Fisherman's Bastion Tours

The plainest of the four, and the one most about the outside of Castle Hill. A licensed guide takes you round the cobbled streets past Fisherman’s Bastion, Matthias Church, the Royal Palace and the 19th-century funicular, with the views across the river along the way.

Entrance fees are not included, so it goes inside nothing, and you are free to go into the church or up to the lookout afterwards on your own.

It starts at 14:00 at the Holy Trinity Column in front of Matthias Church, where you show the ticket on your phone to the guide. Arrive 15 minutes early. When we checked in September it ran on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and not on Mondays or Wednesdays.

Sold as Hungarian history told as a story of power struggles, war, romance and espionage, over two and a half hours. The walk takes in Fisherman’s Bastion, the Royal Palace and Holy Trinity Square, goes inside Matthias Church with the admission included, and stops for coffee and a traditional cake in a local café.

You meet the guide, who holds a Tiqets sign, at the Holy Trinity Column in front of the church, and swap the voucher on your phone for a paper ticket there. Arrive 10 minutes early.

It is the one tour here listed as wheelchair accessible. When we checked in late September it was on sale at weekends only, from early October.

The only tour that starts at the bottom of the hill. You meet at the Zero Kilometre Stone on Clark Ádám tér, by the Chain Bridge, and walk up into the Castle District with the guide, through Buda Castle and past Matthias Church to Fisherman’s Bastion for the view of the Danube and the Parliament.

You choose the language and the option when you book. The plain walk goes inside nothing. The Matthias Church upgrade adds a guided visit inside the church, and the other upgrade adds the Hospital in the Rock nuclear bunker museum, with entry included either way. Allow two and a half to three and a half hours.

It is sold as unsuitable for wheelchair users and anyone with limited mobility, because of the cobbles, slopes and stairs, and pushchairs and large bags are not allowed. It runs in all weather.

A two-hour small-group walk that spends most of its time on Matthias Church. The itinerary gives about an hour inside the church, with a skip-the-line ticket and the guide, then about 20 minutes at Fisherman’s Bastion for the Danube and the Parliament, then Buda Castle, Sándor Palace and a photo stop by the funicular. It finishes at the palace.

It meets at the Holy Trinity Column on Szentháromság tér, where the guide waits with a purple umbrella. The operator runs it every day, rain or shine, and says the route can change for running races, filming or other events on the hill.

This is the biggest difference between the four. The Fools and Kings Tour and the Church and Bastion tour include the church. The Buda Castle Hill Tour includes it only with the upgrade. The Walking Tour of Buda stays outside, and you can buy the church’s own ticket and go in after it ends.

The church asks for covered shoulders and knees, tour or not, so dress for it if your tour goes in.

Two tours run in English only. The Church and Bastion tour adds Spanish. The Buda Castle Hill Tour runs in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Hungarian, which makes it the one to pick for a guide in German, French, Italian or Hungarian.

The two Tiqets tours run on set days only, the Walking Tour of Buda in the afternoon and Fools and Kings at weekends, so check your dates before you settle on either. The GetYourGuide tours show their times in the calendar when you book.

With limited mobility, take the Fools and Kings Tour, the one listed as wheelchair accessible, and avoid the Buda Castle Hill Tour, which climbs the hill from the river on cobbles and stairs.