Mika Tivadar Secret Museum — Local services in Budapest

Review of Mika Tivadar Secret Museum — A Time-Warping Treasure in Budapest

Stepping into the Mika Tivadar Secret Museum is like slipping through a trapdoor into the unspoken heartbeat of Budapest’s past — the kind of stories whispered in shadowy corners and locked behind velvet curtains of time.

This isn’t your average museum; it’s a labyrinth of forgotten scandals, cultural subversion, forbidden films, lost nightclubs, and scandalous brothels — a wild ride through Hungary’s beautifully bizarre underbelly. Where else can you find tales of rogue royals, seductive cabarets, and illegal VHS copies of Rambo smuggled under the Iron Curtain all under one roof?

The "Blue Cat" exhibit? Like reading the gossip pages of 19th-century Europe, but somehow classier and steamier. The Schneider House? A poetic mashup of William Tell, gypsy card decks, and underground cinema — with a touch of Einstein and Edison, just for fun.

The displays are witty, subversive, and haunting. It's as if the walls themselves are in on the secret, winking at you as you pass. The art, the typography, the storytelling — every detail is curated to make you feel like you’ve stumbled onto something you’re not supposed to see, but are so glad you did.

Verdict: If you’re in Budapest and want to experience a museum that’s more secret society than school field trip, this place is a must. Part cabaret, part history, part underground rebellion — Mika Tivadar Secret Museum is a deliciously strange trip you...

€5 for a self guided audio tour in the basement of the hotel. The information is interesting, but disorganised and poorly curated.

You learn about brothels, jewish ghettos during WWII, and finally about Mika, the man the hotel was named after. The connection seems to be that these were surrounding buildings and their history, but there is 0 orientation or relevance as to where they are or why they are important to the reader.

Layout of the exhibits had me going around in circles too, very confusing. It was a shame that I only later learnt that only exhibits 1-11 were open, which was just the small basement room. 12-19 are all not open, perhaps incomplete exhibits.

You do get a free daiquiri/beer at the bar after you're done leaving a 5 star review here, which is very generous of them!

TDLR; Come without expectations and if you have no knowledge of Budapest's history at all. Daiquiri was great though, cheers to...

A small museum located in the basement of the Mika Hotel. Built by Tivder Mika and tells about the period from the end of the 19th century to the years between the 2 world wars. By scanning the QR code, you can download an audio guide to your mobile phone in 8 different languages. The museum has a collection of exhibits from the World War II period, mainly covering Budapest's nightlife before the war and the Jewish getto during the World War and the Holocaust. It is necessary to delve into the exhibits of the exhibition and the audio because it is easy to lose the momentum of the playback. In conclusion, nice. Not particularly expensive either, 5...