Bohemian rhapsody

On a mind-bending night out, Steve McKenna discovers an offbeat side to the Hungarian capital.

'Look up," says Peter, my Hungarian friend. I do as he says and my head begins to spin. A typewriter, a briefcase, a book, a vinyl record and other household items are glued to the ceiling. On the floor, a sofa has been turned upside down. I twist my head and start to feel even dizzier. "I'm glad I'm not on drugs," I say.

Set around a courtyard apartment in downtown Budapest, Instant is one of the city's coolest "ruin pubs". The concept is simple. Creative, arty entrepreneurs buy - or rent - dilapidated properties and transform them into trendy, quirky places in which to eat, drink and be merry.

Likened to the shabby-chic dive bars of east Berlin, many ruin pubs can be found in the back streets around the mighty, Moorish-style Great Synagogue, in one of Europe's largest Jewish neighbourhoods.

Labyrinth-like and full of surprises, Instant is set over three storeys, with 23 rooms, six bars, three dance floors, two gardens - and some mind-bending decor. As well as the upside-down room, a parade of toy rabbits is strung across the courtyard, where punters have parked bicycles vertically against the wall. While it has some of the ingredients of a student bar, the clientele is varied.

"It's more for people like us; 30-somethings, and older. Professionals, writers, poets, artists, regular people," says Peter, a seasoned Budapestian pub crawler. "The students go to the cheap places."

At 620 forints ($3) per half-litre of Dreher lager (and just a little more for mixers), Instant hardly breaks the bank. Sipping as we stroll, we find people playing chess in one dimly lit room. In other, more brightly lit ones, folks are lounging on sofas, embroiled in beard-stroking conversation - or downing shots of absinthe.

We pass cosy little cubbyholes, where couples smooch and clink glasses of wine, and plunge into a gothic cellar bar, where a DJ is spinning electronica tunes to young hipsters.

A "ruin pub" crawl makes for an entertaining and inexpensive night out in a city that isn't short of twilight options (in Budapest, you can enjoy top-notch theatre and opera, soak in thermal baths, linger in opulent coffee houses, relax in swanky cocktail joints and plush wine bars or party in the open-air clubs on the banks of the River Danube).