Labirintus: the strangest thing you can do in Budapest – in Dracula’s footsteps!

Our opinion: Weird in many ways, some good and some bad, but definitely a must-see if you’re after something it of the ordinary. Which we always are.
Price: 2000 HUF (6,35€)
More info: http://labirintus.eu

After seeing some articles about that place, we decided it would be perfect to add this to our visit of the Castle’s area. Even though the website and the few reviews online didn’t tell much…

Indeed it was a refreshing way to end the day!
First, we had to find the entrance… and no ticket booth here, just intriguing, narrow stairs leading far underground. Tickets are bought downstairs.

Then, medieval looking galleries. They are mostly of natural origins. They’ve been used as home or shelter in prehistoric times, and have then been used for various purposes along the centuries. Quite famously, Vlad Tepes (Dracula) was imprisoned here in the 15th century.

The medieval decoration is quite well done (but I guess most of it is just authentic!). The cave is very humid, as natural caves are, and you might walk in some water sometimes.

There are several different areas on different themes, with more or less explanations. There’s no real logic or progression between these, but who cares.

First there is an exhibition of opera costumes on real size wax statues with some opera music playing. Why do we get to see this in a cave is a mystery. It’s a little creepy, maybe that’s unintentional but that’s the only reason I would put this here…

Then there is a dark zone, the Dracula zone and an exhibition about natural caves.
The dark zone is a large part of the maze-like galleries that is not lit. You follow a thread on the wall of you want to — we decided not to. It’s a unique experience to walk alone in a completely dark place, with just the sound of water dripping, and touching those wet dirty walls… With some creepy music playing… Very nice experience until some tourists arrived making some light with their phones (what’s the point??!). We hid and scared the hell out of them, haha.

The Dracula area is quite beautiful, with appropriate lighting, many historic explanations, and a fake Dracula tomb. There’s also next to it a cage in which you can take pictures, and fake heads on sticks. Just what we like, we were quite happy!

And here’s a short video, featuring the creepy music they were playing.

Then we rushed through the last exhibit that was about caves (pictures of caves, in a cave… OK…).

This is quite a singular place to visit. You don’t get the skeletons like in Paris’ catacombs, but the place is less crowded, more dungeon-like. It’s clearly not used at its full potential (our friend Franck from Fantastigres Event would do a great job here!!!), but it still has a very interesting feel. We loved it!