Day 1

Hungarian State Opera

Situated over the Andrássy avenue this massive and intricate building it’s something that you don’t want to miss out. Built in 1884, it has become the cultural icon of the city over time. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
You can get inside for free but only to the main Hall. Still, completely worth it.

St Stephen’s Basilica

Only 10 minutes walking from the Opera you have one of the most iconic places of all Budapest and personally my favourite.

Opened for public use in 1906. It was named in honour of King Stephen I of Hungary. The country’s first Christian king and founder of the Hungarian state.
One strange fact, the Basilica houses the mummified right hand of St. Stephen, which is kept in a reliquary in the basilica’s chapel. The relic is considered sacred by many Hungarians and is the focus of religious veneration, and yes. It’s as creepy as it’s sounds.

Price of the Basilica

• Only to the Church it’s 2300 Forints (€5,8)
• Panorama Terrace and Treasury 4300 Forints (€11)
• All included 6000 Forints (€15,25)

Széchenyi Chain Bridge

After the Basilica and 10 minutes walking from it we have the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, another amazing piece of architecture, it was the first permanent bridge to span over the Danube in Budapest making it of special importance on the unification later on between Buda and Pest.
Crossing it is a must when in Budapest. From it you will have the first glimpse of the Parliament, once on the other side you are officially in Buda.

Funicular And Buda Castle

Once on the other side of the bridge, you have a 10-minute walk uphill until you reach the Castle. Alternatively, you can use the Funicular, one of the oldest operating funiculars in the world, to reach the castle. (I haven’t used it because the walk up the hill is very easy, but you are always entitled to use it.) Another option is the free lift.

The Castle is the former house of the kings of Hungary throughout centuries. It dates back to the 13th century and it was the centre of all the royal court life.
Today the whole complex is a UNESCO World Heritage and it host several museums.

The gardens, the main courtyard and the surroundings of the Buda Castle are free. You will have to pay if you want to get inside any of its museums.
You’ll find The National Gallery, The Budapest History Museum, as well as the National Library.
You can easily spend 3 to 4 hours in this place. Specially if you decide to see any of its Museums.

Price of Funicular

• One way ticket is 1200 Forints (€3)
• Return ticket is 1800 Forints (€4,5)

The Funicular is open daily from 7.30 AM till 10 PM. It has maintenance every Monday of an Odd Week

To find the lift you will need to search Várkert Bazár in google maps and you will find it there. You will see it clearly mark with signs, this is the best option if you don’t want to pay for the Funicular and you are not a person who wants to go up the hill on foot.

Price of Matthias Church

• To the Church and the Museum of Ecclesiastical Art in the crypt is 2500 Forints (€6,35)
• To the Bell Tower is 2900 Forints (€7,35)

Fisherman’s Bastion

Castle Hill

The top of the Hill in where you have Buda Castle, Fisherman’s Bastion and Matthias Church is called Castle Hill and once you finished taking thousand of pictures, you can continue walking through it, to be absolutely amazed by the beauty of the colourful houses and their decorations, specially at dusk, this place truly becomes in a fairy tale.
There’s only 2 streets that you can follow from the Matthias Church and both goes around so you can choose any and get lost in this timeless place.

Have Dinner in Street Food Karavan Budapest

You’ll find a diverse range of cuisines represented in Budapest’s street food caravans, from traditional Hungarian dishes like lángos (deep-fried flatbread) and chimney cake (kürtőskalács) to international favourites like burgers, tacos, and Asian street food.
And the best part is that’s right next to Szimpla Kert which is the last place we will visit on the first day.

Szimpla Kert

And with this essential stop, we will conclude our first day, and what a day! After been completely amazed for all the places we’ve been, now it’s time to set aside your tiredness and party!
This is THE most famous Ruin Bar in the world, full of mystic, bizarre decorations and an awesome atmosphere. You can walk around different rooms, dance on the ground floor, sit down on cushions or even a bathtub.
There’s more than 10 individual bars inside and each one has different options to try.

