With a week in Budapest you can stop rushing. This is the week I’d plan for a friend: five unhurried days in the city, a day up the Danube Bend and a morning at a royal palace.
Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays each close something different here, so there’s a table below that puts the days in the right order for the day you arrive.
The days are slower than in our three-day plan, with a long morning in a bath, a whole afternoon in a museum and a walk round Margaret Island. If you only have four or five days, the section near the end says which to keep.
What to book before you go
Most of this week you can do on the day. These are the things that run to someone else’s clock, so book them first.
The two day trips, for days 5 and 7. The Danube Bend tour and the Gödöllő tour leave from the same office by Eötvös tér, and both check a photo ID along with the ticket. Book these before anything else, because the rest of the week moves round the dates they run.
The Parliament tour, for day 2. You can only go inside on a guided tour at a fixed time, and the slots go days ahead. Book one at about 10:00, which leaves time for a proper breakfast first. There are separate tickets for EU and non-EU passport holders, and they check at the door, so book the one that matches yours.
The Opera House tour, for day 4. By day a tour is the only way inside. The English tour starts at 13:30, 15:00 and 16:30 every day and groups are capped, so book the 16:30.
The Buda Castle Caves, for day 1. It’s a guided tour only, booked online, and nothing is sold at the door.
The Dohány Street Synagogue, for day 3. The ticket can’t be refunded or moved, so check the date twice before you pay.
The three baths, the cruise and Memento Park you can book the day before. If you want a Budapest Card, the longest one lasts 120 hours, so it covers five of your seven days. Start it on your first morning and it pays for your buses, trams and metro until your sixth, with the History Museum and the National Museum included on the way.
Which order to do the days in
Three days of the week change what you can do in Budapest. Monday shuts most of the museums. Saturday shuts the synagogue and crowds Castle Hill. Sunday keeps the Basilica’s church and Matthias Church closed to visitors until lunchtime.
So the days below are numbered in the order that makes sense on the ground, and this table puts them in the right order for your week. Find the day of your first full day in Budapest, and do the days in the order next to it.
| Your first full day | Do the days in this order |
|---|---|
| Monday | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 5, 7 |
| Tuesday | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| Wednesday | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 4 |
| Thursday | 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 3, 4 |
| Friday | 1, 5, 6, 2, 3, 4, 7 |
| Saturday | 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 |
| Sunday | 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 5 |
Whichever day you start, the Danube Bend lands on your Saturday, which is the day to be out of town. Each day starts and ends in the centre, so if a tour date or the weather means moving one, keep to these rules:
- Days 1 and 2 can’t be a Sunday. Matthias Church doesn’t let visitors in until 13:15, and the Basilica’s church not until 13:00.
- Day 3 has to be Tuesday to Friday. The synagogue is shut on Saturdays, the National Museum and Kőleves on Mondays, and on a Sunday the market hall doesn’t open until ten.
- Days 4 and 6 can’t be a Monday. That’s when the House of Terror and Callas are shut, and so is Búsuló Juhász, the only restaurant on Gellért Hill.
- Days 5 and 7 go on a day their tour runs. On your own, day 5 can’t be a Monday, when Aquincum and the open-air museum at Szentendre are closed.
Day 1: Castle Hill, the Buda Castle Caves and the History Museum
A whole day on top of Castle Hill, at a walking pace, ending with the walk over the Chain Bridge as the lights come on. It can be any day but a Sunday.
- 08:00
Breakfast on Castle Hill
Pest-Buda Bistro on Fortuna utca, four minutes from the Bastion.
- 08:45
Fisherman's Bastion
Free and quiet before nine.
- 09:15
Matthias Church
The painted church, and the tower at ten if you want it.
- 10:45
Buda Castle Caves
A guided walk through the cellars under the hill.
- 12:30
Lunch on Fortuna utca
Café Pierrot and its courtyard garden.
- 14:00
Sándor Palace and Buda Castle
The guard on the hour, and the free courtyards.
- 14:30
Budapest History Museum
The medieval palace, and the statues found in 1974.
- 17:15
Down to the river and over the Chain Bridge
Through the Castle Garden Bazaar, then across on foot.
- 18:30
Dinner at Borkonyha
A wine restaurant seven minutes from the bridge.
Early morning: breakfast and Fisherman’s Bastion
About 08:00 to 09:15. Take bus 16 from Deák Ferenc tér in Pest. It crosses the river and climbs the hill in about eight minutes, and Szentháromság tér is a couple of minutes from the Bastion on the level.
Pest-Buda Bistro at Fortuna utca 3 opens at half past seven every day, which nothing else on the hill does. It’s a hotel bistro, so breakfast costs a bit more than it would in Pest, and it’s four minutes from the Bastion.
