Buda keeps the castle. Pest keeps the Parliament. The Danube runs the evening.
Which river cruise is worth the night. What a day in the Széchenyi pools costs. Whether the Parliament slot or the Basilica dome fits a short weekend. Reviews of the tours you can book in Budapest.
Castle Hillfrom $3
Parliamentfrom $4
Danube cruisesfrom $12
Thermal bathsfrom $22Out of townDay trips up the river →
Ruin barsfrom $11 Parliament in the morning, Castle Hill after lunch, the river at night, the pools the day after.
A first Budapest weekend hangs off these four bookings. What each one costs and what the people who went say about it.
- 01Pest, before noonParliament Building Entry Ticket and Audio GuideInside the riverfront Parliament: the domed hall, the Holy Crown, the grand staircase. Visits run on timed slots, so book the hour first.
02Buda, after lunchBuda Castle Walk with Saint Stephen’s HallUp Castle Hill on foot and into Saint Stephen’s Hall in the rebuilt palace, with Pest spread out across the water below.- 03The river, after darkCity Highlights Cruise with Welcome DrinkAn hour on the Danube past the floodlit Parliament with a glass in hand. Go once the lights are on; they are the whole point.
- 04Day two, earlySzéchenyi Spa Day Ticket with Optional UpgradesA day in the yellow Neo-Baroque pools of Széchenyi in City Park, where the outdoor water stays hot through January.
Budapest on foot, on two wheels or in a tuk-tuk. Choose your pace.
The two banks are a bridge apart and the sights cluster on each side. How you cross them decides how much you see before lunch.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · Buda Castle Walk with Saint Stephen’s Hall
On footCastle Hill steps, Pest boulevards, a guide who knows the stories.
By bikeRiverside lanes, both banks and the bridges between them.
By SegwayThe headline sights in ninety minutes, nobody’s feet sore.
By e-scooterFat-tyre electric scooters with a guide riding in front.
By tuk-tukA driver, a route you choose, a pickup at the hotel door.
All 71 Budapest city tours →
Buda sits on the hill, Pest spreads across the flat. Start on either side.
The palace and the bastion on the Buda bank; the Parliament, the Basilica, the old Jewish Quarter and the market hall in Pest; hot springs under both. Six places to begin, and the best tour at each.
Budapest is best seen from the middle of its own river.
Every bridge, the Parliament, the castle ridge and the Gellért Hill statue line both banks of the same stretch of water. A boat takes them in one sweep; after dark the floodlights make it a different city.
2
3Castle Hill is a small medieval town sitting on a ridge above the Danube.
The funicular saves the climb from the Chain Bridge end, but the walk up past the palace gardens is the better arrival. At the top: Matthias Church and its patterned roof tiles, the Fisherman’s Bastion terraces, and a palace rebuilt after every siege the city has been through.
Every Castle Hill tour →
The Budapest days out that fill up first.
The full Budapest list →More travellers book these than anything else in the city, and each one has earned the spot.
1
City Highlights Cruise with Welcome Drink
Board at Dock 42 for a one-hour Danube cruise past Parliament, Buda Castle, Várkert Bazár and riverside landmarks. You get one welcome drink, a choice of indoor or open-air seating, and an onboard bar. There is no live guide or audio commentary, so bring your own curiosity and aim for dusk if you want to see the city lights.
From · $14
Read our review →
2
Unlimited Prosecco, Beer and Aperol Spritz Cruise
from $28
3
Széchenyi Spa Day Ticket with Optional Upgrades
from $51
4
Nighttime or Daytime Sightseeing Cruise
from $14
5
1-Hour Evening Sightseeing Cruise with Drink
from $28
6
Budapest Danube Cruise and Dinner Options, Live Music and Dance
from $54
7
Historic Cruise with Welcome Drink
from $12
8
St. Stephen’s Basilica Entry with Terrace Option
from $9
Three Budapest afternoons you will not find in any other capital.
Old towns and river cruises are all over Europe. Hot springs under the pavement, bars in condemned tenements and a cave system beneath the suburbs are not.
