Central Market Hall
Ferencváros & the Great Market Hall4.3(122,366)out of 5 on Google
Closed · Friday from 06:00
🏛️ What to see
Things to do in Budapest
Two cities on two banks, joined in 1873 and never quite reconciled: royal, hilly, medieval Buda on one side and flat, imperial, nineteenth-century Pest on the other. Every major sight, museum, viewpoint and monument, sorted by district, with live opening hours.
174 places
Heroes' Square
City Park & Heroes' Square4.7(87,190)out of 5 on Google
Buda Castle
Castle District4.7(69,513)out of 5 on Google
Széchenyi Chain Bridge
Belváros & Lipótváros4.7(64,632)out of 5 on Google
Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden
City Park & Heroes' Square4.5(48,973)out of 5 on Google
Closed · Friday from 09:00
Gellért-hegy
Gellért Hill & Tabán4.7(37,081)out of 5 on Google
Hungarian Parliament Building
Belváros & Lipótváros4.8(29,471)out of 5 on Google
Closed · Friday from 08:00
The Church of Our Lady of Buda Castle
Castle District4.8(26,441)out of 5 on Google
Closed · Friday from 09:00
House of Terror Museum
Terézváros & Andrássy Avenue4.1(24,382)out of 5 on Google
Closed · Friday from 10:00
Hungarian State Opera
Terézváros & Andrássy Avenue4.7(24,305)out of 5 on Google
Museum of Fine Arts
City Park & Heroes' Square4.7(16,760)out of 5 on Google
Closed · Friday from 10:00
Buda or Pest first?
If you have one day, spend the morning on the Castle Hill and the afternoon in Pest. The hill is compact and best early, before the tour groups arrive from the funicular; Pest is a grid you can walk into the evening.
The three that need planning
Most of Budapest can be seen by turning up. Three cannot:
- The Parliament is interior-access by guided tour only, and tours sell out days ahead in season.
- The Opera House is the same — a building tour, or a ticket to a performance.
- The Hungarian National Gallery and the museums in the City Park each deserve a half-day, not the hour people usually allow.
Where the views are
The Fisherman's Bastion terraces are the famous one and get the crowds. Gellért Hill is a harder walk and better: from the Citadella you see the whole river bend, both Parliament and the Castle, in one frame. The Elizabeth Lookout in the Buda Hills is the one almost no visitor reaches, and on a clear day it sees further than either.
Tickets & tours
We may earn a commission from these. It never changes your price.
Where to stay in Budapest
Live prices and availability on a map centred on this exact spot — hotels, apartments and hostels, so you can judge the walk from here rather than guess from an address.
Bookings made through this map earn us a commission. Your price is unaffected.
Before you go
Skip-the-line ticketsEntry booked ahead for museums, baths and towers — which on a winter Saturday at Széchenyi is a genuinely long queue avoided.Check tickets →City passOne pass covering a set of attractions. It pays off only above roughly three paid sights a day — worth the arithmetic before you buy.See what it covers →Self-guided audio toursA guided route on your own phone, at your own pace, for a fraction of a walking tour. Good in the Castle District and the Jewish Quarter, where the story is not written on the buildings.Browse audio tours →Experiences & day tripsDanube cruises, bath entries, Szentendre and the Danube Bend, and the ruin-bar crawls — booked ahead.Browse experiences →
We may earn a commission from these. It never changes your price.
Frequently asked
How many days do you need in Budapest?
Three is the honest answer for a first visit: one for Buda, one for Pest, and one that is mostly a thermal bath. Two works if you skip the museums.
What is free to visit in Budapest?
Heroes' Square, the Shoes on the Danube memorial, the Chain Bridge, all of Margaret Island, the Great Market Hall's ground floor, and the walk up Gellért Hill.
Is the Budapest Card worth it?
It depends entirely on how many paid museums you actually enter. It includes public transport, so if you plan three or more ticketed sights a day it usually pays; for a bath-and-walking trip it does not.