Things to do · Budapest · Hungary
20 best things to do in Budapest
20 sights and experiences ranked for a first visit, with honest notes on time, cost and crowds.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Varius, CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answer
The essential sights in Budapest are Hungarian Parliament Building, Buda Castle and Fisherman's Bastion. Of the 20 picks below, 7 are free, 9 work on a rainy day and 4 suit children. Allow about 4 days to see the highlights without rushing.
Key facts
- Top sight
- Hungarian Parliament Building
- Free sights
- 7
- Good on a rainy day
- Hungarian Parliament Building
- Time to see the highlights
- 4 days
At a glance
| Sight | Area | Time needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hungarian Parliament Building | District V | 1 hour tour | Mid-priced |
| Buda Castle | Castle District | Half a day with a museum | Free |
| Fisherman's Bastion | Castle District | 45 minutes | Low cost |
| Széchenyi Thermal Bath | City Park | 2–3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Dohány Street Synagogue | Erzsébetváros | 1.5 hours | Mid-priced |
| St Stephen's Basilica | Lipótváros | 1 hour | Low cost |
| Széchenyi Chain Bridge | Danube | 20 minutes | Free |
| Szimpla Kert and the ruin bars | Erzsébetváros | 1–2 hours | Free |
| Heroes' Square and City Park | City Park | Half a day | Free |
| Matthias Church | Castle District | 45 minutes | Low cost |
| Rudas Baths | Gellért Hill riverside | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Shoes on the Danube Bank | District V | 15 minutes | Free |
| Great Market Hall | Ferencváros | 1 hour | Free |
| Hungarian State Opera House | Terézváros | 1 hour tour | Mid-priced |
| Margaret Island | Margaret Island | 2–3 hours | Free |
| House of Terror | Terézváros | 1.5–2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Hospital in the Rock | Castle District | 1 hour | Mid-priced |
| Museum of Fine Arts | City Park | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Memento Park | District XXII | Half a day | Low cost |
| Children's Railway and Zugliget Chairlift | Buda Hills | Half a day | Low cost |
The 20 best things to do
Architecture · District V
1.Hungarian Parliament Building
Hungary's neo-Gothic Parliament, completed in 1904, stretches about 268 metres along the Danube beneath a central dome 96 metres high. Guided tours climb the gilded main staircase to the domed hall, where the Holy Crown of Hungary is displayed under guard, and visit one of the old chamber halls.
For the classic photo, cross to Batthyány tér or the Buda embankment, ideally after dark when the building is floodlit.
- Time needed
- 1 hour tour
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Guided tours run in several languages and sell out in high season; book a time slot on the official ticket site.
- Iconic
- Architecture
- History
- Rainy day
Palace · Castle District
2.Buda Castle
The vast royal palace on Castle Hill, rebuilt many times since the Middle Ages and restored after the Second World War, houses the Hungarian National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum. Its terraces look across the Danube to the Parliament and Pest, and the courtyards and gardens are free to wander.
Walk up through the Castle Garden Bazaar (Várkert Bazár) from the river, or take bus 16 from Deák Ferenc tér over the Chain Bridge.
- Time needed
- Half a day with a museum
- Cost
- Free
- Iconic
- Views
- History
- Free
- Architecture
Viewpoint · Castle District
3.Fisherman's Bastion
This neo-Romanesque terrace of seven white turrets, built between 1895 and 1902 to represent the seven Magyar tribes, wraps around Matthias Church and frames the best-known view of the Parliament and the Danube. The lower terraces are free, while the upper towers charge a small fee for much of the day.
Come at sunrise for empty terraces and soft light on the Parliament, or after dark when both are floodlit.
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Cost
- Low cost
- Views
- Iconic
- Photo spot
- Couples
- After dark
Experience · City Park
4.Széchenyi Thermal Bath
One of Europe's largest spa complexes fills a yellow neo-baroque palace in City Park, opened in 1913, with three big outdoor pools kept warm all year and more than a dozen indoor thermal pools, saunas and steam rooms. Locals play chess on floating boards in the hot outdoor pool, even when it snows.
Go on a weekday morning, bring flip-flops and a towel, and pack a swimming cap if you want to use the lap pool.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Buy tickets online for weekends and holidays, when the queue at the entrance can be long.
- Iconic
- Rainy day
- Couples
- Outdoors
Religious site · Erzsébetváros
5.Dohány Street Synagogue
Europe's largest synagogue, completed in 1859 in a Moorish Revival style, seats about 3,000 worshippers. The complex includes the Hungarian Jewish Museum, the Heroes' Temple and a memorial garden with Imre Varga's metal weeping willow, each leaf engraved with the name of a Holocaust victim.
