Vaci Utca Budapest
The Vaci Utca in Budapest is the most touristic street in the city and percieved as the city centre. From the Grand Market Hall in the south of the Vaci Utca to the Cafe Gerbeaud at the northern end you find many hotels, a lot of restaurants and of course many tourist shops selling you paprika, goose liver or fridge magnets. The perception of being the city centre comes from the location of the street being in between the 2 above mentioned hotspots for tourists, the Market Hall and the Gerbeaud, but also from the historic buildings in this area and the closeness to the Danube river which many people want to see during their stay in Budapest.
The restaurants which are directly located on Vaci Utca are overpriced and the quality is not the best. However around Vaci Utca in Budapest you can find decent restaurants to eat at such as the PUB and the CELLAR restaurant. The typical tourist shops are worth a look but heavily overpriced, I recon that you get the same products in a nearby supermarket for half price, no matter if it is a bag of paprika or a bottle of Pálinka.
As there is no real city centre of Budapest Vaci Utca artificially was made to be the place to go if you want to see the city.
Vaci Utca Scam
Unfortunately where the tourists are you find a lot of scam. Let it be the restaurant which tries to overcharge you with predefined service fees, the typical people trying to sell you something on the street or the classic the nightclub scam where you do not pay any entrance fee but "exit fee" and the drink are very expensive. There are several articles on the web discussing exactly these nightclubs, stri bars or whatever they are called and also the US embassy has brought out a list of "No Go" bars that are obviously scam. So please aware of the clubs itself but also over friendly students and good looking girls who just want to have a drink. You can be 100% sure that this is scam.