Working Remotely in Budapest

Budapest is getting more and more popular among location-independents, digital nomads and remote-working professionals. 

For those who already know Budapest, it’s no surprise!

It’s a city of history, architecture, partying, cheap flights, good train and bus connections, low cost of living and recently with the opening of many new coworking spaces, is a city of coworking.

This trend rightly encourages local entrepreneurs to follow suite and be part of the ecosystem.

With that, we’ve interviewed Balint Nemeth, the co-founder of Digital Nomad Hungary, who is also one of our early users of the Budapest Coworking Pass. 

He’s shared with his personal experience on “becoming a remote worker and digital nomad all of a sudden in Budapest, and how he’s “accidentally” became a regular Coworking Pass user”.

Cowork7/24: Hi Balint, how did it all start for you?  

(Balint: ) “Depending on what field you are engaged in, it might be easier to become a digital nomad than many others who just have a desire but no idea how to work remotely or get started. For me,  it was like a year ago when my cousin, Balazs, an independent iOS developer reached out to me. 

Actually he’d already come a few times to my cooking workshops that I’ve been running for Hungarians and foreigners in the city, but the last time he came he told me he’d like to have a talk because he has a new startup idea.”

Cowork7/24: What was his idea?

“His idea was to help Digital Nomads solve daily problems in life while they are in Hungary. Via a personalized service. 

He was inspired by his own experiences as a digital nomad, from getting proper accommodations to finding unlimited mobile data, from finding good places to work from to fighting travel loneliness. 

This is how we established “Digital Nomad Hungary” with a base in Budapest in June this year (2019), where we provide more than just technical support but help create opportunities to have fun together with other digital nomads coming here.”

Cowork7/24: It’s a pretty cool idea. How did you bring it to life?

“Actually, already back in November 2018, I had gotten my first task in this startup-at-idea: writing our own digital nomad guide book. 

This was a good kick for me to start thinking a lot about what I know about Budapest and how I really could help and give tips to digital nomads coming here… 

By the way, I’ve been cooking for 15 years as a hobby chef and 3 years working as an advanced level barista. So, as a culinary arts lover of course my first focus has been on this: gastronomy in Budapest. 

But I had a little challenge. I cannot work properly from home. 

I need to get outside. 

Therefore I started working from cafés. This actually sort of also put me in the shoes of digital nomads. The basic needs were clear: I needed fast internet, specialty coffee, enough personal space and a plug for my laptop. 

Budapest, luckily, could provide ample options for me.

It worked out well, and I still work 2-3 times from three different coffee shops in Budapest. 

While my basic needs were being met, each cafe came with their own challenges: usually they have been quite busy, there was music, people are chattering and laughing: not really the the best environment to work when you wanted to be focused.”

Cowork7/24: How did you work this out then? 

“Well, then I bumped into you, Cowork7/24, folks!”

“Pretty much around the same time that we started Digital Nomad Hungary in June, I was  attending the 2-day FreedomX Festival, an event for the location-independent professionals. 

Here right at the opening ceremony, while were doing the basic networking exercise, I bumped into Serkan, the founder of Cowork 7/24.

That was when he told me that everyone attending the festival was getting a 1-week Coworking Pass that gave access to the  best coworking spaces in Budapest. “

Cowork7/24: How was your first experience with the Passes ?

“The Coworking Pass is actually on the Cowork7/24 app, which you could simply use to check in to coworking spaces by scanning a QR code on the spot and there you go. This was fast, efficient and I love(d) the idea that there were different, many  cool benefits at the (coworking) spots. Such as your first 4 hours are free or every hour you can drink a coffee on the house. 

This nice, coincidental meeting with Serkan did not only help me discover the Coworking Passes, but also now lead to us to a cooperation with Cowork 7/24 so that our digital nomads can experience this easy way of coworking from any spaces provided by them.”

Cowork7/24’s note: 

Indeed, this “serendipity” is leading to a partnership with “Digital Nomad Hungary” where we will be issuing dedicated coworking passes for their community. Stay tuned for this! 

Cowork7/24: And how did you like your first coworking space experience ?

“Visiting coworking spaces in Budapest was simply great!

First of all I think it is always quite exciting to go to a new place. Even if the reason is “to work”, there is some excitement behind this. Of course you can check the photos of the space but you know it’s never the same. The atmosphere is highly determined by the people who work on the spot. 

There’s been two particular coworking spaces I enjoyed a lot working from.”

Cowork7/24: Which ones were they?

“the first one was Kaptar“

“Since Kaptar (Hive) seemed to be one of the most visited and widely-known coworking spaces, I started using my Coworking Pass from there.  Due to my phone camera I could not read the QR code but still the assistant girl was aware of the Coworking Pass, was super helpful and still let me use the space. As I remember I arrived a bit late, around 11 AM. For that reason, it was 99% full. But still, there was one nice spot left by the kitchen on a couch and by a coffee table so I took the opportunity. 

To me Kaptar seems vivid, full of international people and nice customer service. As I recall they even have some kind of discount at a close and nice restaurants nearby. I just adore Kaptar’s (Hive) intro video. “

“My next coworking space with the Coworking Pass was  Impact Hub“

“Impact Hub. This place is really beautiful. It’s located right in the city center at Ferenciek Square. The building is impressive both from the outside and inside. I enjoyed following some arrows within the building and remember taking some photos on the way up the stairs because of the nice view. Basically apart from tiny call rooms it is one long and huge space. Very bright with huge desks, convenient office chairs. You can clearly see the street from the windows. They have a convenient corner to rest and chill out. There was a guy who even slept a little and the assistant just smiled at it:) To me the only tiny negative thing is that coffee is not included, however, I must say it is very cheap (200 HUF, less than 1 euro). Definitely come here to work at least once.”

Cowork7/24: Any last comments? Why should digital nomads come to Budapest?

“I just mentioned the two coworking spaces I visited. There are over 30 of them in Budapest!

I hope I could help a little and motivate you to come to Budapest for some time. 

Besides the attractions, architecture and spas, I firmly believe it is a very important aspect: you are not a regular tourist so you’ll need good spots to work from while here. For this our coworking spaces and the Cowork 7/24 pass are the best combination. 

Trust me on this and try it, you won’t regret it!”