I was in Budapest in 2003 and I have to say: the creative energy that was there seemed to be singular. I hope it's still strong. I don't know if I could convince my wife to move (it would set back the clock on her U.S. citizenship) but I'd love to get out there more often.
I work at Prezi. We have a lot of expats from the US who come and work here in Budapest. Prezi is like a patch of SF in beautiful Budapest. If you're interested, drop me a line :)