6 Days in Budapest, Hungary.

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).

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.

Margaret Island (Hungarian: Margitsziget) is a 2.5 km long island, 500 m wide, (238 acres) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks and is a popular recreational area. Its medieval ruins are reminders of its importance in the Middle Ages as a religious center. The island spans the area between the Margaret Bridge (south) and the Árpád Bridge (north). Before the 14th century, the island was called Insula leporum (Island of Rabbits). Administratively Margaret Island used to belong to the 13th district but now is directly under the control of the city.

Its appearance today was developed through the connection of three separate islands, the Festő (Painter), the Fürdő (Bath), and the Nyulak (Rabbits), during the end of the 19th century, to control the flow of the Danube.

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.

Vörösmarty tér or Vörösmarty square is a public square in the Budapest city center at the northern end of Váci utca.

At the center of the square facing west is a statue by Eduard Telcs and Ede Kallós of poet Mihály Vörösmarty. Behind the monument are a fenced park and a fountain flanked by stone lions. At the north end of the square is the Café Gerbeaud and stairs to the southern terminus of the Budapest Metro's venerable yellow line (M1). The square is also a business area, including offices for Ibusz and Aeroflot. The British Embassy is located in the square.

Christmas market

During Christmas time, the place becomes a splendid Christmas market with wonderful stalls and handmade artifacts. Budapesti Karácsonyi Vásár (Budapest Christmas Fair) is one of the best Christmas markets in Hungary and Europe and attracts many locals and tourists.

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.

The Dohány Street Synagogue (Hungarian: Dohány utcai zsinagóga), also known as the Great Synagogue or Tabakgasse Synagogue, is a historical building in Erzsébetváros, the 7th district of Budapest. It is the largest synagogue in Europe, seating 3,000 people, and is a center of Neolog Judaism.

The synagogue was built between 1854 and 1859 in the Moorish Revival style, with the decoration based chiefly on Islamic models from North Africa and medieval Spain (the Alhambra). The synagogue's Viennese architect, Ludwig Förster, believed that no distinctively Jewish architecture could be identified, and thus chose "architectural forms that have been used by oriental ethnic groups that are related to the Israelite people, and in particular the Arabs". The interior design is partly by Frigyes Feszl.

The Dohány Street Synagogue complex consists of the Great Synagogue, the Heroes' Temple, the graveyard, the Memorial, and the Jewish Museum, which was built on the site on which Theodor Herzl's house of birth stood. Dohány Street itself, a leafy street in the city center, carries strong Holocaust connotations as it constituted the border of the Budapest Ghetto.

The Hungarian National Museum (Hungarian: Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum) was founded in 1802 and is the national museum for the history, art, and archaeology of Hungary, including areas not within Hungary's modern borders, such as Transylvania; it is not to be confused with the collection of international art in the Hungarian National Gallery. The museum is in Budapest VIII in a Neoclassical building, purpose-built during 1837–47 by the architect Mihály Pollack.

Exhibitions

The Hungarian National Museum has seven permanent displays. The general history of Hungary is covered in two sections: the archaeology from prehistory to the Avar period ending in 804 AD on the first (ground) floor ("On the East-West frontier"), and the history from 804 to modern times on the first floor. This display covers topics such as the age of the Arpads, the long Turkish occupation, Transylvania, and royal Hungary. More modern and Contemporary history covered begins with the Rákóczi War of Independence, showing different sections of his military attire and various coins. The history section then ends with the rise and fall of the communist system in Hungary. In another hall on the second floor, one can find out about the Scholar Hungarians who made the twentieth century. A room on the first floor displays the medieval Hungarian Coronation Mantle.

The ground floor's permanent exhibit is focused on Medieval and Early Modern stone inscriptions and carvings. This exhibit looks at various stone relics and the carvings that have been made into them. The majority of the items in this collection were discovered during the 1960s and 1970s since they looked for more relics post World War II. The final permanent exhibit is placed in the basement of the museum. This is the Roman Lapidary exhibit, which is a collection of ancient Roman stone inscriptions and carvings.

