from my post above) are prime areas as well.

Vker - much of it is is certainly not a bad place to be - if you can afford it - but many spots there have a bit too high density in tourists and fancy places for my taste. I personally feel this way about the most touristy areas in all cities I lived in.(Would you suggest to your rich american friend to live right next to Notre Dame to get to know the 'real Paris'?) E.g. I would consider Liszt Ferenc tér(I think someone mentioned it already) as 'too touristy':a number of fancy places with (relatively) high prices which are not matched food quality, and afaik, not many young hungarians will not go out there (and you wanna to meet them, right?. I find places like Corvintetõ much nicer...of course it also depends where you prefer to be on the chic vs. hip line:-)
Anyway, there will be a number of places which will fit you ideally, Id suggest to look within or near the Nagykörút (grand boulevard) - note that Tram 4/6 goes every 3 min in peaktime and also 24/7 ! (s ). 
Id still suggest to have a look around Nyugati Metro Station (that involves 3 districts), perhaps Octogon is also OK(walk to metro?), and other central Metró stations.

The "where" obviously is a functuion of the "how much"
There are a number of threads from the past 12 montsh revolving around this kind of question, have a look into them.
I glanced at housing prices in Paris-surroundings(I applied for a position), my educated guess is that near Paris (Il-the-France) living costs should be around 3 times the costs in in Buapests for a similar lifestyle, but this is just a rule-of-thumb at best.
I guess if you have 1000 EURs to spend in Budapest as a young single  person, you will have fun - but I am not sure if renting a nice flat on your own in Vker will be included in this budget. 
I actually do like flatshares (having lived in Berlin), this is not very usual in Budapest for non-students, but I am sure you can eventually find someone if you happen to want to live more central than your budget allows for a single flat.

And just to avoid this post to be too short, let me note that V.ker, local slang  "Ötker", is pronounced the same as "(Dr. )Oetker" which obviously is enough reason for a number of puns(was'nt there a DJ called 'Dr.Ötker'?); also there is a place called Ötkert, as 'kert' means garden, try to guess the district. I dont know french, but what I hear they love puns just as much as hungarians...

OK Thanks guys !
I'll get back to you once I'll have some more information about where i'm likely to live

Hi Yann415,

A bit late in the thread but I'd say district VI inside the grand boulevard (especially the area adjacent to Lovag utca, Jókai utca and Liszt Ferenc tér) is really where the life is happening most. Or eventually distrct 7's Király utca is a good location with yupie atmosphere.

Good luck,

Dezso

Disclaimer: I have 2 kids now and have been living on the Buda side - but chiefly because of my love for climbing and trail running. Also, I do help people relocate and find a new home in Budapest on both sides.

Can we put this on some kind of FAQ please:
Budapest districts are not homogeneous in safety, wealth, price, age they are fun, etc.

Can you explain better what is the ring part you refer in VIII district?
Thank you

Hi Catarina,

By the "inside the ring part" locals commonly refer the areas enclosed by the Nagykörút (Big Boulevard) that is József krt (the short version for Körút) for District 8 (VIII). In every central Pest district the Big Boulevard has it's own name from Szent István krt (between Districts 5 and 13) in the North to Ferenc krt (District 9) in the South.
Did the answer helped to clarify? Are you looking to move to District 8?
Cheers,

Dezso

Yes you explained it Very well, thank you so much! I am going to move to district VIII, near Jozsef korut, it is inside the ring. I will study in Budapest from February till June. Thank you for the kindness