Budapest travel guide

Two banks, twenty-three districts

The Danube runs north to south through the middle. Buda on the west bank is hilly, green and quiet; Pest on the east bank is flat, dense and loud. Until 1873 they were separate cities, and they still feel like it. Districts are numbered and written in Roman numerals on maps and addresses: I is the castle, V the inner city on the Pest side, VI and VII the streets around Andrássy út and the old Jewish quarter.

Two ring roads help you read the map. The Small Boulevard curves round the oldest part of Pest, and the Grand Boulevard, which carries trams 4 and 6, makes a wide arc from the Margaret Bridge to the Petőfi Bridge. Most of what you came to see sits inside that second arc, or on the Buda hills directly across from it.

How long to stay

• Two days let you do the river, the castle and one bath, with no time left for a museum.
• Three days are about right: one on each bank, and a third for Andrássy út, the park and a long soak.
• Four or five days open up the Danube Bend or Eger, and leave an evening for nothing in particular.

Three days, bank by bank

1. 1

   Day 1: Pest along the river

   Book your Parliament slot for the morning, then walk south along the embankment past the iron shoes by the water, which commemorate Jews shot into the river in the winter of 1944. Walk out onto the Chain Bridge and back for the view of both banks, then finish at the Basilica an hour before sunset and go up to the dome walk.

2. 2

   Day 2: Buda, castle to citadel

   Reach the Fisherman's Bastion early, before the coaches, and have Matthias Church to yourself for a quarter of an hour. Walk the length of the castle district, drop into the National Gallery if the weather turns, and cross to Gellért Hill in the afternoon. Come down the far side on the trams along the Buda embankment as the light goes.

3. 3

   Day 3: Andrássy út, the park, the baths

   Ride the little yellow M1 line to Heroes' Square and walk back through City Park, with the castle that looks medieval and was built for a party. Swim at Széchenyi by early afternoon, when the day-trippers have thinned out. For the evening, head to the Jewish quarter and eat where the queue is Hungarian.

Rainy-day plan

Rain is the best excuse Budapest gives you to do what the city is for. Thermal water is warmer than the air whatever the sky does, and the covered places are some of the most photogenic in town. What you want to avoid is the Fisherman's Bastion and Gellért Hill, which are about views and have none in a downpour.

• Morning: the Great Market Hall, which is built to be seen from the inside, and a lángos from the gallery stalls.
• Afternoon: the Széchenyi baths. The outdoor pools are at their best in drizzle, with steam rising off the water, and the cold only matters for the walk from the changing room.
• Evening: the Basilica interior or a concert there, then a late dinner in a Pest cellar restaurant.
• Any time: a café on the Grand Boulevard. A slice of cake and an hour at a window table costs less than any museum and shows you more of the city.

Where to sleep

V, Belváros and Lipótváros

The inner city on the Pest side: the Basilica, the river and the Parliament are all within a 15-minute walk. Pricey and a little quiet after the offices empty, but unbeatable for a short stay.

VI, Terézváros and Andrássy út

A grand avenue of townhouses with the M1 line underneath it, and the opera, the cafés and the restaurants on your doorstep. A calmer alternative to the party streets next door.

VII, the old Jewish quarter

The ruin pubs and the best street food in town, which also makes it the loudest district at night. Fine if you go out until late, a mistake if you want to sleep before midnight.

I and II, Castle Hill and Víziváros

The Buda side. Staying up on the hill is romantic but steep, and quiet to the point of dull after sunset. Víziváros, the strip under the castle along the river, has trams on the doorstep and lovely evening views.

IX, Ferencváros

Behind the Great Market Hall, and the district with the best value for money. The streets near the river have been polished up; a few blocks inland the character is rougher and less visited.

XIII, Újlipótváros

Residential, leafy and good for coffee, one tram stop from Margaret Island. Few sights of its own, and trams 4 and 6 take you across the city in a quarter of an hour.

Before you go