I picked this up intending to dip into it for quirky recommendations, and ended up reading it from cover to cover. Smith includes fascinating detail on a wealth of topics and clearly has a taste for the history of the often overlooked in everyday life. So, as well as famous monuments such as the Parliament Building and Chain Bridge, you can read about esoteric museums, little-known statues and interesting shops. There's loads of history, although it's not an academic work. There's some repetition and I spotted the odd error. You couldn't buy this instead of a conventional guide book - it's already a few years out of date - and for me no travel guide to Budapest will ever beat András Török's 'Budapest: a critical guide' but I'd still recommend it even to first-time visitors to Budapest and it's a must-buy for a return visit. ( )