The Great Market Hall or Central Market Hall, Market Hall I (Hungarian: "Nagyvásárcsarnok") is the largest and oldest indoor market in Budapest. The idea of building such a large market hall arose from the first mayor of Budapest, Károly Kamermayer, and it was his largest investment. He retired in 1896 and participated in the opening ceremony on February 15, 1897.

Most of the stalls on the ground floor offer produce, meats, pastries, candies, spices, and spirits. Many of them have items that are popular with tourists: paprika spices, Tokaji wine, Túró Rudi, kolbász sausage, and salami can be found there. The second mezzanine floor has eateries and tourist souvenirs. The basement contains fishmongers, picked vegetable stalls, and a few specialized butcher shops.

It is located at the end of the famous pedestrian shopping street Váci utca and on the Pest side of the Liberty bridge at Fővám square.

The Liberty Statue or Freedom Statue (Hungarian: Szabadság-szobor) is a monument on Gellért Hill in Budapest. It commemorates those who sacrificed their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of Hungary.

It was first erected in 1947 in remembrance of the Soviet liberation of Hungary during World War II, which ended the occupation by Nazi Germany. Its location on Gellért Hill makes it a prominent feature of Budapest's cityscape.

The Citadella is the fortification located upon the top of Gellért Hill in Budapest. Citadella is the Hungarian word for a citadel, a kind of fortress. The word is exclusively used by other languages to refer to the Gellért Hill citadel which occupies a place that held strategic importance in Budapest's military history.

The fortress was built in 1851 by Julius Jacob von Haynau, a commander of the Austrian Empire, and was designed by Emmanuel Zitta and Ferenc Kasselik, after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. It occupies almost the entire 235 metres high plateau. The fortress is a U-shaped structure built about a central courtyard, 220 metres long, 60 metres wide, and 4 metres tall. It had a complement of sixty cannons.

Next to the Danube-facing longitudinal wall of the Citadella, there is an open-air display of a small collection of Red Army weaponry, most of them from the Second World War.

Gellért Hill (Hungarian: Gellért-hegy; German: Blocksberg) is a 235 m (771 ft) high hill overlooking the Danube in Budapest. It is located in the 1st and 11th districts. The hill was named after Saint Gerard who was thrown to death from the hill. The famous Hotel Gellért and the Gellért Baths can be found in Gellért Square at the foot of the hill, next to Liberty Bridge. The Gellért Hill Cave is also located on the hill, facing the hotel and the Danube.

At the top of the hill, the Citadella (English: citadel) can be found with a nice panoramic view of the city.

Zoo & Botanical Garden of the Capital (Hungarian: Fővárosi Állat- és Növénykert) is the oldest zoo park in Hungary and one of the oldest in the world. It has 1,072 animal species and is located within Városliget Park, unusually for a zoo, it is in the center of the city.

The zoo opened its doors on 9 August 1866. The park has 1–1.1 million visitors every year. The area is a nature reserve and has some valuable art nouveau buildings designed by Kornél Neuschloss and Károly Kós. More than 1,000 species are living there. The most special animals that are present in the zoo are the Komodo dragon and from December 2011 the wombat.

The zoo is located in the city center and can be reached by Line 1 (Budapest Metro)

Official city card (Budapest card) owners get a 25% discount for a single ticket to the zoo.

The Museum of Fine Arts (Hungarian: Szépművészeti Múzeum) is a museum in Heroes' Square, Budapest, Hungary, facing the Palace of Art.

It was built by the plans of Albert Schickedanz and Fülöp Herzog in an eclectic-neoclassical style between 1900 and 1906. The museum's collection is made up of international art (other than Hungarian), including all periods of European art, and comprises more than 100,000 pieces. The collection is made up of older additions such as those from Buda Castle, the Esterházy and Zichy estates, as well as donations from individual collectors. The Museum's collection is made up of six departments: Egyptian, Antique, Old sculpture gallery, Old master paintings gallery, Modern collection, and Graphics collection. The institution celebrated its centenary in 2006.