3 Days in Budapest, Hungary

The Hungarian Parliament Building (Országház in Hungarian, which translates to "House of the Country" or "House of the Nation"), also known as the Parliament of Budapest after its location, is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, a notable landmark of Hungary, and a popular tourist destination in Budapest. It is situated on Kossuth Square on the Pest side of the city, on the eastern bank of the Danube. It was designed by Hungarian architect Imre Steindl in neo-Gothic style and opened in 1902. It has been the largest building in Hungary since its completion.

The Shoes on the Danube Bank (Hungarian: Cipők a Duna-parton) is a memorial erected on 16 April 2005, in Budapest, Hungary. Conceived by film director Can Togay, he created it on the east bank of the Danube River with sculptor Gyula Pauer to honor the Jews who were massacred by Fascist Hungarian militia belonging to the Arrow Cross Party in Budapest during the Second World War. They were ordered to take off their shoes (shoes were valuable and could be stolen and resold by the militia after the massacre) and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. The memorial represents their shoes left behind on the bank.

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge (Hungarian: Széchenyi lánchíd is a chain bridge that spans the River Danube between Buda and Pest, the western and eastern sides of Budapest. Designed by English engineer William Tierney Clark and built by Scottish engineer Adam Clark, it was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary. It was opened in 1849. It is anchored on the Pest side of the river to Széchenyi (formerly Roosevelt) Square, adjacent to the Gresham Palace and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and on the Buda side to Adam Clark Square, near the Zero Kilometre Stone and the lower end of the Castle Hill Funicular, leading to Buda Castle.

The bridge has the name of István Széchenyi, a major supporter of its construction, attached to it, but is most commonly known as the "Chain Bridge". At the time of its construction, it was regarded as one of the modern world's engineering wonders. Its decorations are made of cast iron.

St. Stephen's Basilica (Hungarian: Szent István-bazilika) is a Roman Catholic basilica in Budapest. It is named in honor of Stephen, the first King of Hungary (c 975–1038), whose right hand is housed in the reliquary. It was the sixth largest church building in Hungary before 1920. Since the renaming of the primatial see, it has been the co-cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest. Today, it is the third largest church building in present-day Hungary.

During Christmas time, the area of St. Stephen's Basilica turns into a lovely Christmas market, second only to the Christmas fair at Vörösmarty tér.

The Hungarian State Opera House is a neo-Renaissance opera house located in central Budapest, on Andrássy út. Originally known as the Hungarian Royal Opera House, it was designed by Miklós Ybl, a major figure of 19th-century Hungarian architecture. Construction began in 1875, funded by the city of Budapest and by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary, and the new house opened to the public on 27 September 1884. Before the closure of the "Népszínház" in Budapest, it was the third largest opera building in the city; today it is the second largest opera house in Budapest and in Hungary.

Touring groups had performed operas in the city from the early 19th century, but as Legány notes, "a new epoch began after 1835 when part of the Kasa National Opera and Theatrical Troupe arrived in Buda". They took over the Castle Theatre and, in 1835, were joined by another part of the troupe, after which performances of operas were given under conductor Ferenc Erkel. By 1837 they had established themselves at the Magyar Színház (Hungarian Theatre) and by 1840, it had become the "Nemzeti Színház" (National Theatre). Upon its completion, the opera section moved into the Hungarian Royal Opera House, with performances quickly gaining a reputation for excellence in a repertory of about 45 to 50 operas and about 130 annual performances.

Today, the opera house is home to the Budapest Opera Ball, a society event dating back to 1886.

Opened in 2002, the House of Terror is a museum located at Andrássy út 60 in Budapest. It contains exhibits related to the fascist and communist regimes in 20th-century Hungary and is also a memorial to the victims of these regimes, including those detained, interrogated, tortured, or killed in the building.

The House of Terror is a member organization of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience. Visitors including Zbigniew Brzezinski, Francis Fukuyama, and Hayden White have praised the Museum.

Permanent exhibition

With regard to communism and fascism, the exhibition contains material on the nation's relationships with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It also contains exhibits related to Hungarian organizations such as the fascist Arrow Cross Party and the communist ÁVH (which was similar to the Soviet Union KGB secret police). Part of the exhibition takes visitors to the basement, where they can see examples of the cells that the ÁVH used to break the will of their prisoners.

Much of the information and the exhibits are in Hungarian, although each room has an extensive information sheet in both English and Hungarian. Audio guides in English, German, Spanish, Russian, and Italian are also available.

Enjoy the spectacular view of the Danube River, take a cruise, and see winsome Budapest and its most iconic landmarks, from a different angle.

The Széchenyi Medicinal Bath in Budapest (Hungarian: Széchenyi gyógyfürdő) is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs, their temperature is 74 °C (165 °F) and 77 °C (171 °F).

Components of the thermal water include sulfate, calcium, magnesium, bicarbonate, and a significant amount of metaboric acid and fluoride.

The City Park (Hungarian: Városliget; German: Stadtwäldchen) is a beautiful public park close to the center of Budapest. It is a 0.9-by-0.6-mile (1,400 by 970 m) rectangle, with an area of 302 acres (1.2 km2), located in District XIV of Budapest, between Hungária körút, Ajtósi Dürer sor, Vágány utca and Dózsa György út.

The City Park was the main venue of the 1896 millennium celebrations of Hungary, by which time Andrássy Avenue, Millennium Underground, and the Grand Boulevard had been built.

The park main entrance is at Heroes' Square (Hősök tere), one of Hungary's World Heritage sites.

