For Sale Pub – The pub where you can leave your mark in Budapest

Once you’ve spent a morning shopping the Great Market Hall, you may want to sit down for a beer and a tasty goulash to fuel up. Or, perhaps you’ve ticked off all the most famous ruin bars like Szimpla Kert, then you may enjoy the quirky charm of the For Sale Pub. 

You may blink and miss this pub as you stroll down Vámház Boulevard or the streets on the Pest-side around Liberty Bridge, as the For Sale Pub has no street terrace nor any unusual markings to clue you into its presence. Instead, you may spot a façade with the words “For Sale” written on the top of an arched door, and an entry way that evokes a Wild West saloon—just without the swing doors. Upon closer inspection, you’ll notice something unusual—a sea of handwritten notes plastered everywhere inside. 

The Budapest pub where you add to the décor  

You might see the name “For Sale” and take it quite literally, but it’s not the pub that’s for sale here. The pub gets its name because you can sell anything. That’s right, you can add your own advertisement anywhere you like (and where you can find space, good luck with that). All you need is a piece of paper, something to fix it to the wall with and you can add it to this iconic pub. 

So, you can come in for a drink, and leave you phone number, a poem, or an offer to sell your old car from the walls of the shaggy bar. 

Enjoy some quirky reading material at the For Sale Pub 

If you don’t have anything to advertise, then don’t worry, you can just enjoy everyone else’s notes. Customers don’t just leave notes advertising things they want to get rid of, but rather you can see it as a unique chronicle of its clientele over the years. 

You can find drawings, notes, business cards, painting, and pictures attached as paper mementos onto the wall of the For Sale Pub. It might look a little bit like a fire hazard with all that paper—not to mention all the straw covering the floor and the used peanut shells discarded on top, plus the candles flickering on the wooden tables in the evenings—but that’s part of its charm.  

Grab a goulash or a beer 

When you’re feeling thirsty and need to put your feet up after touring the city all day, or you’ve just jumped off the Hop-On Hop Off Bus (there is a stop just across the street), you might want to grab a nice cold beer (costs around 1000 HUF for half a liter). The best thing is you get a free bowl of shelled peanuts to snack on while you enjoy your beer. 

However, if you’re feeling hungry, don’t worry, you won’t leave with a rumble in your belly – you can have some of For Sale Pub’s famous goulash for 1890 HUF. The portions are so generous, you might want to split the goulash between two of you, unless you’re really hungry. 

Be prepared for a soup rather than a stew, as traditional Hungarian goulash is a spicy paprika-laden soup with beef chunks, potatoes, and mini-dumplings. It comes served with slices of bread, and if it’s still not spicy enough for you, you’ll get some dried crushed hot paprika, or dried hot paprika to fan the flames. 

Bring some cash 

For Sale Pub does not take cards, so make sure you bring some dough with you, so you’re not left in a dicey spot where the Sheriff needs to get called in—it does look like a saloon in the Wild West after all! There are many ATMs in the area, so you can top up before going in. There is an international ATM on the square just on the corner by the restaurant. 

Continue the pub crawl 

Budapest has an amazing bar scene, so it would be criminal to stop just at one pub. If you want more beer, maybe go on a beer tasting tour, or explore some of the nearby Budapest bars. Púder a nearby bar also with quirky décor is worth a visit, or just hop on the tram to Astoria to Csendes to keep up with the drinking in eccentric bars. Of course, you can also continue to the daddy of all quirky bars in Budapest, Szimpla Kert, if you want to make a night of it. 

One thing you can be sure of if you come to Budapest: You won’t go thirsty. 

Q & A

Can I pay with card at For Sale Pub?

No, For Sale Pub only takes cash.

Is there an outside area at For Sale Pub?

No, only inside seating is available.