Trip Report : Budapest Cave & Mine Diving (Feb 2025)

Background

I sometimes dive caves but I’m not what I would consider a “cave diver.” I have plenty of friends who are “real” cave divers so I know enough to know the difference. 🙂

This trip was a bit different from my typical dive trips where it is diving all day, every day. I had always wanted to see Budapest and the allure of this trip was that it combined some interesting cave & mine diving with the ability to spend time exploring this amazing city. It was a great trip and I actually managed to slip in a quick 42 hour run-and-gun stopover to the historic city of Istanbul on the way home.

I went on the trip with Ben Lair and Paragon Dive Group. Ben first went last year and when I saw the photos and heard the descriptions, I knew it would be a trip I would want to go on.

Given the type of trip this was, I will spend more space than usual in this report on the sights, food, logistics, etc. but will also dedicate two additional detailed posts specific to the diving: one for the Molnar Janos “MJ” Cave and one for the Kobanya Mine.

Given the amount of extra information, I’ll start with an overview of the diving and then I’ll provide the other details and things to do/see in Budapest.

Let’s get to it…

Dive Operation & Logistics

There is only one licensed operator for the Molnar Janos (“MJ”) Cave and Kobanya Mine and they are located literally “on top” of the MJ Cave dive site.

On our first day, we arrived at 8am and setup all our gear. There is tunnel behind the building shown above that leads to benches with assigned spaces everybody and a ton of rental tanks.

Below is a short time-lapse walking from the outside through the tunnel to the dive equipment area:

After you setup your gear and bailout tanks, you can take the bailout tanks down steps to the dive platform and lower them into the water and install them after getting in the water.

All dives must be guided which is good. They have lines setup in this cave like no other cave I have seen (I will provide more details on the post specific to the MJ Cave).

If you have a deco obligation, they have installed a nice deco station with permanent lights at 6m/20ft below the dive platform (you can see the lights in the picture above in the upper right). Divers complete deeper deco stops along the main line and then ascend to the deco station to do the last stop at 20 feet. It is a nice deco setup with rings to take off tanks (if you want) or store cameras, etc.

I will provide a lot more details on the cave and mine diving in follow-on posts, but here are a few “teaser” photos all shot by Ben Lair:

Travel & Logistics

Getting to Budapest is a relatively easy journey (compared to, say, Bikini Atoll or Antarctica).

Given that I wanted to also see Istanbul and that Turkish Airlines had great airfares and allowed an extended stopover without extra fees, I chose to fly LAX-IST-BUD. The only downside to this plan was that I had about a six hour layover in Istanbul airport on the outbound leg(more on that in a bit). I had often looked at flying through IST but have always faced that same dilemma that layovers are often longer than “usual” for international trips.

In terms of Turkish Airlines, I found them to be particularly good. The people were nice and the food was good. The flight from LAX-IST was on an Airbus 350 from 1:00pm to 1:15pm (the next day) and the flight from IST-BUD was an Airbus 331 from 7:05pm to 7:15pm. The other small annoyance of this route is that when you fly from the US you “over shoot” Budapest and have to backtrack from Istanbul on the second leg but the opportunity to visit Istanbul on the return journey was worth it to me.

In terms of luggage, I had my normal load-out of four bags : Pelican case for the rEvo, Pelican case for the underwater camera gear, a rolling duffel with dive gear + clothes, and a duffel with all my drysuit stuff & undergarments. I also had a carry-on backpack. The person at the check-in counter was nice enough to check all four bags without any extra fees. I was planning to carry-on the Pelican case with my underwater camera gear but it was slightly overweight and I had to check it. This would come back to bite me in the you-know-what….

I was fortunate to be flying business class on the flights and there is a big perk if your layover in IST airport is longer than 5 hours : access to a private room in the business class lounge (note: capacity constrained). I got lucky and a room opened up just as I got to the check-in desk. The business class lounge in IST airport is world-class (even without the private room). The food was amazing and the amenities superb. Below are a few photos:

Travel Issues

I had a couple issues on this trip.

