Plan your first day
Your First Day in Budapest, Bucharest or Belgrade: Where to Eat
Three cities, three honest 24-hour eating plans — from the airport bus to a proper sit-down first breakfast, and on to dinner.
The first meal in a new city sets the tone for the whole trip, and it is the one you have the least information for. These guides answer the question we hear most from guests still carrying their luggage: where should I eat first? One plan per city, written by the people who open the doors every morning in Budapest, Bucharest and Belgrade.
Each guide follows the same shape, because a first day tends to. It starts with the arrival itself: which airport bus or metro drops you closest to the centre, and what to do with the first hour when your room is not ready yet. Then comes the first morning, and this is where we are on home ground. Cookie Beacon is a sit-down brunch spot, walk-ins only, no reservations at any of our 5 locations, so a first breakfast does not need planning — you turn up when you wake up. In Budapest we open Mon–Fri 08:00–17:00, Sat–Sun 09:00–17:00 at both brunch spots, in Bucharest we open 09:00–18:00 daily at both brunch spots and in Belgrade we open 09:00–18:00 daily.
After the first morning, the guides leave our tables and walk you through the rest of the day: the sights that sit within a few minutes of where you just ate, a midday stop that locals would actually choose, a coffee-and-cookie break when your feet give out, and where to go for a proper dinner in the part of town that does evenings well. The Belgrade plan ends in the kafanas of Skadarlija; the Bucharest one steers you away from the tourist core of the Old Town and toward Calea Victoriei; the Budapest one runs on clock times from landing to the last course and adds pointers for day two and three.
A few things are true in all three cities and worth knowing before you read. Every guide names real streets and real opening hours, checked against our own doors and updated when they change — the date on each entry below is the last time we did. Vegan and vegetarian options are marked on the menu in every city, with reduced seed oils in the vegan dishes. Dogs are welcome. And the cookies are baked in-house every morning, so the mid-afternoon stop the guides recommend is not a throwaway line.
If you would like a second opinion before you commit a first morning to us, our guests have left 37,070 Google reviews, averaging 4.8★ across our 5 brunch spots. The city pages linked at the bottom of this guide carry the reviews written about each spot.
Pick your city below. Where a guide exists in Romanian or Serbian as well as English, the other-language version is listed under it.
Pick a city
Where to eat first, city by city
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2 brunch spots 2 languages
First day in Budapest
Where to eat on your first day in Budapest: what to do after landing, brunch near St. Stephen's Basilica, a 24-hour food itinerary with clock times, and day 2-3 pointers.
Read the guide -
2 brunch spots 2 languages
First day in Bucharest
Where to eat on your first day in Bucharest: brunch at Cookie Beacon off Piața Romană near the Athenaeum, lunch along Calea Victoriei, afternoon coffee and cookies, then dinner.
Read the guide -
1 brunch spot 2 languages
First day in Belgrade
Just landed in Belgrade? Start with brunch at Cookie Beacon near Republic Square, then walk Knez Mihailova to Kalemegdan. An honest first-day eating plan.
Read the guide
All the guides
Every first-day guide, in every language we publish
Budapest
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First Day in Budapest: Where to Eat, From Landing to a 24-Hour Food Itinerary
Where to eat on your first day in Budapest: what to do after landing, brunch near St. Stephen's Basilica, a 24-hour food itinerary with clock times, and day 2-3 pointers.
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What Do Hungarians Eat for Breakfast? A Hungarian Breakfast Guide
What do Hungarians eat for breakfast? Bread, cold cuts, peppers, körözött and eggs, or a kifli with coffee. Every dish sourced, plus where our brunch fits.
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How to Get to Cookie Beacon Budapest: 100E Airport Bus and Metro
Getting to our two Budapest brunch spots: the 100E airport bus (2,500 Ft) to Deák Ferenc tér, then the M3 metro to Arany János utca or Ferenciek tere.
- Magyarul
Hogyan jutsz el a Cookie Beaconhez Budapesten? 100E busz és M3-as metró
A két budapesti Cookie Beacon megközelítése: 100E reptéri busz (2 500 Ft) a Deák Ferenc térig, onnan M3 az Arany János utcához vagy a Ferenciek teréhez.
Bucharest
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First Day in Bucharest: Where to Eat (Start Near the Athenaeum)
Where to eat on your first day in Bucharest: brunch at Cookie Beacon off Piața Romană near the Athenaeum, lunch along Calea Victoriei, afternoon coffee and cookies, then dinner.