Make sure you try the Pálinka (a fruit brandy, famous in Hungary) or a shot of Unicum (a herbal liqueur with more than 40 different herbs and spices, also very popular and famous in Hungary), this last one tastes horrible but is part of the experience!

Day 2

Considering the end of the first day, I will not force you to start the day at 7 AM because a proper itinerary has in mind this kind of situations.
Let’s continue with our four days in Budapest.

Central Market And Liberty Bridge

To start the day we will go to another very emblematic bridge and to have lunch in the Central Market.

The Market is located in the heart of Budapest, on the Pest side of the Liberty Bridge.
It has a distribution of 3 floors, in the ground floor you will find fresh produce, meats, cheeses, baked goods, and spices, offering a vibrant array of local and seasonal products.
The upper floor houses a variety of vendors selling traditional Hungarian handicrafts, souvenirs, clothing, and household items.
And the last floor is a balcony level with eateries where visitors can enjoy a meal or snack.

Be careful on what you buy here, there are some good and cheap options, like cheese and paprika (in all its forms and shapes because Paprika here is a Rockstar) there are good souvenirs to take home with you, but it happened to us that we bought a chimney cake and we pay 3500 Forints (€9).
And on the street vendors they charge you 800 Forints (€2) for one of those, true that the one we got had ice cream inside but the difference in price was staggering.

The bridge was originally named after Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary, the bridge was later renamed Liberty Bridge in 1926 to commemorate Hungary’s regained independence following the end of World War I. A freedom which wont last for long.

Gellért Hill Cave

Only 10 minutes walking from the Central Market and on the Buda side of the Liberty Bridge we have the Gellért Hill Cave.
The cave has a long history and has been used for various purposes over the centuries. It was originally part of a network of natural caves formed in the limestone rock of Gellért Hill. In the Middle Ages, it served as a place of refuge and later as a hermitage for monks. In the 20th century, the cave was converted into a chapel and monastery.

Not every day you can visit a chapel carved in the limestone of a cave and I think thats quite awesome.
Inside the cave there’s a series of tunnels which connects to all of the different praying areas and various saints and decorations.

Price of Gellért Hill Cave

• General access is 1000 Forints (€2,5)

The entry fee comes with a audio guide included.

Gellért Hill And Citadella

From Gellért Hill Cave there’s a 15 minute walk up hill until we reach the citadella. The walk is more steep than the one going to the Castle but still very much doable. Today the top area of the hill is closed due to maintenance, you can get almost to the top.
The views going up the hill are beautiful, with lots of trials to follow going up, you wont get lost, doesn’t matter if you choose one or the other trail, all of them end up in the top of the hill.

The Citadella is a historic fortress located on top of Gellért Hill it was built in the mid-19th century by the Habsburg Empire after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-1849 as a means of suppressing further uprisings in the city. Its construction began in 1851 and was completed in 1854.

Dohány Street Synagogue

This absolute massive synagogue, the largest in Europe, is impressive from any angle you lie your eyes on, although. I find it very expensive to get inside.
The synagogue was built to accommodate the growing Jewish community in Budapest, which was one of the largest in Europe at the time. It served as a place of worship, community centre, and cultural hub for Hungarian Jews.

The Synagogue has deep historical and cultural significance for the Jewish community in Hungary. It survived World War II, during which it was used as a makeshift detention centre by the Nazis. Today, it stands as a symbol of resilience and remembrance.
Even if you don’t want to pay the entrance fee (I wouldn’t pay it) you can walk around it and be mesmerised by it’s intricate architecture.

Price of The Dohány Street Synagogue

• General Entrance Fee is 10000 Forints (€25,6)

Rumbach Street Synagogue

This Synagogue, only 5 minutes walking from Dohány Synagogue is a lot more budget friendly, more than half the price, and also very impressive.
It was built by the same architecture so they resemble a lot between each other.
Inside you have 3 floors to visit with an exposition in the 3rd floor. The whole synagogue is full of small details and intricate patterns with vivid colours.

