Ultimate Edition

Budapest, Hungary

Published for the city and Pest county
HU Monday, October 12, 2026 Vol. CLIII · Est. 1873
Guides › Hungary › Budapest, Hungary

Two cities, one river, and a hot bath at the end of every argument

Budapest is the capital of Hungary and the largest city on the Danube, made in 1873 by joining Buda, Óbuda and Pest into one. It is grand, faded, cheap by Western standards and the capital of a country that has spent years arguing with Brussels for a living.

The Ultimate City Desk
Budapest
Budapest — Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons · See source page

The Romans had Aquincum on the Buda side; the Magyars arrived at the end of the ninth century, and Buda became the royal seat in the thirteenth century after the Mongols had burned the plain. The Ottomans held it for nearly 150 years from 1541, leaving the baths; the Habsburgs took it back in 1686. Pest, flat and commercial across the river, outgrew Buda in the nineteenth century, and the 1867 Compromise that made Hungary a partner in Austria-Hungary set off a building boom: the Chain Bridge had opened in 1849, and in 1873 Buda, Óbuda and Pest were unified as a single capital. The Parliament, the boulevards and the first underground railway on the continent followed. Then the twentieth century: the loss of two-thirds of the kingdom at Trianon in 1920, the siege of 1944–45 and the murder of most of the Jewish population, the 1956 uprising crushed by Soviet tanks, and the quiet exit from communism in 1989.

The Danube divides it and the bridges define it. Buda, on the west bank, is hills: Castle Hill with the palace, Matthias Church and the Fishermen's Bastion; Gellért Hill with the Citadella; and the leafy, expensive villa districts of the second and twelfth districts behind them. Pest, on the east bank, is flat and gridded, and holds almost everything else: the Parliament and the Basilica in the fifth district, the Jewish Quarter and its ruin bars in the seventh, Andrássy út running out to Heroes' Square and the City Park, and the two ring roads — the Kiskörút and the Nagykörút — that tie the districts together. The city is numbered in twenty-three districts, spiralling clockwise from the castle, and locals give addresses by number rather than name. Margaret Island sits in the river between the two halves as the shared park; the outer districts of panel blocks and the Buda hills' suburbs are where most people actually live.

The baths are the institution: Széchenyi in the City Park, Gellért and Rudas on the Buda side, fed by the hot springs the Ottomans built on and used by pensioners playing chess as much as by tourists. Music is the other: the Liszt Academy, the State Opera on Andrássy út, the Müpa concert hall by the river, and the Sziget festival on Óbuda island every August, one of the biggest in Europe. The ruin bars of the seventh district — Szimpla Kert was the first — made Budapest a stag-and-hen destination, which the neighbours have mixed feelings about. The food is heavier than the weather warrants — goulash, paprika, lángos, the Great Market Hall — but a generation of chefs has lightened it, and the wine, from Tokaj to Villány, is undervalued abroad. Ferencváros are the football club, and their derby with Újpest is the city's oldest grudge.

The hard parts are political and economic. Hungarian national politics has spent more than a decade at odds with Brussels over the courts, the press and the universities, and the capital, which votes differently from the countryside, has felt it in its budget. Wages are low by Western standards, and rents in the inner districts have risen far faster than they have, pushed by short-term lets and foreign buyers; the forint is volatile. The party districts are loud until dawn, the winters are grey and the summers now regularly pass 35 degrees. The bureaucracy is slow and the language is famously unlearnable. What it offers is one of the most handsome capitals in Europe, a river view that still stops people on the bridges, thermal water under the streets, a transit system that keeps running after midnight, and a cultural life — music above all — far larger than the price of living here would suggest.

Where People Live

The neighbourhoods

Castle District (Vár)

The palace and the National Gallery, Matthias Church and the Fishermen's Bastion on the hill above the Chain Bridge, reached by the funicular. Cobbled, quiet after dark, and the view everyone comes for.

Belváros & Lipótváros (V)

The Parliament, the Basilica and the Danube promenade, with Váci utca's shops and the cafés around Szabadság tér. The government and business core, and the priciest flats in Pest.

Erzsébetváros — the Jewish Quarter (VII)

The Great Synagogue on Dohány utca, Kazinczy utca's ruin bars and street food, Gozsdu udvar's courtyards. Loud all night; the residents have been fighting the bars for years.

Terézváros & Andrássy út (VI)

The Opera, the Liszt Academy and Nagymező utca's theatres on the grand boulevard that runs out to Heroes' Square, with the little yellow M1 metro underneath it. Embassies, galleries and the House of Terror.

Ferencváros (IX)

The Great Market Hall, Ráday utca's restaurants and the Corvin quarter's new blocks, then Müpa and the National Theatre on the river. Ferencváros's stadium is at the far end.

Újlipótváros (XIII)

The Bauhaus-era grid north of the Parliament, around Pozsonyi út's cafés and bookshops, with Margaret Island across the bridge. The old intellectual middle-class district, and still one.

Rózsadomb & the Buda hills (II, XII)

Villas, embassies and money on the wooded hills behind the castle, with the Children's Railway, the chairlift and the hiking trails of Normafa. Where Budapest goes when it has done well.

Óbuda (III)

The Roman ruins of Aquincum, the old town square with its Krúdy-era restaurants, and the Danube island that hosts Sziget. Panel estates and history side by side.

Must-see attractions

Hungarian Parliament Building

Eat & drink

Nomade by Gigi's

Restaurant — Hercegprímás utca 12, Budapest, Hungary

Indoors

Airports

Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport (BUD) 18 km to the centre

Budapest, BU, HU — You board from the indoor waiting area — no need to plan for the weather. ✈ 40 airlines (Wizz Air, Ryanair, easyJet, Norwegian Air Shuttle…) · direct flights to 77 destinations incl. Frankfurt, London, Rome, Barcelona, Belgrade… (OpenFlights route data).

