Gellért Hill is 120 metres above the river, and that single number decides how you get there. One bus goes onto the hill and nothing on rails does, so the choice is bus 27 or your own legs.
The fast way is bus 27 from Móricz Zsigmond körtér to Búsuló Juhász (Citadella), which leaves about six minutes of gentle walking up Szirtes út.
The good way is to walk up from the river and ride or walk down the other side: about 25 minutes from any of the three riverside starting points, on stepped paths through woodland, with lookouts to stop at. Driving is possible and not worth it, because parking on the hill is limited and charged and the Citadella says so itself.
Every time below is worked out for the route and the climb, not copied from a map that thinks the hill is flat.
Location and address
By public transport
No metro and no tram climbs the hill. They bring you to its foot, and bus 27 is the only route that goes over the top.
By bus 27, the only bus onto the hill
Bus 27 runs from Móricz Zsigmond körtér up the western side of the hill. Get off at Búsuló Juhász (Citadella), on Kelenhegyi út where it meets Szirtes út.
The Citadella’s own directions put its north entrance “approximately 500 metres away, which is around a 6-minute walk” from the stop, along Szirtes út. The stop is only about 30 metres lower than the fortress, so that last stretch is a gentle rise rather than a climb. Carrying on past the north entrance to the middle of the fort is about 12 minutes from the stop.
- From Pest: metro M4 to Móricz Zsigmond körtér, then bus 27
- From Buda: trams 17, 19, 41, 47, 48, 49, 56, 56A and 61 all call at Móricz Zsigmond körtér
- Ordinary BKK tickets and passes are valid, and the Budapest Card covers the fare
Walking from Móricz Zsigmond körtér instead is about 30 minutes and 1.5 kilometres with the full climb, which is why the bus exists.
By metro M4 and tram to Szent Gellért tér
Metro M4 to Szent Gellért tér (Műegyetem) puts you at the south-east foot of the hill, by Liberty Bridge, where the paths up start behind the Gellért Hotel. Every M4 station has lifts.
Trams 19, 41, 47, 48, 49, 56 and 56A stop on the embankment side of the same square, and the low-floor CAF trams run on 19, 56 and 56A. Bus 7 crosses from Pest over Elisabeth Bridge and stops here too, as does the 133E.
From the metro it is about five minutes on foot to the Cave Church and about 25 minutes up to the Citadella.
By tram or bus to the north foot of the hill
Trams 19, 41, 56 and 56A stop at Rudas Gyógyfürdő, on the embankment below the St Gellért monument, and the paths up start across the road. Buses 5, 8A, 8E, 108E, 110 and 112 stop at Döbrentei tér, at the Buda end of Elisabeth Bridge, where the gentler path up the north face begins.
This is the end of the hill to arrive at if you are coming from Buda Castle or from the Pest side by Elisabeth Bridge, and it is about seven minutes from the Rudas stop up to the St Gellért monument.
On foot
Three ways up from the river, one across the top, and they are more different than their distances suggest. Each time below is the route distance plus a minute for every ten metres of climb, which is what the hill actually costs you.
From Szent Gellért tér (about 25 minutes)
The classic approach, and the busiest. From the square by Liberty Bridge the paths start behind the Gellért Hotel and climb the south-east face in steps and switchbacks: 960 metres and the whole 120-metre climb, so allow about 25 minutes rather than the quarter of an hour the distance alone suggests.
It is the steepest of the riverside routes and the one with the least shade, which matters in July. It is also the one with the most to look at on the way, because the city opens up behind you from the first bend.
Coming down the same way takes about ten minutes.
From Döbrentei tér (about 25 minutes)
From the Buda end of Elisabeth Bridge, the path zigzags up the north face past the St Gellért monument and its colonnade, and on to the Citadella: 959 metres and 111 metres of climb, about 25 minutes.
This is the gentler of the two main climbs, because the north face has the longer zigzags and more tree cover. It also gives you a halfway stop worth taking, at the monument, where the artificial waterfall runs down the hillside when the city has it switched on.
From the Rudas tram stop the same route is about seven minutes to the monument and about 25 minutes to the top.
From the Cave Church (about 20 minutes)
The shortest climb from the river, because the church sits about 20 metres above the embankment already: 779 metres and a 100-metre climb to the Citadella, about 20 minutes.
It makes the obvious order for a half day on the hill. Cave Church first, in the morning, while it is open and before the afternoon Mass closes it, then up to the summit.
Doing it the other way round, the walk down from the Liberty Statue to the church is about ten minutes.
Across the hill to the Tabán side (about 12 minutes from the top)
Most people arrive from the Danube and leave the same way, which is why the western slope towards Tabán stays quiet. Filozófusok sétaútja runs across it, past the Philosophers’ Garden, and comes out near Döbrentei tér.
From the Liberty Statue to the Philosophers’ Garden is about 876 metres and mostly downhill, so about 12 minutes. Carry on and you are back at the north foot of the hill without retracing a step.
From the nearby landmarks
- Buda Castle, from the Várkert Bazár lifts on the embankment: 1,739 metres, about 35 minutes up and about 25 minutes back down. Trams 19 and 41 run between Várkert Bazár and Rudas Gyógyfürdő, which takes the flat part out of it
- The Great Market Hall: 1,281 metres across Liberty Bridge and up, about 30 minutes. Metro M4 from Fővám tér to Szent Gellért tér saves the bridge if you would rather keep your legs for the climb
- Móricz Zsigmond körtér: 1,507 metres, about 30 minutes. Take bus 27 instead
By car and taxi
By hop-on hop-off bus
Accessibility
The top of the hill is accessible. Getting to the top is where it falls down, and no official source sets out a step-free walking route from the river.
- The Citadella says both the park and the exhibition are fully accessible for wheelchair users, with every level of the Round Bastion reached by lift and comfortable access throughout the park to the lookout terraces and the wall-walks
- Two lifts, one in the western rondella and one in the open park, and accessible toilets with baby-changing tables in both
- Bus 27 is the route to plan around. It leaves about 500 metres on Szirtes út to the north entrance, on a gentle gradient, which is the shortest approach there is. BKK lists its departures as wheelchair accessible
- Every path from the river is stepped. The Szent Gellért steps, the paths behind the Gellért Hotel and the zigzags on the north face all have flights of steps in them
- Metro M4 at Szent Gellért tér has lifts, as every M4 station does, and the low-floor CAF trams run on routes 19, 56 and 56A. That gets you to the foot of the hill, not up it
- The guided walk of the fortress is not wheelchair accessible, by its operator’s own description: cobbled streets, stairs and narrow corridors