This Synagogue is open every day (except on Saturdays) from 10 AM till 6 PM, on Friday closes at 4 PM.

Price of the Rumbach Street Synagogue

• General entrance fee is 4000 Forints (€10,25)

If you prefer to skip the Synagogues I wouldn’t judge you, and you can use the money of the entrance to buy some souvenir or even some beer in one of the many pubs around Budapest.

Have Dinner at Retro Langos

If you haven’t try the typical Langos yet, this is your moment!
Langos is a fried dough with different toppings and you will see it in many places.
Probably the most known one is on Retro Langos, here you have a wide variety of toppings.
Prices vary between 2300 Forints (€5,90) to 5000 Forints (€12,8).
Let me assure you, with one of this Langos you will be more than full, you may think you’ll need something else but after one of these you will need to chill out a little bit, specially if you choose one of the heavy loaded ones.

Day 3

Liberty Square

We will start our 3rd day in the Liberty Square, this square is full of statues, majestic buildings and embassies which will leave you breathless.
The Square holds many controversies regarded it’s monuments, starting with the Soviet Liberation Monument, especially after the fall of communism in Hungary. Many Hungarians view it as a symbol of Soviet oppression and domination.

There’s also a big controversy about the Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation, Jewish organisations and historians have criticised the memorial for its historical inaccuracy and revisionism. They argue that it distorts Hungary’s role in the Holocaust and diminishes the responsibility of Hungarian authorities in the deportation and murder of Jews.

Shoes On The Danube Bank

Only 10 minutes walking from the Liberty Square we find this important monument.
As you’ve probably already noticed while walking around the city, there are hundreds of statues scattered throughout Budapest, but one of the most unsettling ones is probably the Shoes on the Danube.

Their story is horrifying. During World War II, as a means of exterminating Jews, they would tie them up with wire in a line, along the riverbank, force them to remove their shoes—often the only valuable possession they had—and then shoot the first and last person in the line, causing the dead weight to drag the rest under. Just horrible.

Hungarian Parliament

If you walk 3 minutes from the Shoes On The Danube Bank you’ll get to The Parliament.
Probably the most Iconic building in all Budapest, the real crème de la crème!
It took 19 years to built but it was definitively worth it, is the second biggest Parliament of the world but by far the prettiest of all.
One of the most famous features of the Parliament Building is the Hungarian Crown Jewels, which are kept in the central dome’s Crown Guard Room. The Crown Jewels include the Holy Crown of Hungary, scepter, orb, and coronation sword, which are symbols of Hungary’s medieval monarchy and national sovereignty.

Price of the Parliament

• For EEA citizens is 6000 Forints (€15,5)
• For non EEA citizens is 12000 Forints (€30,5)

I haven’t been inside because I find it a little bit over priced (specially as a non EEA citizen) but from the outside is mind blowing! Specially by night when it comes to life with the lightning.

Margaret Island

Around 15 minutes walking from the Parliament you will find Margaret Island.
This Island, set in the middle of the Danube River, is great! Not every car can go through it, so it’s a lovely secluded place where you can disconnect from the centre noise.
The Island is 2,5 K in length. You can find inside the island 3 different spots to rent the public bicycles and enjoy the island by bike.

The island has been inhabited since ancient times, with archaeological evidence suggesting human presence dating back to the prehistoric era. Later, during the medieval period, it was a favourite recreational spot for Hungarian kings and nobles.

Inside the Island you can find several small parks, the Japanese Garden, the Water Tower, Ruins from medieval times and the tomb of St. Margaret (13th century and from which the Island has it name) amid the ruins of the convent she used to lived.

Csendes Letterem or Stifler Haz

To finish our 3rd day we will go to see another (or maybe two) ruin bar, Csendes Letterem is a small and cozy little place completely full of the typically bizarre decorations such as feminine sanitary wipes stuck on the walls, weird looking lamps and lots of different writings on the walls.
Which ever you looked there’s something to see.