Vajdahunyad Castle (Hungarian: Vajdahunyad vára) is a castle in the City Park of Budapest, Hungary. It is a copy of Hunyad Castle, known as Corvin Castle (Romanian: Castelul Corvinilor), in Hunedoara, Romania. It was built in 1896 as part of the Millennial Exhibition which celebrated the 1,000 years of Hungary since the Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895. The castle was designed by Ignác Alpár to feature copies of several landmark buildings from different parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, especially the Hunyad Castle in Transylvania (now in Romania). As the castle contains parts of buildings from various time periods, it displays different architectural styles: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. Originally, it was made from cardboard and wood, but it became so popular that it was rebuilt from stone and brick between 1904 and 1908. Today, it houses the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture, the biggest agricultural museum in Europe.

The statue of the chronicler Anonymus (by Miklós Ligeti) is also displayed in the castle court. Anonymus lived in the 12th century (his true identity is unknown, but he was a notary of Béla III of Hungary), who wrote the chronicle Gesta Hungarorum (Deeds of the Hungarians).

The external wall of the castle contains a bust of Béla Lugosi, a Hungarian-American actor famous for portraying Count Dracula in the original 1931 film.

Hősök tere, Heroes' Square, is one of the major squares in Budapest, Hungary, noted for its iconic Millennium Monument with statues featuring the Seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders, as well as the Memorial Stone of Heroes, often erroneously referred as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The square lies at the outbound end of Andrássy Avenue next to City Park (Városliget). It hosts the Museum of Fine Arts and the Palace of Art (Műcsarnok). The square has played an important part in contemporary Hungarian history and has been a host to many political events, such as the reburial of Imre Nagy in 1989. Most sculptures were made by sculptor György Zala from Lendava, with one made by György Vastagh.

In Budapest there are three more squares named Hősök tere, 'Heroes' Square', in the districts or neighborhoods of Soroksár, Békásmegyer, and Rákosliget.

Use the funicular to see Buda Castle, Matthias Church, and Fisherman's Bastion.

Buda Castle (Hungarian: Budavári Palota, German: Burgpalast) is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian Kings in Budapest. It was first completed in 1265, although the massive Baroque palace today occupying most of the site was built between 1749 and 1769. The complex in the past was referred to as either the Royal Palace (Hungarian: Királyi-palota) or the Royal Castle (Hungarian: Királyi Vár, German: Königliche Burg). The castle now houses the Hungarian National Gallery and the Hungarian National Museum.

Buda Castle sits on the southern tip of Castle Hill, surrounded by the touristic area known as Várnegyed (Castle Quarter), which is famous for its Medieval, Baroque, and Neoclassical houses, churches, public buildings, and monuments. The hill is linked to Clark Ádám Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge by the Castle Hill Funicular. The castle is a part of the Budapest World Heritage Site, so declared in 1987. The original Royal Palace was ruined during World War II; it was rebuilt in a simplified Stalinist Baroque style during the Kádár era.

A fascinating cave under Buda Castle was built as a labyrinth and used as the Castle's medieval cellars and a shelter. The legend says that Dracula was a prisoner there, however it is much a myth. The maze is dark and sometimes challenging, but the tours are a wonderful experience for any tourist, from young to old.

The Church of the Assumption of the Buda Castle (Hungarian: Nagyboldogasszony-templom), more commonly known as the Matthias Church (Hungarian: Mátyás-templom), more rarely the Coronation Church of Buda, is a Roman Catholic church located in the Holy Trinity Square, Budapest, Hungary, in front of the Fisherman's Bastion at the heart of Buda's Castle District. According to church tradition, it was originally built in Romanesque style in 1015, although few references exist. The current building was constructed in the florid late Gothic style in the second half of the 14th century and was extensively restored in the late 19th century. It was the second largest church of medieval Buda and the seventh largest church of the medieval Hungarian Kingdom.

It is a historic building with an important history. Two Kings of Hungary were crowned within its walls: Franz Joseph I of Hungary and Elisabeth, and Charles IV of Hungary and Zita of Bourbon-Parma.

The church was also the location of the "Marian Miracle" of Buda. In 1686, during the siege of Buda city by the Holy League, a wall of the church - used as a mosque by the Ottoman occupiers of the city - collapsed due to cannon fire. It turned out that an old votive Madonna statue was hidden behind the wall. As the sculpture of the Virgin Mary appeared before the praying Muslims, the morale of the Muslim garrison collapsed and the city fell on the same day.

The Halászbástya or Fisherman's Bastion is one of the best-known monuments in Budapest, located near Buda Castle, in the 1st district of Budapest. It is one of the most important tourist attractions due to the unique panorama of Budapest from the Neo-Romanesque lookout terraces. The Fishermen's Bastion's main façade, parallel to the Danube, is approximately 140 meters long, of which the southern aisle is about 40 meters long, the north is 65 meters long, and the ornate central parapet is 35 meters long. Its seven high-pitched stone towers symbolize the seven chieftains of the Hungarians who founded Hungary in 895.

The original walls were built in the 1700s, forming part of the walls of a castle. Several historians say that in the Middle Ages this part of the castle walls was protected by the guild of fishermen (halász), who lived under the walls in the so-called Fishtown or Watertown. The current structure was built between 1895 and 1902, in Neo-Romanesque style, on the base of a stretch of the Buda Castle walls, by architect Frigyes Schulek, who was also responsible for the restoration of the Matthias Church.

Since 1987 it has been one of Budapest's World Heritage Sites as part of the Várkerület District (Buda Castle District).