Budapest Sightseeing, Bath by Bath
Budapest Sightseeing, Bath by Bath
Gellért Hill, the free hiking summit topped by the Citadel and Liberty Statue, is a separate, open-air attraction from the thermal bath sharing its name at the foot of the hill.
Buda Side
Castle Hill (the Citadel) holds Fisherman’s Bastion, Matthias Church, and the Royal Palace, all free to wander, with panoramic views over the river from the top. Skip the funicular’s 5,000 HUF return fare for the 10-to-20-minute free walk up from Clark Ádám tér or Batthyány tér instead.
Pest Side
The Hungarian Parliament Building books its interior as a guided tour only, 7,000 HUF for EEA citizens and 14,000 HUF otherwise, with the nearest metro at Kossuth Lajos tér on the M2. Book a guided Parliament tour on GetYourGuide to skip the ticket queue. St. Stephen’s Basilica sits nearest to Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út on the M1 or Arany János utca on the M3, both a short walk from the door. Book a St. Stephen’s Basilica dome ticket on GetYourGuide covers the climb to the top.
Thermal Baths
Rudas, the Ottoman-era octagonal pool on the Buda side, charges 12,000 to 15,000 HUF for a day ticket, or 15,000 HUF for its online-only night session; Széchenyi’s City Park complex splits into a locker ticket (13,200 to 14,800 HUF) and a cabin ticket (14,200 to 15,800 HUF). Gellért Baths itself has been closed since 1 October 2025 and isn’t due back before late 2028. Rudas’s and Széchenyi’s own sites list the current day’s tier.
The Dohány Street Synagogue
Europe’s largest synagogue, and the world’s second largest, anchors the Jewish Quarter alongside the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park in its courtyard, a quiet stop worth its own visit.
Tips
Pay in forint rather than euro even where a till accepts both; the rate offered on the euro side runs worse than what a card or cash payment in HUF gets you. Szimpla Kert on Kazinczy utca remains the city’s original ruin bar, worth a look even by day. For a slower, on-foot version of this same ground, the walking tours guide covers the Jewish Quarter and the Danube Promenade in more depth.
The Great Market Hall, a short walk south of the Basilica, keeps its ground floor for real grocery shopping and its upper floor for the pricier tourist stalls, worth visiting early before the tour groups arrive. Chain Bridge’s stone lions genuinely have tongues, visible only close up or from above, despite a long-running local legend claiming otherwise.