Then we have Stifler Haz which is a proper Party Ruin Bar, inside you can find almost everything, different dance floors, a basement that connects to the bar next door with tables and chairs to sit in a bunker like place, hundred of different games, from ping pong tables, fuss ball tables, air hockey tables and more. You can get food inside and the best part is that the tables are all long and united so it’s easier to start a conversation with your neighbour.

Day 4

House Of Terror

We will start the day on this crazy, hard to swallowed and dark museum. But very well done and organised.
This museum serves as a memorial of the victims of Fascist and Communist regimes during the 20th Century.
It’s located in one of the most famous and important Avenues of Budapest, giving a feeling of complete dread knowing that while people outside were walking around this massive mansions and embassies, many people were been torture and held captive in this clandestine detention properly called House Of Terror.

The House of Terror museum was established in 2002 with the aim of commemorating the victims of both regimes and educating the public about Hungary’s totalitarian past. The exhibits inside the museum include photographs, documents, and personal testimonies that shed light on the atrocities committed by both the fascist and communist regimes.

The museum is very well distributed, it’s very hard not to feel the sadness and horror that this people lived less that 50 years ago, going down the basement you have the cells and the execution room, you can get inside the cells and imagine what was like, to be there, hopeless and forgotten.
This place send shivers down my spine but is important to know about the history so we don’t repeat it again.

Price of the House Of Terror Museum

• Regular Adult is 4000 Forints (€10,2)
• Regular Adult with Audio Guide is 6000 Forints (€15,3)

Museum Of Ethnography

From the House of Terror there is an 18 minutes walking to get to The Museum Of Ethnography. One of the craziest buildings I’ve ever seen.
With the shape of a boat or a wave, stands this amazing architecture.
You can get to the top of the building and take some nice pictures, in the middle of it there’s a Memorial to the 1956 Revolution where you can get lost between all of the metal post as you can walk through it.

I wouldn’t recommend to go inside this museum because you have done the House of Terror already. It can be tiresome to do 2 different museums in such short spam of time. Any ways I’ll leave the price to get inside this one as well.

Price of The Museum Of Ethnography

• Normal entrance is 1700 Forints (€4,35)
• If you are between 6 years old and 26 years old the entrance is 850 Forints (€2,20)

Inside the Museum there are many different exhibitions which will vary on their entrance fees.

Heroes’ Square

Sitting at the end of Andrassy Avenue and only 5 minutes walking from the Museum.
This square is a beautiful place to visit. Here, you can see statues depicting the seven Magyar (Hungarian) chieftains who, according to Hungarian folklore, came together to form the Kingdom of Hungary.
It was built at the end of the 19th century, to celebrate Hungary’s millennial anniversary in 1896.

In the surroundings of the Square you will find the Museum of Fine Arts and the Kunsthalle.

Vajdahunyad Castle

Only 8 minutes walking from Heroes’ Square we have Vajdahunyad Castle. One of my favourites places in Budapest, mainly because is in Varosliget Park which I love! But also because there’s so much to see in such a small area!

The castle was designed to showcase various architectural styles found throughout Hungary’s history. Ranging from Romanesque and Gothic to Renaissance and Baroque. Within the complex there’s several other notable structures, such as the Chapel of Jak, modelled after a 13th-century church in Transylvania, and the Agricultural Museum’s main building, designed in the Art Nouveau style.

To walk around the complex is free but if you want to go to any of the museums inside you will have to pay an entrance fee.

Széchenyi Thermal Bath

What a better way to end this amazing couples of days than with a visit to a thermal bath?
Only 6 minutes walking from Vajdahunyad Castle and also inside Varosliget Park we will find the Bath.

Probably the most famous thermal bath in Budapest, it is also one of the most expensive. There are more than 15 thermal baths in Budapest, and they have been around since Roman times.
I think is a really good idea to finish the day in here. After this you will feel like a jellyfish. Absolutely relaxed and fancying a bed to pass out on.

