Must-see attractions in Budapest

Covered in vines, the turreted Gatehouse Tower, part of the Vajdahunyad Castle, greets visitors as they cross the footbridge to the small island in the…

A ruin is all that remains of the 13th-century convent built by Béla IV where his daughter St Margaret (1242–71) took the veil. According to the story,…

The centre of Víziváros, Batthyány tér is the best place to take pictures of the photogenic Parliament building across the Danube. In the square's centre…

This monolithic assembly of gleaming metal and rusting steel columns erected in 2006 to mark the 50th anniversary of the abortive uprising stands on the…

The Timewheel, on City Park’s western edge, is the world’s largest hourglass, standing 8m high and weighing 60 tonnes. Unveiled in 2004 to commemorate…

Boasting a fountain, abstract sculpture, benches and shade sails, ‘University Sq’ takes its name from the branch of the prestigious Loránd Eötvös Science…

Hercules Villa, in the middle of a vast housing estate northwest of Fő tér, is the name given to some reconstructed Roman ruins due to the astonishing 3rd…

On the northern side of Nagy Imre tér is the former Military Court of Justice, where the eponymous Nagy and others were tried and sentenced to death in…

Used as a mosque during the Turkish occupation, this church recycled Islamic-style, ogee-arched doors and windows on the southern side when it was rebuilt…

Inside Bálna Budapest, the whale-shaped complex beached by the Danube, the New Budapest Gallery is a spare, modern space hosting changing exhibitions that…

Gazing down on Elizabeth Bridge from Gellért Hill is a large and quite theatrical monument to St Gellért, an Italian missionary invited to Hungary by King…

This Romanesque Premonstratensian Church, dedicated to St Michael by the order of White Canons and reconstructed in 1931, dates back originally to the…

This small museum focuses on folk art from around Hungary. There are impressive collections of fine textiles and embroidery, wood and bone carvings,…

A Romanesque church was first built on the eastern side of Március 15 tér in the 12th century, within a Roman fortress. The present church was rebuilt in…

Just north of the Japanese Garden, on a raised gazebo, is the revamped Musical Fountain. A replica of one in Marosvásárhely (now Târgu Mureș) in…

Named after the Hungarian-born photographer and Magnum Photos cofounder Robert Capa (born Endre Friedmann; 1913–54) and housed in a renovated cultural…

To the east of the Habsburg Steps entrance to the palace is a bronze statue from 1905 of the Turul, a hawklike totemic bird that supposedly impregnated…

This medieval entrance to the Old Town was rebuilt in 1936 to mark the 250th anniversary of the castle being taken back from the Turks. The gate is not…

This very central church on the south side of V Deák Ferenc tér was designed by Mihály Pollack in 1799, It is one of the best examples of early…

These ruins – no more than a tower and a wall dating back to the late 13th century – are in the centre of the island. Habsburg Archduke Joseph built a…