Indoor
✈ Airlines & flight paths — 40 airlines, 77 direct destinations

Routes and aircraft from OpenFlights (open data; a point-in-time snapshot). * = codeshare. Linked destinations open their own guidebook. Flight numbers are not in the open data — they come from the airline or a paid schedule feed.

Hármashatárhegy Glider Field 8.2 km to the centre

Budapest, BU, HU

Outdoor

Getting there by ferry

Petőfi tér (Erzsébet híd)

Ferry terminal · 0.3 km from the centre · BKV

Várkert Bazár

Ferry terminal · 0.3 km from the centre · BKV

Big Bus Boat Dock # 11

Ferry terminal · 0.5 km from the centre

Akadémia 1. ponton

Ferry terminal · 0.6 km from the centre · MAHART PASSNAVE

Akadémia 3. ponton

Ferry terminal · 0.7 km from the centre · MAHART PASSNAVE

Jégverem utca (Clark Ádám tér)

Ferry terminal · 0.8 km from the centre · MAHART PASSNAVE

Soroksári rév

Ferry route · BKK

D14 => Csepel-Királyerdő

Ferry route

D14 => Soroksár, Molnár-sziget

Ferry route

Local transit

BKK

Metro, tram, bus · Budapest's four metro lines, trams and buses. · Fares: BudapestGO app or ticket · Airport: Bus 100E airport express to Deák tér

Trains & rail

V-Híd

Rail operator

MÁV

National rail

Private aviation

On-demand charter, jet cards and the semi-private scheduled carriers that serve this city.

Air Charter Service

Broker · Any aircraft via operators worldwide · Global charter broker with 30+ offices; private jets, group charters and cargo.

ExecuJet

FBO, charter, management · Managed fleet · FBO network and management across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

Flexjet

Fractional, jet card · Embraer Praetor, Bombardier Challenger & Global, Gulfstream · Fractional ownership and jet cards in North America and Europe.

Global Jet

Charter, management · Large-cabin & VIP airliners · Geneva-based operator known for large-cabin and VIP airliner charters.

Jet Aviation

Charter, management, FBO, MRO · Managed fleet worldwide · General Dynamics company: charter, completions and FBOs in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US.

Tours & experiences

Budapest Free Walking Tours to the Shoes by Luna Tours

Walking Tour

Budapest Tour - WannaWalk Tours

Sightseeing

GoZeppelin Tours Budapest

Sightseeing

SEGWAY BUDAPEST TOUR

Bike Tour

ayo tours budapest

Sightseeing

Budapest Evening Sightseeing Cruise

Boat Tour

City Sightseeing Budapest

Bus Tour

Living Here

Practical notes for residents

Getting about

  • BKK runs four metro lines (the 1896 M1 under Andrássy út, plus M2, M3 and M4), the trams — the 4 and 6 on the Nagykörút are among the busiest lines in Europe, and the 2 along the Pest embankment is the scenic one — trolleybuses, buses and the HÉV suburban trains. Tickets and passes come from machines or the BudapestGO app; validate paper tickets, and expect inspectors at the metro gates.
  • The inner districts are flat and walkable on the Pest side and steep on the Buda side; MOL Bubi bike share covers the centre, and the funicular does the climb to the castle. Night buses run on the main corridors after the metro closes.
  • Ferenc Liszt airport is about 40 minutes from Deák Ferenc tér on the 100E express bus, or on the 200E bus to the M3 metro. From Keleti station, Vienna is under three hours by train, Bratislava about two and a half, and Prague around seven.
  • A car is unnecessary and parking in the inner districts is metered and scarce; the official yellow taxis run on a fixed tariff, and Bolt is cheaper for late nights.

Health

  • Semmelweis University's clinics, the Honvéd military hospital and Szent János in Buda are the main public hospitals. Residents are covered by the state insurance fund through the TAJ card; the care is competent, the buildings are tired and English is patchy outside private clinics such as FirstMed and Dr Rose.
  • Dial 112, or 104 for an ambulance. Pharmacies (gyógyszertár) are everywhere, and each district has one on a 24-hour rota.
  • EU and UK visitors can use the EHIC or GHIC in the public system; everyone else should carry insurance. The thermal baths are generally safe but not medical, whatever the pensioners say.

Work & study

  • Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), founded in 1635, is the largest; the Budapest University of Technology (BME), Corvinus, Semmelweis for medicine and the Liszt Academy share the city. Central European University moved most of its teaching to Vienna after a dispute with the government. Hungarian-taught degrees at public universities are state-funded for many students; English-taught programmes charge fees.
  • Shared-service centres for multinationals, IT and software, pharmaceuticals (Richter is the national champion), finance, tourism and a film industry — the Origo and Korda studios take a steady stream of Hollywood productions — are the employers.
  • Non-EU workers need a permit arranged through the employer, which is slow. English is enough in the service centres and tech; Hungarian is needed for most other jobs and for all dealings with the state.

Money & manners

  • The currency is the forint, not the euro, though some tourist shops take euros at poor rates. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; avoid the Euronet ATMs. Tip 10–15% unless a service charge (szervizdíj) is already on the bill, which it often is — check. VAT, at 27% the highest in the EU, is included in prices.
  • Say jó napot on entering a shop; surnames come before given names; take your shoes off in a home. Hungarians are formal on first meeting and warm after it, and the old custom of not clinking beer glasses, a protest dating from 1849, is now mostly a story told to visitors.
  • Winters run from December to February and are grey and often below freezing; summers are hot and the city empties in August. The Christmas market on Vörösmarty tér opens in mid-November, and the fireworks on 20 August, the national day, fill the embankments.

Sources

Everything above is checkable