Buda climbs. Pest sprawls. The Danube decides your evening.
Which night cruise actually passes the Parliament slowly. What a full day at Széchenyi costs before the crowds land. Whether the castle is worth a guide. Reviews of every tour you can book in Budapest and the rest of Hungary.
A boat past the Parliament, a long soak, a dome terrace, the castle hill.
The four bookings a first Budapest weekend is built around. What each costs, and what the people who took it say.
- 01The first nightUnlimited Prosecco, Beer and Aperol Spritz CruiseThe Parliament from mid-river after dark, with the drinks included. Go on the last sailing, when the facade is fully lit.
02The long soakSzéchenyi Spa Day Ticket with Optional UpgradesA day ticket to Széchenyi, chess boards in the outdoor pool and steam over the water. Arrive before ten or after six.
03The cheap viewSt. Stephen’s Basilica Entry with Terrace OptionThe dome terrace at St Stephen’s puts you level with the rooftops for the price of a coffee. Lift most of the way, stairs at the end.
04The castle morningBuda Castle Walk with Saint Stephen’s HallUp the hill on foot, through the state rooms of Saint Stephen’s Hall, out at the Fisherman’s Bastion for the Pest skyline.
The Danube splits Budapest, so most evenings end on it.
The bank lights come on around dusk and the whole city turns into a facade. Three kinds of sailing, what it costs to board each one, and which hour of the evening suits it.
Six Budapest landmarks, and the best way into each one.
A parliament you can only enter with a ticketed guide, a castle hill with a cave system under it, a basilica that sells its terrace by the hour, and a market hall that still trades at seven in the morning.
The Budapest bookings travellers make before anything else.
Every Hungarian tour we have reviewed →The tours more people take than anything else in the country, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Unlimited Prosecco, Beer and Aperol Spritz Cruise
Spend 75 minutes on Budapest’s Danube with unlimited Hungarian sparkling wine, spritzer, beer, or lemonade. An English audio guide points out Parliament, Liberty Bridge, and other sights, while panoramic windows and an open-air terrace give you strong photo angles. Focaccia with dips is available as an add-on.
From · $28
Read our review →
2
Széchenyi Spa Day Ticket with Optional Upgrades
from $51
3
Nighttime or Daytime Sightseeing Cruise
from $14
4
1-Hour Evening Sightseeing Cruise with Drink
from $28
5
Budapest Danube Cruise and Dinner Options, Live Music and Dance
from $54
6
Historic Cruise with Welcome Drink
from $12
7
St. Stephen’s Basilica Entry with Terrace Option
from $9
8
Budapest By Night Sightseeing Cruise
from $16
Budapest sits on hot springs, and has never stopped using them.
Eighty million litres of thermal water surface under this city every day. Széchenyi is the yellow palace in the park with the chess players; Gellért is the art-nouveau one with the glass roof; Rudas keeps a Turkish octagon from the sixteenth century and a rooftop tub over the river.
What a day out in Budapest actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. Hungary is still one of the cheaper capitals in Europe to book anything in, and the numbers show it.
Evening cruises, basilica terraces, walking tours and a day ticket to the baths.
Dinner sailings with a folk show, guided castle mornings, the wine country run out to Etyek.
Private drivers, the Danube Bend by car, and the once-a-trip candlelit dinner on deck.
Hungarian food is heavier than you expect, and better.
Goulash is a soup here, not a stew. The strudel is pulled by hand behind the market hall. The wine comes from Tokaj, Villány and Etyek, and hardly any of it leaves the country. Eat first, then find the courtyard bars in the seventh district.
Three things that only happen in Budapest.
Old towns and river cruises exist across Europe. A bombed-out tenement turned into a bar, a Turkish bath still running on its original spring, and a synagogue with a metal weeping willow in the yard do not.
The Ruin Bars
In 2002 somebody took a derelict apartment block on Kazinczy Street, filled the courtyard with junk-shop furniture and opened a bar in it. Szimpla Kert is still there, and a dozen others have followed into the old Jewish quarter’s empty buildings. Nothing matches, half the seating is a bathtub, and the courtyards run until dawn.
- 1Ruin Bar Pub Crawl with Entry Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,028 reviews
- 2Guided Tour to Ruin Bars with Games and 6 Shots★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 926 reviews
- 3Budapest Ruin Bars Evening Walking Tour with Drinks & Street Food★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 104 reviews
The Bathhouses
The Ottomans built domed baths over the springs on the Buda side in the 1500s and two of them still work. The Habsburgs answered with palaces: Széchenyi’s outdoor pools stay open through the snow, steam rolling off the surface while men play chess on floating boards. Bring flip-flops and a towel, or rent both at the door.
- 1Széchenyi Spa Day Ticket with Optional Upgrades★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 23,911 reviews
- 2Full-Day Gellért Spa Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 3,340 reviews
- 3Budapest Széchenyi Thermal Spa Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 2,178 reviews
The Great Synagogue
The largest synagogue in Europe seats three thousand under Moorish arches, and behind it stands a silver willow whose leaves carry the names of the dead. The quarter around it was walled as a ghetto in 1944; the same streets now hold the ruin bars. Guides here handle both halves of that in one walk.
- 1Budapest Jewish Heritage Memorial Walking Tour & Synagogue Entry★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 568 reviews
- 2Jewish Heritage Guided Tour with Synagogue Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 533 reviews
- 3Jewish Quarter of Budapest Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 369 reviews
Hungary beyond the boulevards: the river bend and the lake.
North of Budapest the Danube turns hard west between hills, past the baroque streets of Szentendre and the basilica at Esztergom. Ninety minutes southwest, Balaton is the largest lake in central Europe, with vineyards on its volcanic north shore. Both are day trips, and both leave early.
Every day trip from Budapest →
Four Budapest bookings that will not wait for your arrival.
Most of this city can be arranged over breakfast. These four run on parliamentary sitting days, organ recital calendars and bath tickets that sell out by mid-morning in season.
- 01Parliament Building Entry Ticket and Audio GuideEntry is guided only, in timed slots, and the building closes to visitors whenever the National Assembly sits.
- 02Opera House Guided TourThe tour runs between rehearsals, so the slots are few and the schedule shifts with the season’s programme.
- 03Classical Music Concerts in St Stephen’s BasilicaRecitals under the dome are ticketed by the night and the good seats in the nave go first.
- 04Széchenyi Spa Day Ticket with Optional UpgradesWeekend cabins and lockers at the big baths run out by late morning; a pre-booked ticket walks past the queue.
Budapest in the cold is a city of interiors.
The wind comes down the Danube and the light is gone by four. It is also the best half of the year here: steam over the outdoor pools, cellars under the castle, a concert in a basilica, and the market hall at its warmest on the upper floor. Plan the day around a roof.
By landmark — both banks of the river
By kind of day — river, water, table or road
Friday night on the river, Saturday on the hill, Sunday in the water.
Ruin bars
The baths
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