Cover your shoulders; men are given a kippah at the entrance. Pair the visit with a walking tour of the old Jewish Quarter.
- Time needed
- 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Queues are long in summer; a timed ticket bought online saves waiting.
- History
- Architecture
- Iconic
- Rainy day
Religious site · Lipótváros
6.St Stephen's Basilica
Budapest's largest church, finished in 1905, shares a height of 96 metres with the Parliament, a reference to the Magyar arrival in 896. The mummified right hand of St Stephen, Hungary's first king, is kept in a side chapel, and a lift and stairs lead to the panorama walkway around the dome.
Climb to the dome walkway for a 360-degree view, then sit on the square in front, which is lively in the evenings.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Low cost
- Architecture
- Views
- History
- Iconic
Landmark · Danube
7.Széchenyi Chain Bridge
The first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest, opened in 1849 and rebuilt after it was blown up in 1945, is guarded by stone lions at each end. After a full renovation completed in 2023 it carries pedestrians, cyclists, buses and taxis, and its lit chains are part of the city's classic night view.
Walk across from Pest at dusk towards the floodlit castle, then ride bus 16 up to the top of Castle Hill.
- Time needed
- 20 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Iconic
- After dark
- Photo spot
- Views
Experience · Erzsébetváros
8.Szimpla Kert and the ruin bars
Szimpla Kert has filled a derelict tenement and old stove factory on Kazinczy utca since 2004, crowding its courtyard and rooms with mismatched furniture, a cut-up Trabant car and graffiti, and it inspired a wave of ruin bars across District VII. By day it works as a café, and on Sunday mornings it hosts a farmers' market.
Visit once in the afternoon to see the rooms properly, then come back late to see it full.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- After dark
- Free
- Iconic
- Food
Park · City Park
1.Heroes' Square and City Park
At the top of Andrássy Avenue, the colonnades of Heroes' Square, lined with statues of Hungarian kings and chieftains, frame the Millennium Monument. Behind it, City Park holds Vajdahunyad Castle, modelled on a Transylvanian castle, with an ice rink on its lake in winter, the Budapest Zoo, the Széchenyi Baths and the House of Music Hungary.
Ride the M1 underground, opened in 1896 and continental Europe's oldest metro line, from Vörösmarty tér to Hősök tere to get here.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Architecture
- Iconic
Religious site · Castle District
2.Matthias Church
The Church of Our Lady of Buda, known as Matthias Church, has a roof of glazed Zsolnay tiles in diamond patterns and an interior painted from floor to vault with 19th-century Hungarian motifs. Franz Joseph and Charles IV were crowned kings of Hungary here, and the bell tower can be climbed on guided visits.
Look up from Szentháromság tér at the patterned roof, then check the programme for evening organ and choral concerts.
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Cost
- Low cost
- Architecture
- History
- Art
Experience · Gellért Hill riverside
3.Rudas Baths
Built by the Ottomans in the 16th century, Rudas keeps its octagonal pool beneath a domed stone roof pierced with small star-shaped skylights. A modern wellness wing adds a rooftop hot pool looking straight down the Danube to the Parliament, and the baths are known for late-night bathing sessions at weekends.
Book the rooftop pool around sunset, and check which days the Ottoman bath is mixed and which are single-sex before you go.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Couples
- Views
- After dark
- Rainy day
Historic site · District V
4.Shoes on the Danube Bank
Sixty pairs of cast-iron shoes on the embankment south of the Parliament commemorate the Jews shot into the river by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45. The memorial, created in 2005 by film director Can Togay and sculptor Gyula Pauer, is simple and deeply moving.
Visit at a quieter time of day and treat it as a memorial rather than a photo stop.
- Time needed
- 15 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- History
Market · Ferencváros
5.Great Market Hall
The 1897 Central Market Hall at the Pest end of Liberty Bridge has a roof of coloured Zsolnay tiles and three levels of stalls: paprika, salami, goose liver and pickles on the ground floor, lángos and stuffed-cabbage counters and embroidery stalls on the gallery above, and fish and pickles in the basement.
Go on a weekday morning, when the upstairs food counters are calmer and the produce stalls are fully stocked.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Food
- Shopping
- Rainy day
- Architecture
- Kids
Architecture · Terézváros
6.Hungarian State Opera House
Miklós Ybl's neo-Renaissance opera house on Andrássy Avenue opened in 1884 and reopened in 2022 after a long restoration of its gilded auditorium and marble staircases. Guided tours show the building, and evening opera and ballet tickets are good value by Western European standards.
Book a performance rather than only the tour for the full effect; the least expensive upper seats have restricted views.
