Budapest
Erected for the 1896 millenary celebrations originally in canvas and later built in stone, the castle was modelled after a fortress in Transylvania – but…
Must-see attractions in Hungary
Óbuda & Buda Hills
Anchor tenant of the Zichy Mansion, where you’ll also find the Vasarely Museum, but with its own entrance on Fő tér, this wonderfully revamped museum…
Castle District
Facing the Royal Palace’s large courtyard to the northwest is the Romantic-style Matthias Fountain, portraying the young king Matthias Corvinus in hunting…
Budapest
This huge and rather esoteric museum is housed in the stunning baroque and gothic wings of Vajdahunyad Castle. Scattered across a dozen palatial halls,…
Budapest
A pleasant place to take a breather, this flowered-filled garden was built for the Károly Palace, which now houses the Petőfi Museum of Literature…
Castle District
The big steeple on the south side of Kapisztrán tér, opposite the Museum of Military History and visible for kilometres to the west of Castle Hill, is the…
Castle District
This is a very unique interactive hour-long 'tour' of different settings (for instance, crossing the road, taking a bus) in total darkness, led by a blind…
Budapest
Accessed via the Hungarian Agricultural Museum, the Apostles' Tower stands 30m tall and looks down on the beautiful Ják Chapel, as well as giving you a…
Óbuda & Buda Hills
This beautiful cave, about 1km southeast of Pálvölgy and Mátyáshegy caves, is the most accessible of the three. The temperature at Szemlőhegy is 12°C and…
Budapest
This chapel is on a small hill directly opposite (north of) the landmark Danubius Hotel Gellért and baths. It was built into a cave in 1926 and was the…
Budapest
This memorial dedicated to the 'victims of the German occupation' appeared at the southern end of V Szabadság tér in July 2014. It remains extremely…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
The large iron-and-glass structure on Nyugati tér is the 'Western' train station, built in 1877 by the Paris-based Eiffel Company. In the early 1970s a…
Óbuda & Buda Hills
North of Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor, this house (1924) is where the great composer resided from 1932 until 1940, when he emigrated to the USA. Visits are by…
Urban Betyár Ethnographical Visitors Centre
Budapest
Although just a marketing tool to get people to eat at the Urban Betyár Restaurant, this little museum does an excellent job portraying Hungarian rural…
Castle District
This 1200m-long cave system, located some 16m (and 45 steps) under the Castle District, contains a motley collection of displays in its joined-up…
Budapest
Just north of Egyetem tér and housed in the sumptuous neoclassical Károly Palace (Károlyi Palota), dating from 1840, this museum is devoted to Sándor…
Holocaust Tree of Life Memorial
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
In the Raul Wallenberg Memorial Garden on the Great Synagogue’s north side, the Holocaust (or Emanuel) Tree of Life Memorial, designed by Imre Varga in…
Budapest
Elizabeth Bridge enjoys a special place in the hearts of many Budapesters, as this gleaming white suspension bridge (1964) was the first newly designed…
Semmelweis Museum of Medical History
Budapest
This quirky (and sometimes grisly) museum traces the history of medicine from Graeco-Roman times through medical tools and photographs; inevitably in…
Óbuda & Buda Hills
This museum tells the story of Hungary's textile industry and that of the textile factory founded by Jewish entrepreneur Ferenc Goldberger in 1784, which…
Hungarian Open-Air Ethnographical Museum
Szentendre
Just 5km northwest of Szentendre is Hungary's most ambitious skanzen (open-air folk museum displaying village architecture), with farmhouses, churches,…
Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art
Budapest
Housed in the architecturally controversial Palace of Arts just north of Rákóczi Bridge, the Ludwig Museum holds Hungary’s most important collection of…
Margaret Island Water Tower & Open-Air Theatre
Budapest
Erected in 1911 in the north-central part of Margaret Island, the octagonal water tower rises 57m above the open-air theatre (szabadtéri színpad) to the…
Erzsébetváros & the Jewish Quarter
Once one of a half-dozen synagogues and prayer houses in the Jewish Quarter, the Orthodox Synagogue was built in 1913 in what was at the time a very…
Óbuda & Buda Hills
Built in the 2nd century for the Roman garrisons, this amphitheatre, about 800m south of Flórián tér. It's not especially impressive but will give you an…
Basilica of St Stephen Treasury
Budapest
The treasury of the Basilica of St Stephen contains ecclesiastical objects, including censers, chalices, ciboria and vestments, plus an unforgettable art…
Budapest
This chapel in the Basilica of St Stephen contains the Holy Right (also known as the Holy Dexter), the mummified right hand of King St Stephen and an…
Bedő House (House of Hungarian Art Nouveau)
Budapest
Just around the corner from Kossuth Lajos tér, the stunning art nouveau Bedő-ház apartment block was designed by Emil Vidor in 1903. It is now a shrine to…
Castle District
Just north of Dísz tér, on the site of Budapest’s first pharmacy (1681), this small, entertaining museum contains a mock-up of an alchemist’s laboratory,…
Óbuda & Buda Hills
Next to the landmark Aquincum Hotel Budapest, the Óbuda Synagogue was built in 1821. For many years it housed Hungarian TV (MTV) sound studios because the…
Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum
Castle District
Part of the Castle Hill caves network, this subterranean hospital was used extensively during the WWII siege of Budapest and during the 1956 Uprising. It…
National Institute for the Blind
Budapest
One of the most extravagant art nouveau buildings in Budapest is within easy walking distance of City Park. To the southeast of the park is the National…
Budapest
The former Swedish Embassy on Gellért Hill bears a plaque attesting to the heroism of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat and businessman who, along with…
Budapest
Southeast of V Kossuth Lajos tér is an unusual statue of Imre Nagy standing in the centre of a small footbridge, having moved Hungary 'halfway to freedom'…
Budapest
The statue of the hooded figure opposite Vajdahunyad Castle is that of Anonymous, the unknown chronicler at the court of King Béla III (r 1172–96) who…
Castle District
To the southeast of the Habsburg Steps entrance, just in front of the Royal Palace, stands a statue of Eugene of Savoy, the Habsburg prince who wiped out…
Budapest
Renovated Margaret Bridge introduces the Big Ring Rd to Buda. It's unique in that it doglegs in order to stand at right angles to the Danube where it…
Budapest
Northwest of Elizabeth Bridge is a statue of the Habsburg empress and Hungarian queen, Elizabeth. Consort to Franz Joseph, 'Sissi' was much loved by the…
Budapest
A restored art deco building, the Corvin sits in the middle of a square flanked by Regency-like houses. Note the two wonderful reliefs outside the main…
Józsefváros Telephone Exchange Building
Budapest
Built in 1910, the old Telephone Exchange Building in Józsefváros is an impressive structure adorned with reliefs of classical figures tracing…
