A running retreat in Budapest

Pounding the streets of a snow-covered Budapest may not be everyone's idea of the perfect city break but, as Jeannine Williamson found, it is an ideal way to combine fitness and sightseeing in one city break

My usual running companion is my iPod, but as Laszlo Varga walked into the Lanchid 19 hotel reception at 8am things were clearly about to move up a gear.

The twice Hungarian national champion in Short Distance Triathlon and former national champion in both half-Ironman Triathlon and Team Time Trail road racing was ready to hit the streets of Budapest, and I was going with him.

His impressive credentials, coupled with the fact that Hungary's capital was carpeted in an unexpectedly heavy blanket of snow, prompted a fleeting temptation to turn around and jog in the opposite direction, back into the cocoon of the cosy duvet where I'd been sound asleep half an hour before.

But, unlike the UK, a spot of inclement weather doesn't stop play and within minutes the crisp morning air filled my lungs as we crossed the landmark Szechenyi Chain Bridge.

Soon I was crunching past the parliament buildings in Laszlo's wake with childlike glee. Aside from a handful of dog walkers and industrious street cleaners shifting snow we saw nobody else for the next couple of hours.

Laszlo is one of the running and cycling enthusiasts behind Run-and-View, providing visitors with a different perspective of Budapest, the beautiful UNESCO-listed city divided neatly in two by the River Danube.

Whether you're on a business junket struggling to offset calorie-rich corporate entertaining, keen on keeping fit or simply wanting to try something a bit different on holiday, you can embark on anything from a gentle 5k outing or up the pace for longer tours over several days.

As someone with the sense of direction of a goldfish it was a boon to be met and delivered safely back to my hotel. Similarly, it's a great option for solo women worried about running into the unknown in an unfamiliar city.