Broken Camera Housing

The first problem was that I went to assemble my underwater housing once I was in Budapest and discovered that the shutter trigger lever had been busted. I am still very confused on how this happened but I have a theory. Below is a picture showing how the equipment was packed (I always photograph everything before closing up the bags) and a few pictures of what was broken.

The strangest thing about this is that when I opened the underwater housing up, the missing/broken pieces were nowhere to be found and if they broke in transit, they should have been “trapped” in the case.

I also know 100% that it was working before I left because I always assemble the unit with camera, lens, correct port and then vacuum test and take a few pictures. The only thing that I can think happened is the following: I usually put a small padded bag of spare o-rings in the housing and I’m guessing that somebody thought it was a bag of drugs. They then pulled the housing out and it dropped or something happened and they ended up pulling the bag out to inspect it and the broken bits went missing. I really cannot figure out how else this could happen. I’ve traveled all over the world with this same setup and never had a problem.

This meant, unfortunately, that I didn’t have a “real” camera for underwater photos. I still had my GoPro and Insta360 but there was no way I could fix this problem in the field. So, many of the photos underwater you will see are from Ben Lair.

Checked Luggage from IST-LAX

The second travel issue was on my flight home from Istanbul to Los Angeles after my extended layover (given the layover was longer than 12 hours, I had to get my bags after BUD-IST and before IST-LAX). I went to check my bags in and when I put the large Pelican case with the rebreather on the scale, the agent asked “what is in that?” I innocently said “scuba equipment” without going into a ton of details.

For some reason that set off a whole series of events. I still don’t know what the issue was, but multiple supervisors had to get involved and there were a ton of questions and they kept asking “how many of the bags are scuba equipment” to which I kept saying “four” which seems to have confused them since they had already checked my large dive duffel and I only had three bags left to check. It literally took me an hour to get my bags checked and I had to pay some extra baggage fees. I’m still not sure what caused the problems but all of my bags arrived safely back to LAX on my return journey.

Lodging

Ben had booked an AirBnB three bedroom apartment in the heart of the downtown area (there were only three of us diving on this trip) so we each had our own room & bathroom. It was a couple blocks off of the main street, Andrassy Avenue. The big upside of this location was that there were a TON of good restaurants and attractions that were walking distance and, given that it was a couple blocks away from the main drag, it was quiet.

The only downside is that it was about a 10-15 minute cab ride from the dive shop (as opposed to walking distance) and that the apartment was up four flights of stairs with no elevator. I’m far from lazy, but hauling 200 pounds of gear up and down the stairs at the start and end of the trip was no fun task. But, the location was worth it for convenience for non-dive related activities.

Dining

I figured that the food in Budapest would be good but it exceeded my expectations. The cuisine includes traditional Hungarian dishes like chicken paprikash and stews but there are great restaurants for Italian, steaks, etc.

Some of the restaurants we dined at included: Ciao, Meat Heaven, Frici Papa, Caviar & Bull, Porc & Prezli, and Lions Locker. All were within a 5-10 minute walk from our apartment.

Budapest Non-Dive Activities

Ben had pre-arranged a couple tours and we went and visited a few other sites. I will detail most of them below. There is plenty to do in Budapest when you aren’t diving which is one of the advantages of a trip like this.

City Tour

On our first day, Ben had booked a private four-hour tour for us. Is was the perfect way to get a good overview of the city and key attractions while we adapted to the timezone changes. It was a combination of driving in a car and then walking on foot once we got to a location. We visited Hero Square Vajdahunyad Castle, the Opera House, the Parliament Building, and then did a lot in the Castle District on the Buda side.

Szent Istvan Bazilika

Saint Stephen’s Basilica is the largest and most important church building in Hungary and is located in the center of the city and just a couple blocks from the Danube River. It is named in honor of Stephen I, the first King of Hungary (c. 975-1038). The church is impressive and we paid to get the option to go to the top of the church which affords an amazing view.

The church construction was started in 1851 and continued for 54 years! The original dome collapsed in 1858 which required a complete demolition and rebuild from the ground up. In a somewhat weird and wild story, the mummified “Holy Right Hand” of Saint Stephen is on display in the church.