- Time needed
- 1 hour tour
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Architecture
- History
- After dark
- Couples
- Rainy day
Park · Margaret Island
7.Margaret Island
This 2.5 km island in the Danube is a mostly car-free park with a 5.3 km rubberised running track around its edge, a musical fountain, a rose garden and Japanese garden, a small animal park, the ruins of a medieval Dominican convent and the Palatinus open-air pools in summer. Locals come to run, cycle and picnic.
Rent a bike or a pedal cart near the southern entrance and catch one of the musical fountain shows.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
- Active
Museum · Terézváros
8.House of Terror
At Andrássy út 60, the building used as headquarters by the Arrow Cross and later by the communist state security police is now a museum about both regimes, with a Soviet tank in the atrium and reconstructed cells in the basement. Displays are dense and multimedia-heavy, so allow plenty of time.
It suits older teenagers and adults; pick up the English information sheets in each room, as many displays are in Hungarian.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
Museum · Castle District
9.Hospital in the Rock
In the caves beneath Castle Hill, a hospital built in the late 1930s treated the wounded during the 1944–45 siege and was later turned into a Cold War nuclear bunker. Guided tours pass wax-figure wards and operating theatres, the generators and the decontamination rooms.
Visits are by guided tour only; bring a layer, as the tunnels stay cool all year.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
- Off the beaten path
Museum · City Park
10.Museum of Fine Arts
On the north side of Heroes' Square, the Museum of Fine Arts holds one of Central Europe's major collections of European painting, with strong Spanish holdings including El Greco and Goya, Old Masters, Egyptian and classical antiquities, and the restored Romanesque Hall.
Pair it with the baths; Széchenyi is a short walk across City Park.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Rainy day
- History
Historic site · District XXII
11.Memento Park
Communist-era statues removed from Budapest's streets after 1989 — Lenin, Marx and Engels, and giant soldiers and workers — stand together in an open-air park on the city's south-western edge, with a replica of the boots left behind when the Stalin statue was toppled in 1956.
Allow about half a day including the bus ride from Kelenföld, and go on a dry day, as almost everything is outdoors.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Low cost
- History
- Off the beaten path
- Outdoors
- Photo spot
Experience · Buda Hills
12.Children's Railway and Zugliget Chairlift
In the wooded Buda Hills, a narrow-gauge railway of about 11 km has been staffed by children aged roughly 10 to 14, under adult supervision, since 1948. Combine it with the Erzsébet lookout tower on János Hill, the highest point in Budapest, and a ride down on the Zugliget chairlift (Libegő).
Ride the train to the János-hegy stop, walk up to the lookout tower, then take the chairlift down to Zugliget for a bus back to the centre.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Low cost
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
- Off the beaten path
- Views
Pick by interest
| Interest | Best picks |
|---|---|
| Art and museums | Matthias Church, House of Terror, Hospital in the Rock and Museum of Fine Arts |
| History | Hungarian Parliament Building, Buda Castle, Matthias Church and Rudas Baths |
| Views | Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion, Rudas Baths and St Stephen's Basilica |
| Outdoors and nature | Széchenyi Thermal Bath, Heroes' Square and City Park, Margaret Island and Memento Park |
| Food and markets | Szimpla Kert and the ruin bars and Great Market Hall |
| After dark | Fisherman's Bastion, Rudas Baths, Széchenyi Chain Bridge and Szimpla Kert and the ruin bars |
| With children | Great Market Hall, Heroes' Square and City Park, Margaret Island and Children's Railway and Zugliget Chairlift |
| On a rainy day | Hungarian Parliament Building, Széchenyi Thermal Bath, Rudas Baths and Dohány Street Synagogue |
What to book ahead
- Hungarian Parliament Building: Guided tours run in several languages and sell out in high season; book a time slot on the official ticket site.
- Széchenyi Thermal Bath: Buy tickets online for weekends and holidays, when the queue at the entrance can be long.
- Dohány Street Synagogue: Queues are long in summer; a timed ticket bought online saves waiting.
Plan the rest of your trip
Questions travellers ask
+What is the number one thing to do in Budapest?
Hungarian Parliament Building. Hungary's neo-Gothic Parliament, completed in 1904, stretches about 268 metres along the Danube beneath a central dome 96 metres high.
+What can you do for free in Budapest?
Buda Castle, Széchenyi Chain Bridge, Szimpla Kert and the ruin bars, Heroes' Square and City Park and Shoes on the Danube Bank. More free things to do.
+What is there to do in Budapest when it rains?
Head indoors to Hungarian Parliament Building, Széchenyi Thermal Bath, Rudas Baths and Dohány Street Synagogue.
+What is there to do in Budapest at night?
Fisherman's Bastion, Rudas Baths, Széchenyi Chain Bridge and Szimpla Kert and the ruin bars are best after dark.