A Hub Is Born: Budapest

Photo by Tyler Conk

Surprisingly, there were no direct flights from the US to the brilliant, beautiful and quite popular city of Budapest until several weeks ago. American Airlines has now stepped in to fill the gap, and according to airline executives the route is already carrying more passengers per flight (called the "load factor") than any of its other ten routes to Europe.

That may well be because Budapest is an ideal hub for Europe. With a newly redone airport and a placement that puts it just a two hour flight (or less) from more than a dozen major cities, the new routing should prove quite valuable to Yankee travelers, even those that don't live in the Big Apple. American partners with the national airline Malev in Hungary to transfer passengers to airports across the region.

Its worth it to go just for the goulash. As a Twitter pal of mine recently noted, no two bowls ever taste alike. And that's a great thing.

Head to the American Airlines site for full information and pricing.