The Fisherman’s Bastion has a two-tier structure. The courtyard, the arcades and the staircase are free at all times, year-round. The upper lookout needs a ticket between 09:00 and 19:00, or 21:00 from June to September, and is free outside those hours. Most visitors get the same view from the free level; the upper-lookout ticket is for visitors who want the additional height and the turrets themselves.
That ticket is sold by the Budavár municipality, which owns the bastion, and not by our partners. What our partners do sell is the guided walk of the Castle District, and this page covers both.
Guided walks that include the bastion
Three guided walks cover the bastion alongside Matthias Church and the wider Castle District. None includes the upper lookout ticket.
Walking Tour of Buda
The simple option: two hours round the Castle District with a licensed English-speaking guide, from the Holy Trinity Column at 14:00. Entrance fees are not included. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Matthias Church: Fools and Kings Tour
Goes inside the church: two and a half hours in English with admission to Matthias Church and coffee and cake in a local café included. Starts at 10:00 or 14:00. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Buda Castle Hill Tour: Fisherman's Bastion & Matthias Church
In six languages: two and a half hours from the Chain Bridge up to the bastion, in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian or Hungarian. Entry to Matthias Church or the Hospital in the Rock is an optional upgrade. Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.
Ticket types
The free level (no ticket)
The courtyard round St Stephen’s statue, the arcades along the parapet, the staircase and the connecting walkways are free public space at all times. Open 24 hours a day, year-round, lit at night.
Best for: most visitors. The arcades look out on the same Danube view as the level above them.
Upper lookout ticket
The walkway on top of the arcades and the turrets at its corners need a ticket from 09:00 to 19:00, and until 21:00 from 1 June to 30 September. The dates run from 2 January to 23 December. The combined ticket sold alongside it adds the Mary Magdalene Tower, elsewhere in the Castle District.
Best for: visitors who want the additional height of the turrets and a slightly different angle on the view. Worth it if you are already on Castle Hill and the bastion is a planned stop.
Free outside ticket hours: before 09:00, in the evening, and all day on 1 January, 15 March, 20 August, 23 October and from 24 to 31 December.
What you choose between on the upper lookout ticket
There are three rates. The full ticket is the only one sold online. The reduced ticket is for children under 14, students with a student card and pensioners. The free ticket is for children under 6, and for visitors with a disability and one companion.
Reduced and free tickets are issued only at the ticket office, because you have to show proof, so bring your student card or ID up the hill with you.
Guided walks of the Castle District
All three walks take in the bastion, Matthias Church and the Royal Palace area, and all three can be cancelled free up to 24 hours ahead. What separates them is language, length and what is included.
The Walking Tour of Buda is the short one, two hours in English with no entry fees included. When we checked in mid-September it ran on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The Fools and Kings Tour adds the inside of Matthias Church and a café stop, and was on sale at weekends only. The Buda Castle Hill Tour is the one to pick for a guide in German, Spanish, French, Italian or Hungarian.
Best for: first-time visitors who want guided context for Castle Hill rather than self-guided exploration.
Where to buy
Online: the guided walks are booked online through our partners, with a mobile ticket. The upper lookout’s full-price ticket is sold on the Budavár municipality’s own ticket site, which the municipality recommends for getting in faster.
On the spot: the upper lookout has a ticket office and ticket machines at the bastion. This is the only place to get a reduced or free ticket. The free level needs no purchase at all, so just walk up.
How to book
Pick your experience
The free level, the upper lookout, or a guided Castle District walk that takes in the bastion alongside Matthias Church. Most visitors start with just the free level.
Choose your timing
The bastion never closes. Upper lookout ticket hours are 09:00 to 19:00, and to 21:00 from June to September. Sunset and the first hour after dark are the best photo windows.
Book the walk online
The walks have fixed start times and meeting points, so book before you go up the hill. The Walking Tour of Buda and the Fools and Kings Tour both meet at the Holy Trinity Column in front of Matthias Church, 15 and 10 minutes before the start.
Go up on the day
Take the Castle bus or the funicular up, walk onto the free level, and buy the upper lookout ticket on the spot if you want to climb to the turrets.
Before you go
- The free level is free at all times: 24 hours a day, year-round, lit at night.
- The upper lookout ticket is good for one entry, so take your photos before you come back down.
- Matthias Church is a separate ticket. The two are sold within a few steps of each other, so check which queue you are in.
- Photography is allowed everywhere on the bastion, including the upper lookout.
- The guided walks go ahead on cobbles, slopes and stairs. The multi-language walk is sold as not suitable for wheelchair users; the Fools and Kings Tour is listed as wheelchair accessible.
- Check our opening hours guide for the ticket hours by season and the free days.
- See our how to get there guide for the Castle bus, funicular and walking routes up to Castle Hill.