Central Market Hall

The city's central market, opened in 1897 under a steel roof tiled in Zsolnay ceramics, and — crucially — still a working market rather than a food court with a heritage façade.

It was one of five covered halls built at the same time to get Budapest's food trade off the streets, and it is by far the grandest. Samu Pecz designed it; the ironwork was fabricated by the Eiffel company. Barges once unloaded directly into the basement through a canal from the Danube.

The ground floor is what it has always been: paprika in every grade from sweet to violently hot, salami, sausage, jars of preserves and vegetables — surrounded, on the aisles nearest the door, by a dense band of stalls selling embroidery to tourists. Walk past those. The basement holds fish, preserved vegetables and a small supermarket. The upper gallery is lunch counters and souvenirs, and is where most people meet their first lángos.

Entry is free and it is worth walking through even if you buy nothing.

It is closed on Sundays, which catches people out. If you want a market where locals actually shop rather than one they share with visitors, Fény utca in Buda or Hunyadi tér in District VI are the alternatives.