Price of Széchenyi Thermal Bath

• On week Days (Monday – Thursday) is 10500 Forints (€26,5)
• On weekend Days (Friday – Sunday) is 12000 Forints (€30)

If by chance you are in Budapest on a Saturday, inside the Bath they throw a party almost every Saturday. You can check it out on here if it is something that you would like to experience, dancing and drinking in hot water sounds like a crazy story.

And with this we finish our four days in Budapest!

How To Move Around In Budapest

I’ll say Budapest is almost all walkable, and most enjoyable by walking, because of it’s incredible architecture. But if you are someone who doesn’t fancy walking around I’d recommend the public transportation, private taxi (Bolt) or the public Bicycles.

1 Taxi (Bolt)

If you need/want to use a Taxi I always recommend to use the Bolt app to order one, most taxis in Budapest are associated with this app and they can’t scam you if you use it because is a fix rate so there’s no chance of them going in circles to charge you more.

• Download the app for Apple devices Bolt
• Download the app for Android devices Bolt

2 Public Transport

Budapest has an incredible public transport that goes almost everywhere in the city, you have buses, trams, trains and subways.
One single ticket is 450 Forints (€1,15) you can buy them directly in any tram or subway station in the selling machines (they are all coloured red), or you can download the BudapestGo app and buy it with your debit or credit card.
You will need a ticket before getting to any public transport.

• Download the app for Apple devices BudapestGo
• Download the app for Android devices BudapestGo

You will need to buy a single ticket every time you want to use any public service, if not, you have the option of buying a Daily Travel Card which allows you unlimited travel tickets also available at every selling machine or in the BudapesGo app and those are divided in 3 types.

• 24 Hour Budapest Travel card (for 2500 Forints or €6,4)
• 24 Hour Group Budapest Travel Card which allows up to 5 people (for 5000 Forints or €12,7)
• 72 Hour Budapest Travel Card (for 5500 Forints or €14)

3 Public Bicycles

The last option and my favourite! It’s the public Bicycles! Not only can you do some exercise, but you can also see the city as you cycle around! These bikes are everywhere!
The app to use the public bicycles is MOL Bubi.

• Download the app for Apple devices MOL Bubi
• Download the app for Android devices MOL Bubi

Advantages of using public bicycles.

• It costs only 1000 Forints (€2,5) for the monthly pass and, I know what you are thinking ¿Why would I take a monthly pass for only 2 days?
  Because the other option is to pay as you use it for 40 Forints a minute that gives you a total of 25 minutes of use to spend the 1000 Forints that is the monthly pass.
• You can rent TWO bicycles per account every time, so if you are a couple or traveling with friends for the 1000 Forints of the monthly pass you can have 2 Bicycles every time. So it would be 500 Forints each (€1,25)
• They are literally everywhere in Budapest, and as well the cycle path around the city to get anywhere.

One Thing: you have 30 minutes of free cycling for you and your extra bicycle (if in use) after the 30 minutes they charge you 40 Forints per minute, to keep it for free, once you are getting close to the 30 minutes you just have to go to one of the pick up points and return the bicycle, once the app understand you are finish you can again unlock the same bike to have another 30 minutes for free and repeat after the same process.

Make sure that the app acknowledges that you have returned the bicycle. If you notice the timer still running after you have returned it, you can contact support and explain your situation. This has happened to me a couple of times, but I was never charged extra as it’s an issue with the app.

Extra Tip for My Four Days in Budapest: How To Get To The City Center From The Airport

The cheapest way and my personal recommendation is to use the Bus 100 E Airport Express, you have one departing every 20 minutes and it operates between 05:00 until 01:20.
It costs only 2200 Forints (€6) and it will take about 40 minutes to get to the city centre.
The Bus route ends at Deák Ferenc tér and from there you can take another public bus or a Bolt Taxi to get to your accommodation and you will save a a good amount of money.