Things to Do in Budapest: A Complete Guide
Budapest tends to sneak up on people. It doesn’t have the name recognition of Paris or Rome, but the Danube split city of Buda and Pest packs in thermal baths, grand architecture and some of the best value dining in Europe. If you’re looking into things to do in Budapest, it’s worth knowing this is a city that repays a few unhurried days rather than a rushed stopover.
Things to do in Budapest: the thermal baths
Budapest sits on a network of natural hot springs, and the bathing culture built around them is genuinely unique in Europe. Szechenyi Baths, a grand yellow palace of a building in City Park, is the most famous, with outdoor thermal pools that stay busy even in winter when steam rises off the water into the cold air. Gellert Baths, on the Buda side, has a more art nouveau feel with mosaic tiled pools indoors. Either is worth half a day, and locals genuinely use them, this isn’t just a tourist activity.
Buda Castle and the view over the Danube
Cross to the Buda side and the Castle District rewards the climb, whether you walk up or take the funicular. Buda Castle itself houses museums, but the real draw is wandering the cobbled streets of the surrounding old town and reaching Fisherman’s Bastion, a fairy tale terrace of white turrets that looks out over the Danube and the Hungarian Parliament building on the opposite bank. Time it for sunset if you can, the light on the river and the parliament dome is one of the best views in the city.
Pest’s ruin bars and nightlife
Back on the Pest side, the old Jewish Quarter has become the centre of Budapest’s famous ruin bar scene, where abandoned buildings and courtyards have been turned into sprawling, mismatched bars filled with secondhand furniture and street art. Szimpla Kert is the original and most well known, a genuine maze of rooms and outdoor space that’s worth visiting even outside drinking hours for the atmosphere alone. The wider district is also home to some of the city’s best street food, including langos, a fried dough snack usually topped with sour cream and cheese.
Parliament and the grand boulevards
The Hungarian Parliament building is one of the largest of its kind in the world, and a tour inside takes you past the crown jewels and through halls dripping with gold leaf. Andrassy Avenue, Budapest’s answer to the grand European boulevard, runs from the centre out to Heroes Square and City Park, lined with theatres, embassies and the opera house. It’s also home to the House of Terror museum, a difficult but important look at the city’s twentieth century under fascist and communist rule.
Day trips and the Danube Bend
If you have an extra day, the Danube Bend north of the city, taking in the towns of Szentendre and Visegrad, makes for an easy escape with river views and a much slower pace than the capital. Szentendre in particular has a well preserved old town full of galleries and cafes that feels like a smaller, quieter cousin of Budapest itself. For travellers weighing up other central European breaks, our guide to things to do in Prague covers a similarly historic city a few hours further west.
Where to stay in Budapest
Pest, the flatter side of the river, is generally the more practical base, with the Jewish Quarter putting you close to the ruin bars and restaurants, while the area around the Basilica offers a slightly quieter, more upmarket alternative within easy walking distance of the same sights. Buda tends to suit visitors who want a calmer stay near the castle and green space, though it means a bit more travel to reach Pest’s nightlife and restaurants each evening.
Getting around Budapest
The metro, trams and buses form an efficient, cheap network, and the M1 line, Europe’s second oldest underground railway, is worth riding just for the novelty. Central Budapest is compact enough to walk between Buda and Pest across the Chain Bridge, one of the more atmospheric ways to cross the river. Spring and early autumn bring milder weather than the muggy summer months, and the Christmas markets in December are worth planning a trip around if you don’t mind the cold.
Planning a wider trip? Our guide to things to do in Brighton covers another great option.
