Hungary
Budapest
Budapest is two cities and a river: hilly, castle-crowned Buda on one bank, flat and grand Pest on the other, and between them the Danube, crossed by bridges that light up after dark like strings of pearls. It is the capital of thermal bathing in Europe, a city where locals play chess chest-deep in steaming outdoor pools, and it carries its history in plain sight, from the neo-Gothic Parliament stretching along the water and the Royal Palace on Castle Hill to the bullet scars, memorials and museums of the twentieth century. This guide books Budapest properly — a full morning at the Széchenyi baths, a Parliament tour with the Holy Crown, the castle and the National Gallery, the upper terraces of Fisherman's Bastion, the dome of St. Stephen's Basilica, a Danube cruise at the right hour, the Dohány Street Synagogue on a day it is open, and the House of Terror — and pairs it with the newly reopened Citadella, Heroes' Square, the Great Market Hall, Margaret Island and the ruin bars of the Jewish Quarter, plus the honest truth about forints, closing days and the Gellért baths, which are shut for renovation until 2028. Then it matches you to the right hotel, from the Art Nouveau Four Seasons at the Chain Bridge and the Belle Époque Matild Palace to a music-themed boutique by the Basilica and a design hotel with a Michelin-starred kitchen, because in a city split by a river, where you sleep decides which bank you wake up on.
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Hotels
Where to Stay
Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest
Inner City / Chain Bridge
An Art Nouveau masterpiece at the Pest end of the Chain Bridge, built in 1906 for a London insurance company and restored into Budapest's most celebrated hotel, with Danube and castle views, a French brasserie and a spa with an infinity-edge pool.
Matild Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Budapest
Inner City / Elisabeth Bridge
A Belle Époque palace built for an archduchess at the foot of the Elisabeth Bridge, reborn in 2021 as a Luxury Collection hotel, with Danube views, Spago by Wolfgang Puck, a hidden rooftop bar and a spa.
Aria Hotel Budapest
Inner City / Basilica
A music-themed boutique luxury hotel steps from St. Stephen's Basilica, with 49 rooms dedicated to musical legends, a complimentary daily wine and cheese reception, a spa with an indoor pool, and the High Note SkyBar, one of the best rooftops in the city.
Hotel Clark Budapest
Víziváros / Chain Bridge (Buda)
A chic, adults-only design hotel at the Buda end of the Chain Bridge, with rooms framing the bridge, the castle or the Danube, the LEO rooftop bar, a lively bistro and a MICHELIN Key.
Hilton Budapest
Castle District (Buda)
The only big hotel inside the Castle District, built into the remains of a medieval Dominican church beside Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion, with Danube views, a rooftop skybar and the castle lanes at your door.
Hotel Moments Budapest
Andrássy Avenue / Opera
A stylish four-star hotel in a historic palace at the start of Andrássy Avenue, a few steps from the State Opera, with Art Deco-inspired rooms, a 24-hour lounge with free coffee, a gym and sauna, and excellent value.
Hotel Rum Budapest
Inner City (District V) / Kálvin tér
A playful design hotel on a quiet downtown street with just 40 rooms, a Michelin-starred restaurant, SALT, on the ground floor, and SOLID, a seventh-floor sky bar with an opening roof and skyline views.
Continental Hotel Budapest
Jewish Quarter / District VII
A four-star superior hotel behind the restored Secession facade of the old Hungária bathhouse on Dohány utca, with a rooftop terrace and seasonal outdoor pool, an indoor pool and saunas, and the Jewish Quarter's synagogues and ruin bars on its doorstep.
Adina Apartment Hotel Budapest
Ujlipotvaros / District XIII
Studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments with kitchens and washer-dryers, plus an indoor pool, jacuzzi, sauna and gym, in a quiet residential street of District XIII near the M3 metro. The best family base in Budapest for longer stays.
Novotel Budapest Danube
Viziváros / Buda Riverside
A dependable four-star on the Buda embankment, facing the Parliament across the river, with family rooms, Parliament-view executive rooms, a free gym and sauna, and Batthyány tér's metro and suburban trains two minutes away.
Wombats City Hostel Budapest
Kiraly utca / District VI
A big, well-run hostel in an 1840 building on Király utca, between Deák Ferenc tér and the ruin bars, with private rooms and dorms that all have their own bathrooms and air-conditioning, a social bar, a café and 24-hour reception.
Danubius Hotel Helia
Ujlipotvaros / District XIII
A four-star superior spa hotel in District XIII, with a large wellness centre of swimming and heated pools, saunas, steam baths, a salt cave and massages. A good-value way to combine a city break with daily bathing, especially in winter.
Hotel Nemzeti Budapest - MGallery
Blaha Lujza ter / District VIII
A historic four-star on József körút at Blaha Lujza tér, with a nineteenth-century glass-roofed interior, period-styled rooms and suites, and the M2 metro two minutes away. Character and convenience at mid-range prices, in the Palace Quarter.