Baths over Hot Springs
The city sits on more than a hundred hot springs. The Ottomans built domed bathhouses over some of them in the sixteenth century, and Rudas still bathes its visitors under one of them. Széchenyi came later, in 1913: yellow walls, outdoor pools steaming in the snow, and men playing chess waist-deep in the water.
- 1Széchenyi Spa Day Ticket with Optional Upgrades★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 23,911 reviews
- 2Full-Day Gellért Spa Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 3,340 reviews
- 3Mandala Day Spa & Luxury Pool Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,604 reviews
Ruin Bars of District VII
In the 2000s the empty tenements of the old Jewish Quarter were too run-down to restore and too cheap to ignore. Bars moved in with mismatched chairs, bathtub sofas and courtyards open to the sky. Szimpla Kert, the best known, filled a disused factory on Kazinczy utca, and the street has been loud ever since.
- 1Ruin Bar Pub Crawl with Entry Tickets★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 1,028 reviews
- 2Budapest Original Ruin Pub Crawl Including 5 Shots★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 519 reviews
- 3Budapest Ruin Pub Crawl +6 Shots +VIP Entries +Drinking Games★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 230 reviews
The Caves
The same warm water that feeds the baths dissolved the limestone under the Buda Hills into miles of passages. Most capitals keep their caves well outside the city; here they open beneath residential streets. Guided trips hand out overalls and a helmet lamp, and some routes squeeze through gaps you leave on your stomach.
- 1Buda Castle Cave Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 5,677 reviews
- 2Adventure Caving Tour with Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 978 reviews
- 3Adventure Caving Experience in Budapest★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 339 reviews
Four Budapest bookings that will not wait for you to land.
Most of this city works on the day: walk up, pay at the door. These four run on fixed slots, capped groups and boats that leave the quay on time.
- 01Parliament Building Entry Ticket and Audio GuideThe Parliament is only seen inside on a guided visit, in timed slots by language, and visits pause whenever the building is needed for state business.
- 02Opera House Guided TourThe Opera House interior is open only on a guided tour or with a ticket to a performance. Tours leave at set times.
- 03Adventure Caving Tour with GuideGroups are small because the route crawls through gaps a helmet wide. Overalls and lamps are handed out at the cave mouth.
- 04Candlelit Dinner River Cruise with Live MusicThe window tables go to whoever booked first, and the boat leaves the quay on the minute whether dinner guests are aboard or not.
Budapest is cheap until the dinner cruise. Here is the spread.
Every tour on the site sorted by price. The forint stretches a long way on foot, less far on the river after dark.
Tip-based walking tours, bath tickets, the hour-long river cruises and the Basilica terrace.
Dinner cruises, food walks, wine cellars and the Danube Bend by minibus.
Private guides with a car, tuk-tuk half-days and the long trips out of the country.
January in Budapest: frost on the Chain Bridge, steam rising off the outdoor pools.
From December to February the wind off the Danube cuts straight through a coat and the open-air sights are for brisk half-hours. The city was built for it: hot outdoor pools, wine cellars, coffee houses and concerts in old churches.
Paprika at the market, Tokaji in the cellar, lángos on the walk home.
Hungarian food is heavier and better than its reputation. Book the market walk in the morning, the wine tasting in the afternoon, and leave the evening for District VII.
Up the Danube Bend, down to Lake Balaton, across the border to Vienna.
Budapest
Szentendre
Lake Balaton
ViennaBy place — Buda, Pest and up the river
By kind of day — river, pool, cellar or bar
Just reviewed: new Budapest tours.
More of the new arrivals →
Be a movie star! Film Tour, Escape room, in Budapest and Etyek
Read our review →
Budapest 4 Hour Tour with a Local: Private & Custom, See the City Unscripted
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BUSÓJÁRÁS Unesco Heritage Folklore Carnival in Mohács
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Art Nouveau Treasures of Budapest – Exclusive Private Tour
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5 Hours Private Budapest First Class Tour with Parliament option
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Skip the Line: Aeropark Aviation Museum Entrance Ticket
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