Chain Bridge and the Shoes on the Danube Bank

This is the walk that explains Budapest in an hour, and it costs nothing. Start on the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, the first permanent bridge across the Danube between Buda and Pest. It was the dream of Count István Széchenyi, the great reformer of nineteenth-century Hungary, designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark and built under the Scottish engineer Adam Clark, and it opened in 1849, turning two separate towns into a single city in all but name. Its two triumphal-arch towers, iron chains and the four stone lions guarding its ends became symbols of the capital. In January 1945, retreating German troops blew it up along with the other Danube bridges; it was rebuilt and reopened in 1949, on its centenary. Between 2021 and 2023 it underwent a full restoration, and when it reopened in August 2023 it was closed to private cars, so today it belongs to pedestrians, cyclists, buses and taxis, and walking across it, with the Royal Palace ahead and the Parliament upriver, is one of the great urban strolls of Europe. On the Buda side, Clark Ádám tér holds the Zero Kilometre stone, from which road distances in Hungary are measured, and the lower station of the Castle Hill Funicular. Then walk north along the Pest embankment, towards the Parliament. On the river's edge, you will find the Shoes on the Danube Bank, a memorial created in 2005 by the film director Can Togay and the sculptor Gyula Pauer: sixty pairs of period shoes cast in iron, men's, women's and children's, scattered along the stone embankment as if their owners had just stepped out of them. They remember the Jews and others who were lined up here by Arrow Cross militiamen in the winter of 1944 and 1945, ordered to take off their shoes, and shot so that their bodies fell into the river. It is one of the most moving memorials in Europe.

How to do it well: the walk works in either direction, but it is best to start at the Chain Bridge, cross to Buda for the view back to Pest, return, and then walk north along the Pest embankment for about fifteen minutes to the Shoes, ending at the Parliament. Do the bridge at sunset or after dark, when the bridge, the castle and the Parliament are floodlit, and the Shoes in the quieter early morning, when you can stand with them in silence. Tram 2, one of the most scenic tram lines in the world, runs along the Pest embankment between the two, so you can ride one way and walk the other. On the Buda side, you can continue up to Castle Hill by funicular or on foot, and on the Pest side, the Four Seasons Gresham Palace faces the bridge across Széchenyi István tér.

Visiting the memorial: the Shoes are on the river side of the embankment road, below the level of the promenade; cross carefully at the pedestrian crossings, as traffic is heavy. Visitors often leave candles, flowers or stones in and around the shoes. This is a place of mourning, so behave as you would at any memorial: photograph respectfully, do not pose playfully with the shoes, and do not sit on them. Three small cast-iron signs in Hungarian, English and Hebrew explain the memorial. For more context, combine it with the Dohány Street Synagogue and its memorial garden, and with the House of Terror, which tells the story of the Arrow Cross from inside their former headquarters.

Know the trade-offs. The Pest embankment road is busy, and the Shoes are popular with tour groups at midday, when the solemnity can be hard to find. The Chain Bridge is crowded at sunset in summer. In winter, the embankment is cold and windy, so dress warmly for an evening walk. Both are free and open at all times.