A number of trendy bars popped up in the abandoned buildings and courtyards of Budapest's Old Jewish Quarter 10 years ago, and now they have their own official names: the Ruined Bars, and have become the highlights of Budapest, the hidden artists' caves, and the pulsating cultural and artistic heart. For every visitor, it's one of the hipiest bars in Europe.

The next morning, at the hostel's reception, I found a brochure about the three major ruin bars in Budapest, and I was first introduced to the term "ruin bar". As I stared at the brochure, the Hungarian girl at the front desk pointed to the bar downstairs and told me that the bar downstairs called Udvar (rom) was a ruined bar that was very popular with the locals.

Ruins Bars, known locally as "Romkocsma" in the Hungarian language, refer to a group of trendy bars set up in abandoned houses in Budapest's 7th district. Historically, the 7th arrondissement was an important Jewish ghetto in Budapest, but after the expulsion of Jews during World War II, it began to decay, like many Jewish ghettos in Europe, and many buildings and shops were abandoned and slowly reduced to ruins. In 2004, the first ruin bar, Szimpla Kert, appeared here, thus starting the era of ruin bars in the 7th arrondissement. Bars with different personalities have sprung up from these dilapidated and dilapidated buildings, gradually becoming a sign of nightlife. Young people from all over the world gather here to party in what is said to be the hippest bar in Europe. Budapest's 7th arrondissement has also been transformed from a dilapidated shantytown into a gathering place for all kinds of high-end cafes and restaurants, and has become a favorite place for hipsters and petty bourgeoisie.

These bars are unusually low-key in appearance, not even signboarding, and are indistinguishable from the surrounding houses, which are difficult for outsiders to find unless they are deliberately looking for them or have locals leading the way. David, a friend from Budapest who took me on a bar experience, told me that although each ruined bar has its own character and style, it continues the same DNA: first, the dilapidated house has not been restored by converting it into a bar, and the owner of the bar has deliberately preserved the original appearance of the dilapidated house; Secondly, most bars have a garden area arranged with greenery, which is Kert in Hungarian, thus creating an atmosphere that allows guests to be in a mysterious garden. Then there's the older pub full of antique furniture from various flea markets and furniture left over from former residents, so it's hard to find two identical tables or chairs there, and the ruins feel full; The walls are painted with various murals and graffiti, and all kinds of strange artworks can be found in the space, which shows the taste of the owner and has become the unique character of each bar.

One of the most famous ruin bars in the 7th arrondissement, Szimpla Kert is the progenitor of the ruin bars in the 7th arrondissement, originally a café and not located in the 7th arrondissement. Unable to afford the high rents, in 2004 Szimpla Kert moved to an abandoned stove factory in District 7, where the founders wanted to transform it into an independent underground cinema theatre named Szimpla Kertmozi, which means garden cinema in Hungarian, and the new Szimpla Kert was born as an open community cultural space that took advantage of the low rent to provide affordable drinks for young people.

From a bar perspective, the Szimpla is set up in a very bizarre setting, with bicycles hanging from the ceiling, Stalinist electronics scattered throughout, and there are more than a dozen different chairs here, from lawn chairs to second-hand bathtub-converted benches. In the middle of the garden, an old "Detrabant" car, an East German sedan notorious for its high fuel economy and heavy exhaust gas, is now left to sit in the car smoking and drinking coffee. The second-hand bathtub remodeled seats, covered with plush cushions, actually look very comfortable. Funny, vulgar, weird, broken, nothing is a natural match, but it seems like everything belongs here, and together they make up this "crumbling" bar.

In the early days of the ruin bars, many feared that they would be short-lived, as the dilapidated and well-located 7th arrondissement has always been a popular spot for real estate developers. Once ranked as the third best in the world by Lonely Planet, Szimpla Kert has made it difficult for both the government and real estate developers to get their hands on it because of her reputation and inextricable relationship with local people.

Compared to most other Eastern European cities that were once part of the Soviets, Budapest seems to have a sense of humor about its Zhengzhi past. "Red Ruin" is one such gongchanzhuyi-themed ruin bar.

This hotel is loved by locals and tourists alike. Cardboard figures of Makesi and Liening are prominently placed under red fluorescent lights, and guests only need to stick their heads in to take pictures, and pop posters titled Joseph Si Dalin are everywhere. The labyrinth of the bar – the red brick basement with more graffiti murals and jokes about gongchanzhuyi. Friends say that there is no ill will towards the people of Budapest, they just think it is fun.

"Most of the young people who like to come to these bars were born in the last years of the Gongchanzhuyi period, they are too young to know enough about this history. But most people still have some memories of the good life of that period: the pace of life was slow, the connection between families was close, and people were more simple and simple. The Red Ruin Bar even goes along with cocktails to sell a nostalgic soft drink called commie, a chocolate and alcohol drink that was all the rage in the 1980s.

This relaxed and spoofed atmosphere seems like a great place to talk about zhengzhi. David said that most young Hungarians are skeptical of Zhengzhi and politicians, who are skeptical of the government and tired of the promises made by politicians to win votes. In recent years, the Hungarian economy has been sluggish, and youth unemployment has remained high, and taunting politicians while holding a beer glass on a weekend night may be a temporary paralysis for young people.

In recent years, Budapest's ruin bars have undergone a transformation, such as Fogas Ház, which opened in 2009 and directly positioned itself as a local community meeting and cultural venue, with party parties almost every night, live music and DJs, movie nights and art exhibitions on weekends, and even extended accommodation areas, and the newly opened new generation of ruin bars, Mazel Tov, which focuses on creating a classic Jewish style. This is also representative of many of Budapest's new ruin bars, which are becoming more elegant and designed, despite their squalid and rough appearances, graffiti-covered walls and mismatched furniture. For those who love design, this trip to Ruin PubCral is a tour of Budapest's avant-garde art.

Another bar worth mentioning is Púder, designed by Bertalan Babos Zsili, a Hungarian contemporary artist who specializes in making weirdness. The walls of the bar have been completely renovated, with large messy and colorful murals, the ceiling is decorated with vertical and horizontal thick metal pipes, and a huge metal lizard hangs in the middle of the bar. Although it may seem like a ruin bar, a closer look reveals that there is little chaos and is a kind of weirdness that has been rigorously designed.

Located in the 6th arrondissement, Instant focuses on animal style, and the murals and interiors of the bar are full of animal shapes, especially owls, not only with huge owls hanging in the middle of the dance floor, but also with various owl murals and small sculptures. If you look up at the ceiling, you can see rabbits and pigs floating in the air. The bar calls itself the "Enchanted Forest of Ruined Bars". Indeed, such a huge space, with its own labyrinthine structure and various animals floating around it, is really like Alice roaming in a wonderland.

In Europe, Budapest isn't a city that flaunts design and creativity, but the rise of ruin bars has led to a design trend that is emerging in the city's most humble buildings, a mix of bohemian and surrealist design.

Highly recommended

/Ruin Pub Cral/

If you want to enjoy the ruin bars, it is advisable to sign up for a local organization Pub Cr al, where an experienced tour leader will lead you to different bars for an evening, especially for solo travelers, you can easily meet other travelers, the tour leader will tell you about the history of the bar, advisor or local Budapest day trip website has a related program, the price is usually around 10 euros.