The river is easily navigable and so Budapest historically has a major commercial port at Csepel District and at New Pest District also. The river Danube flows through Budapest on its way from (Germany) to the Black Sea. There is also a suburban rail service in and around Budapest, three lines of which are operated under the name HÉV. Budapest is one of the main stops of the Orient Express on its Central and Eastern European route. Ring road M0 around Budapest is nearly completed, with only one section missing on the west side due to local disputes. The road system in the city is designed in a similar manner to that of Paris, with several ring roads, and avenues radiating out from the center.

Soar over Budapest by chairlift

• Although the city’s roots date to Roman times and even earlier, modern Budapest is essentially an outgrowth of the 19th-century empire of Austria-Hungary, when Hungary was three times larger than the present country.
• Riding on bike paths is one of the best ways to see Budapest – there are about 180 kilometres (110 miles) of bicycle paths in the city, fitting into the EuroVelo system.
• Budapest is a global city, consistently ranked among the 50 most important cities in the world, belongs to the narrow group of cities with a GDP over US$100 billion, named a global cultural capital as having high-quality human capital, and is among the 35 most liveable cities in the world.
• After Turks and Muslims were expelled and massacred from Budapest, the site was reoccupied by Christians and reformed into a church, the Inner City Parish Church (Budapest).
• The Metropolitan Szabó Ervin Library plays an important role in the general education of the capital’s population.
• The third island Csepel Island is the largest of the Budapest Danube islands, however only its northernmost tip is within city limits.

Buda was the kernel of settlement in the Middle Ages, and the cobbled streets and Gothic houses of the castle town have preserved its old layout. The Danube (blue only in the Johann Strauss waltz) has become heavily contaminated, and air pollution, from which the inhabitants of Buda have largely been able to escape, has afflicted most districts in Pest. The climate of Budapest is transitional between the extreme conditions of the Great Alfold and the more temperate climate of Transdanubia, with its abundant rainfall.

How to get around in Hungary

Its green-coloured cupola, an addition during the lengthy post-war rebuild in the 60s, forms an integral part of Buda’s stunning cityscape. The short climb by funicular from Clark Ádám tér takes you to the former royal palace atop Castle Hill, now housing the National Gallery, the Budapest History Museum and the Széchényi Library. Located at Corvin Palace on Blaha Lujza Square, Time Out Market Budapest features 11 kitchens, three bars, five event spaces, and around 540 seats. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. Words by Peterjon Cresswell, original photos by Gábor Szabó, both based in Budapest. Here are Budapest’s best hotels and best Airbnbs, selected by our editors

Apply fixes in seconds. Spend less time debugging and more time building features with Copilot Autofix.

Budapest had not one but two architects that were masters of the Classicist style. The Classical architecture and Neoclassical architecture are the next in the timeline. After Turks and Muslims were expelled and massacred from Budapest, the site was reoccupied by Christians and reformed into a church, the Inner City Parish Church (Budapest). Budapest is home to the northernmost place where the tomb of influential Islamic Turkish Sufi Dervish, Gül Baba is found. Budapest is in fact one of the few places in the world with functioning original Turkish bathhouses dating back to the 16th century, like Rudas Baths or Király Baths.

Best things to do in Budapest: a local’s guide for 2025

• Exploring Hungary’s capital, renowned for its romantic architecture and charming streets, is an absolute pleasure.
• The largest theatre facilities are the Budapest Operetta and Musical Theatre, the József Attila Theatre, the Katona József Theatre, the Madách Theatre, the Hungarian State Opera House, the National Theatre, the Vigadó Concert Hall, Radnóti Miklós Theatre, the Comedy Theatre and the Palace of Arts, known as MUPA.
• It chugs alongside everything you’ll want to see downtown, all for the price of a regular public transportation ticket.
• In Budapest there are forty theatres, seven concert halls and an opera house.
• Winter (November until early March) can be cold and the city receives little sunshine.
• Besides, each of Budapest’ twenty-three districts has its own town hall and a directly elected council and the directly elected mayor of district.

The world's largest panorama photograph was created in (and of) Budapest in 2010. The city is also home to the largest medicinal bath in Europe (Széchenyi Medicinal Bath) and the third largest Parliament building in the world, once the largest in the world. It was built in moorish revival style in 1859 and has a seating capacity of 3,000. Statue Park, a theme park with striking statues of the Communist era, is located just outside the main city and is accessible by public transport. Castle Hill and the Castle District; there are three churches here, six museums, and a host of interesting buildings, streets and squares. Budapest is widely known for its well-kept pre-war cityscape, with a great variety of streets and landmarks in classical architecture.

The river that separates the two parts of the city is 230 m (755 ft) wide at its narrowest point in Budapest. The Danube enters the city from the north; later it encircles two islands, Óbuda Island and Margaret Island. The 525 square kilometres (203 sq mi) area of Budapest lies in Central Hungary, surrounded by settlements of the agglomeration in Pest county. In October 2019, opposition candidate Gergely Karácsony won the Budapest mayoral election, meaning the first electoral blow for Hungary's nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán since coming to power in 2010. From the 1960s to the late 1980s Hungary was often satirically referred to as "the happiest barrack" within the Eastern bloc, and much of the wartime damage to the city was finally repaired.

Castle Garden Bazaar (Várkert Bazár)

It might not be one of Europe’s cheapest city breaks, but it’s definitely good for a budget trip. A visit to Budapest during the long, hot summer is not complete without an evening at one of the city's many kertek, literally "gardens." But in Budapest, really any outdoor spot has been converted into an entertainment zone. If you’d rather sit back with a drink and enjoy a front-row seat to all of Budapest, try any of the city’s many rooftop bars.
Many libraries have unique collections in Budapest, such as the National Széchényi Library, which keeps historical relics from the age before the printing of books. In Budapest there are 837 monuments, which represent most rolletto casino registration of the European artistic styles. The city glories in 223 museums and galleries, which presents several memories, next to the Hungarian ones as well those of universal and European culture and science.
It is one of the world's outstanding urban landscapes and illustrates the great periods in the history of the Hungarian capital. Another examples for Art Nouveau in Budapest is the Gresham Palace in front of the Chain Bridge, the Hotel Gellért, the Franz Liszt Academy of Music or Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden. Art Nouveau came into fashion in Budapest by the exhibitions which were held in and around 1896 and organised in connection with the Hungarian Millennium celebrations. The most iconic and widely known Classicist-style attraction in Budapest is the Széchenyi Chain Bridge.
The city was named as the 52nd most important business centre in the world in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, ahead of Beijing, São Paulo and Shenzhen and ranking 3rd (out of 65 cities) on the MasterCard Emerging Markets Index. Budapest is also among the Top 100 GDP performing cities in the world, measured by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The city had a gross metropolitan product of more than $100 billion in 2015, making it one of the largest regional economies in the European Union. The city is also home to one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe. Budapest is home to one of the most populous Christian communities in Central Europe, numbering 698,521 people (40.4%) in 2011. Although only 1.7% of the population of Hungary in 2009 were foreigners, 43% of them lived in Budapest, making them 4.4% of the city's population (up from 2% in 2001).