One of the regional specialties in Budapest is a “chimney cake” so we had to, of course, get some energy before touring the church and I got a Nutella (naturally) funnel cake. 🙂

House of Terror Museum

This museum is truly chilling and serves as a stark reminder of the atrocities than humans have committed against each other.

It is located on Andrassy Avenue at the site of the building previously used by the Arrow Cross Party (far right Hungarian ultranationalist) and AVH (the secret police of the People’s Republic of Hungary from 1945-1956). The exhibits are related to the fascist and communist regimes of Hungary in the 20th century and is a memorial to the victims that were detained, interrogated, tortured, or killed in that building.

Photos inside the museum are not allowed. Below are a few pictures from the outside which includes a section of the Berlin Wall.

I did snap one photo before I realized that we weren’t supposed to take pictures:

Cave Tour

There is an immense network of caves under the city of Budapest primarily (but not solely) on the “Buda” side of the city. One day, we went on a 90 minute tour of the underground cave that is below the Castle Hill area.

The caves started out as smaller pockets and were expanded by man-made tunnels to connect them together. Starting in the middle ages, they were used for many different purposes including shelter, prison, hospital, and even a Turkish harem in the 16th century. The caves are about 10m/33 feet below the surface of the street and there are wells and shafts that go up to the surface. It is somewhat amazing that there are huge buildings on top of these caves that don’t just collapse in.

River Cruise

I wouldn’t normally go for an overtly touristy activity like a dinner cruise at night on the Danube; however, I had been wanting to see the city illuminated at night and figured that the best way to do that would be from the river as it would allow for some nice photos. I wasn’t disappointed! The food was reasonably good for a quick river cruise but the views were fantastic! We went with Silverline Cruises because they had an option for a plated dinner vs. buffet style.

The tour is a bit cheesy with musicians, dancing, etc. but it is a nice way to see the city at night from a unique perspective.

Istanbul Layover

While unrelated to this dive trip, I did stop over at Istanbul on the way home. I spent about 42 hours on the ground there and had pre-arranged a walking tour for the first half-day and the second day. Unfortunately, the weather was wet and rainy the entire time. However, we made the best of it and hit some highlights of Istanbul. There is so much more to explore in that city.

A few quick notes in case you decide to do something like this:

• I left most of my dive gear / bags at the airport to avoid taking them all into town.
  • There is a 24×7 luggage storage facility on the lower level (arrivals) near the Door 14
  • When you return, the taxi will drop you off at the departures level so you will need to go downstairs and get a luggage cart, get your luggage and then return upstairs. There are some other weird logistical issues so make sure to arrive early.
• The cab into the city is about 45 minutes depending upon traffic and timing so plan accordingly
• There is a TON to see in Istanbul so do some pre-work to figure out what you want to see

I ended up visiting the Hagia Sophia, the “Blue Mosque”, the Hippodrome, the Topkapi Museum, the Hagia Eirene, the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Market. I stayed in Karakoy area. I wanted to take a ferry across the Bosporus Strait to set foot on the Asia side but the weather was horrible and I ran out of time.

The good aspect of the rain, cold & off-season is that the normally hectic and touristy areas were relatively empty!

Thanks To…

• My wife for “holding down the fort” while I was gone for nearly two weeks (but I was back in time for Valentines Day!)
• Ben Lair & Paragon Dive Adventures – They did a great job organizing the trip, selecting after-dive activities, etc.
  • If you want to book this same trip yourself, Ben only needs three divers to run an “on-demand” trip. (Disclaimer: Ben is a friend and we dive together often but I do not receive any commission or form of payment if somebody books a trip based on this).
  • You will need a full Cave certification but diving can be open or closed-circuit.
• The team at MJ Dive. They run a very good and very safe dive operation.

“AI Transparency” Statements

• I removed people from a couple of the city pictures using Generative AI in Lightroom Classic
• Otherwise, all prose was written by me, reviewed by others, with no AI assistance.
  • Any errors in spelling or grammar are mine and mine alone.

The Final Word

This is NOT an AI image! There are a number of “hidden” small figurines throughout the city of Budapest created by the artist Kolodko. This one seems very apt. Thanks Budapest for a great trip!