Mercure Budapest Castle Hill
Deli Station / Castle Hill, Buda
A practical four-star in Buda beside Déli station, at the foot of Castle Hill, with rooms and suites for three or four guests, a station-themed restaurant and bar, parking, and the M2 metro at the door. A quiet, good-value Buda base.
ibis Styles Budapest City
Boraros ter / District IX
A bright, budget-friendly three-star by the Danube near Boráros tér, with design rooms, family rooms for three, a lobby bar and a buffet breakfast. Trams to the Parliament and the Great Market Hall stop almost at the door.
Attractions & Tours
What to Do
Széchenyi Thermal Bath
The yellow neo-Baroque palace of bathing in City Park, with steaming outdoor pools, chess players up to their shoulders in hot water and a warren of indoor thermal pools and saunas. With the Gellért closed until 2028, this is the Budapest bath to book first.
Fisherman's Bastion
A fairy-tale terrace of white turrets and arches on Castle Hill, with the best view of the Parliament in Budapest. The lower arcades are free; a modest ticket opens the upper towers by day, and they are free on national holidays and between Christmas and New Year.
Gellért Hill and the Citadella
The hilltop fortress above the Danube, reopened in spring 2026 after eleven years, with a free courtyard park, new terraces and lifts, the Liberty Statue, and the widest panorama in Budapest. A ticketed exhibition inside tells the story of Hungarian freedom.
Heroes' Square and Andrássy Avenue
Budapest's grand boulevard and the monumental square at its end: a UNESCO-listed avenue of villas, the State Opera and the oldest metro on the European continent, finishing at the Millennium Monument and the gates of City Park. Free and best walked.
Rudas Thermal Bath
A sixteenth-century Ottoman bath under Gellért Hill, with an octagonal pool beneath a stone dome pierced by coloured skylights, a modern wellness wing and a rooftop pool looking over the Danube. With the Gellért closed until 2028, it is the most atmospheric bath in the city.
Lukács Thermal Bath
The bath where Budapest locals actually go: a nineteenth-century spa in Buda with outdoor pools, historic indoor thermal pools, a sauna world and marble plaques of thanks from cured bathers. Calmer and cheaper than Széchenyi, and included once in the Budapest Card.
Hungarian State Opera House
Miklós Ybl's neo-Renaissance opera house on Andrássy Avenue, restored and reopened in 2022, with a gilded horseshoe auditorium and grand staircase. Take the daily guided tour with its short live performance, or better still, book a seat for an opera or ballet.
Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum
A secret hospital carved into the caves beneath Castle Hill, which treated the wounded during the siege of Budapest and in 1956 and was later turned into a Cold War nuclear bunker. Visited only on an hour-long guided tour through its original wards.
Chain Bridge and the Shoes on the Danube Bank
A free riverside walk linking Budapest's first permanent bridge, restored and car-free since 2023, with its stone lions and castle views, and the Shoes on the Danube Bank, sixty pairs of iron shoes remembering the Jews shot into the river in 1944 and 1945.
Vajdahunyad Castle
A fairy-tale castle on an island in City Park, built for the 1896 millennium celebrations as an anthology of Hungarian architecture, from a Romanesque chapel to a Baroque palace. The grounds are free, with boating in summer and one of Europe's great ice rinks in winter.
Danube Bend: Visegrád and Esztergom
Where the Danube swings south through wooded hills: the hilltop citadel and Renaissance royal palace of Visegrád, and Esztergom's vast domed basilica, the largest church in Hungary, above a bridge to Slovakia. Hungary's medieval royal heartland in one day.
Travel Guides
Plan It Properly
Budapest in Three Days: Castle Hill, the Parliament, the Baths & a Danube Cruise
The first-timer itinerary that puts Buda's Castle Hill and Gellért Hill on day one, the Parliament, the Basilica and the Jewish Quarter on day two, and Andrássy Avenue, the Széchenyi baths and an evening cruise on day three.
First Time in Budapest: Forints, Transport, Closures & What to Know in 2026
The practical primer for a first visit — paying in forints, tickets and the airport bus, taxi fares after the August 2026 rise, closing days that catch people out, the Gellért closure, tipping, scams and the tourist tax.
Where to Stay in Budapest: The Best Neighbourhoods on Both Banks
Buda or Pest? A neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood guide to the Inner City, the Basilica area, Andrássy Avenue, the Jewish Quarter, the Castle District, the Víziváros and beyond, with the hotels that suit each.
Budapest Thermal Baths in 2026: Széchenyi, Rudas, Lukács & the Gellért Closure
How to choose and use a Budapest bath in 2026 — which baths are open, why the Gellért is closed until 2028, what Széchenyi's renovation means, tickets, lockers and cabins, what to bring and the etiquette of the thermal pools.
What to Eat and Drink in Budapest: Goulash, Lángos, Cafés, Wine & Pálinka
A guide to Hungarian food and drink in Budapest — the dishes to try, the Great Market Hall, the grand cafés and cakes, Hungarian wines from Tokaj to Villány, pálinka, Unicum and how to eat well without falling into the tourist traps.
Budapest in Winter: Christmas Markets 2026, Steaming Baths & When to Go
How to enjoy Budapest in the cold months — the 2026 Christmas market dates at the Basilica and Vörösmarty tér, ice skating, outdoor baths in the snow, what is open over Christmas, plus a season-by-season guide to when to visit.