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 sell is guided walks of the Castle District that take in the bastion, and our tours guide compares them.
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 turrets and the full walk round the top of the walls, above the crowd on the arcades.
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.
Where to buy
Online: 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
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. Outside them, and on the free days, you need no ticket at all.
Buy ahead or on the spot
Full-price tickets can be bought ahead on the municipality’s ticket site, or at the machines and the ticket office when you get there.
Go up on the day
Take the Castle bus or the funicular up, walk onto the free level, and climb to the turrets when you are ready.
Before you go
- 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.
- 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.