Gellért-hegy

A 235-metre dolomite cliff rising straight out of the Buda bank, and the best vantage point over Budapest.

It is named after Bishop Gerard, an Italian missionary brought to Hungary by Stephen I to convert the country. He was killed during the pagan uprising of 1046 and, according to a tradition that may be more vivid than accurate, was put in a barrel and rolled off this hill. A large statue of him now looks out from the slope above Elisabeth Bridge.

The climb from the embankment takes a steep half-hour on stepped paths. What you get at the top is the whole river bend in a single frame: the Parliament, four bridges, the Castle, and the Pest grid running away behind them. It is the one view in the city that shows you how the two halves fit together, and it costs nothing.

The Citadella sits on the summit and the Liberty Statue above it. At the foot of the hill, cut into the rock beside the Gellért Baths, is the Cave Church.

Go at dusk, when the floodlights come on across the river. Take water in summer — the paths have very little shade.