Fisherman's Bastion

The equestrian statue of St Stephen, the first king of Hungary, by sculptor Alajos Stróbl was set up in 1906, the year after the bastion opened. It stands in the courtyard between the bastion and Matthias Church, and Schulek designed its Neo-Romanesque plinth himself.

Walk round the plinth before you head for the view. The reliefs show scenes from Stephen’s reign, his coronation among them, and in one a master builder kneels before the king holding a model of a church. That is Schulek. Stróbl slipped the architect into his own monument.

Free to view at all times.

The covered walks along the parapet are the visit’s main architectural payoff. Schulek modelled them on the cloister of a Romanesque monastery, and the detail holds up at close range: carved capitals, stone benches, gargoyles and hanging lamps. The building was designed to be looked at and walked through, not just photographed.

The arcades are free, 24 hours a day, year-round, and every arch frames the Danube and Pest. For most visitors this level is enough.

Bear in mind that part of the arcades and the north towers belong to a restaurant and a café terrace, and at those tables the view comes with a drink. The free stretches are on either side, so keep walking.

The ticket buys you the walkway on top of the arcades and the turrets at its corners, one storey above the free level. The view is the same river and the same Parliament. What you gain is height over the heads of the crowd, the turret windows to shoot through, and the full circuit of the walls.

Worth it for photographers and for anyone who likes to have seen all of a place. Not essential if you only want the panorama. It is reached by stairs, and we found no lift.

Tickets are sold on the spot, at a ticket office and ticket machines, and the upper level is free before 09:00 and again in the evening once the ticket hours end.

The view east across the Danube to the Hungarian Parliament is the shot everyone comes for. The Parliament sits directly opposite the bastion; the framing through the bastion’s white-stone arches is the classic composition.

Its river front faces west, towards you, so the sun is behind it in the morning and on it from the afternoon until sunset. The first hour after dark is best for the lit-up Parliament against the night sky. Early morning gives the calmest crowds for unobstructed compositions.

If the inside interests you as much as the outside, tours of the Parliament are booked separately and sell out ahead.

The grand staircase on the river side is the part most visitors only see from the top. It climbs from Hunyadi János út, divides in two below the walls and arrives in the tower courtyards, and it is how Schulek meant the bastion to be approached.

Look for the stone warriors of the Árpád era standing in the niches either side of the steps, and for the statues of János Hunyadi and of St George and the dragon below the walls.

Walk down at least as far as the first landing and look back up. This is the best view of the bastion itself, and few of the people on the terraces above ever see it. Buses 16 and 216 stop at the bottom and carry on up into the Castle District, if you don’t fancy the climb back.

The bastion has been floodlit since 1928, and after dark is when it looks its best. The upper lookout is free once the ticket hours end, and the Parliament is lit up across the river.

It won’t be empty. On a summer evening plenty of people have had the same idea, but there is room at the parapet, which there often isn’t at midday.

The funicular stops running at 22:00, so check your way down before you settle in.