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What Do Romanians Eat for Breakfast? A Romanian Breakfast Guide
What do Romanians eat for breakfast? Bread, telemea, eggs, cold cuts and vegetables, mămăligă in the countryside, covrigi on the go. Every dish sourced.
- În română
Unde să mănânci în București: prima zi, de la brunch la cină
Unde să mănânci în București în prima zi: brunch la Cookie Beacon lângă Piața Romană, mâncare românească la prânz, cafea și cookies după-amiaza, apoi cină.
Belgrade
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First Day in Belgrade: Where to Eat (A Realistic 24-Hour Food Plan)
Just landed in Belgrade? Start with brunch at Cookie Beacon near Republic Square, then walk Knez Mihailova to Kalemegdan. An honest first-day eating plan.
- Na srpskom
Gde jesti u Beogradu: prvi dan, od bruncha do kafane
Gde jesti u Beogradu prvog dana: brunch u Cookie Beacon-u na Kralja Petra, burek iz pekare za ručak, kafa i kolačić popodne, pa večera u Skadarliji.
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Serbian Breakfast: What Belgraders Actually Eat in the Morning
Serbian breakfast explained: burek with drinking yogurt from the pekara, kajmak, proja, gibanica and domestic coffee. Every dish sourced, plus our brunch.
After the first morning
Walks from our doors
Each walk starts at one of our spots and ends back there for a coffee and a cookie. Every route has its own game: doors to find, details to spot, street signs to read. Distances are measured on the map, and every opening time links to the official page it came from.
Budapest
- Starts at Ferenciek Tere
Seven Doors Behind Ferenciek tere: Hidden Belváros Within 600 m
A Roman fort in the square, a mihrab in a church, a two-armed staircase behind a gate: seven Belváros doors that never make the lists, by Ferenciek tere.
- Starts at Basilica
The Little Princess and Friends: A Bronze Safari for Kids in District V
From Hercegprímás utca: the Fat Policeman's shiny belly, a fist-sized bronze Kermit and the Little Princess on the Danube railing. A family statue hunt.
- Starts at Ferenciek Tere
The Summit Quest: From Ferenciek tere to the Citadella
Closed for more than a decade, open again since April 2026: a loop from Ferenciek tere over Elisabeth Bridge to the Citadella and Liberty Statue and back.
- Starts at Basilica
The Bee Hunt: Art Nouveau Lipótváros, From the Basilica and Back
Count the ceramic bees on Lechner's bank, find the peacock gates and see where the Holy Right stands now: a Lipótváros loop from beside the Basilica.
Bucharest
- Starts at Amzei
Calea Victoriei, Walked Backwards: From Strada Christian Tell to the 1989 Balcony
Walk Bucharest's grand avenue the other way round: a collectors' palace, the Athenaeum's once-hidden fresco and the 1989 balcony, from Christian Tell.
- Starts at Floreasca
The Long Way to the Forbidden District: Floreasca to the Spring Palace on Foot
A Cézanne in a collector's house, a monument to the airmen, then the Ceaușescus' front door: a Wednesday-to-Sunday walk from Calea Floreasca.
- În română Starts at Floreasca
Casa Ceaușescu, înainte și după vizită: program, bilete și patru opriri prin Floreasca și Primăverii
Casa Ceaușescu (Palatul Primăverii, Bd. Primăverii 50): program, bilete și tur ghidat, ce vezi înăuntru și drumul pe jos de pe Calea Floreasca.
- În română Starts at Floreasca
Parcul Floreasca și jocul străzilor: o plimbare de la Calea Floreasca
De la Calea Floreasca la parcul ridicat pe fosta groapă Floreasca: străzi cu nume de compozitori și aviatori, plus sculpturile lui Vlasiu și Victor Roman.
Belgrade
- Starts at Kralja Petra
Downhill to the Danube: Dorćol, Belgrade, From the Old Town to the River
From Kralja Petra down to the Danube quay: Belgrade's only surviving mosque, a dervish tomb, the Čukur fountain and an LED clock on a school wall.
- Starts at Kralja Petra
Our Street, House by House: A Weekday Walk Along Kralja Petra
From the "?" tavern at No. 6 to a free money exhibition inside the National Bank at No. 12 and a film star's statue: Kralja Petra, on a weekday.
Hours, addresses and reviews
Our brunch spots in each city
Every address, the opening hours for each spot and the Google reviews written about it live on the city pages.
Landed? Walk in — no reservation needed.
Walk in for brunch and a chunky cookie at any of our five spots. No booking needed.