Fisherman’s Bastion is free at any hour, and the upper lookout only charges from nine, so before then you can go all the way up for nothing. Half an hour is enough. The Parliament is straight across the river, and you’ll be inside it on day 2.
Morning: Matthias Church and the Buda Castle Caves
About 09:15 to 12:15. Matthias Church is a minute away across the square and lets visitors in from nine. Give it three quarters of an hour, and cover your shoulders and knees. Inside, the pillars, the walls and the vaults are painted from the floor up.
The tower is 197 steps with no lift, on a separate ticket sold only by the church, in half-hour slots from 09:30 to 12:00 and again from 14:00 to 16:30. Each slot starts with a ten-minute guided talk. Take the 10:00 and be at the door five minutes early, because there’s no slot at all between noon and two.
From the church it’s about three minutes to the Buda Castle Caves. Walk back along Országház utca and take the first left into Dárda utca. These are the cellars and wartime shelters cut under the Castle District, and it’s 12°C down there all year, so bring a layer even in August.
There are two tours, 40 minutes or about an hour and a half. Book one that starts at about 10:45, once you’re down from the tower. The long one ends in time for lunch, and the short one leaves you an hour to wander Országház utca and Úri utca first.
The door at Dárda utca 2 opens ten minutes before the start and the group leaves on time, with no refund if you’re late. The long tour meets at the Holy Trinity Column instead, so go by the meeting point on your voucher. The short tour takes children from five, the long one from twelve, and neither is step-free.
Lunch at Café Pierrot
About 12:30 to 13:45. Café Pierrot at Fortuna utca 14 is four minutes from the cave door and opens at half past eleven, Wednesday to Sunday. It has a courtyard garden at the back, which is the nicest place to sit on the hill, and it’s mid-range to dear.
On a Monday or Tuesday it’s shut, so go back to Pest-Buda, which is open all day.
Afternoon: Buda Castle and the Budapest History Museum
About 14:00 to 17:15. Walk south along the hill to Szent György tér, about twelve minutes on cobbles. The guard changes on the hour outside Sándor Palace, the president’s office, so you’ll be there for the two o’clock. The full ceremony is at noon.
The courtyards and terraces of Buda Castle are free at any hour. Bear in mind the palace is being rebuilt, so expect fences, cranes and paths that move.
Then give the rest of the afternoon to the Budapest History Museum in Building E, entered from the Lion Courtyard. It’s the medieval royal palace underneath the later one, its rooms and cellars, and it’s open every day, Mondays included. One ticket covers everything, with no timed slot, and it stays valid for thirty days if you want to come back. Go to the top floor first.
The room to find is the Gothic statues. In 1974 more than sixty torsos and thousands of fragments came out of a sealed cellar in front of the palace, carved by masters from several parts of Europe, some of them never finished, and nobody knows why they were buried.
The cloakroom is compulsory and free, and rucksacks don’t go into the exhibitions. Two to three hours is about right, and the last entry is 17:30.
Evening: down to the river and over the Chain Bridge
From about 17:15. Walk down through the gardens of the Castle Garden Bazaar to the river, about eight minutes. There’s an open-air escalator and lifts on the way, which make it the step-free way between the castle and the water.
Turn left along the river and it’s about ten minutes to Clark Ádám tér and the Chain Bridge, which takes about seven minutes to walk across. In winter it’s dark by now and the bridge is lit. In summer, cross now and come back to the river after dinner for the lights.
Borkonyha at Sas utca 3 is about seven minutes from the Pest end of the bridge, towards the Basilica. It’s a wine restaurant first, so let them choose the wine, and it’s a proper splurge. From Monday to Thursday it opens at six in the evening, and it’s closed on Sundays.
Map of day 1
The seven pins run in the order you reach them, north to south along the top of Castle Hill, then down to the river and over the bridge into Pest.
Day 2: the Parliament, St Stephen’s Basilica and Margaret Island
Pest’s riverside in the morning, the green island in the middle of the Danube in the afternoon, and the river again after dark. It can be any day but a Sunday, and it’s the one to put on a Monday, because nothing on it is a museum.
- 08:45
Breakfast at Artizán
Pastries on Hold utca, thirteen minutes from the Parliament.
- 09:45
The Parliament tour
Your 10:00 slot, 45 minutes inside.
- 11:00
The Shoes on the Danube
Five minutes south along the quay.
- 11:30
St Stephen's Basilica
The church and the terrace round the dome.
- 13:00
Lunch at Két Szerecsen
The daily menu on Nagymező utca.
- 14:15
Margaret Island
Bus 26 to the top, then a slow walk back.
- 17:15
Tram 2 down the river
Seven minutes along the Pest embankment.
- 17:45
Dinner at Dunacorso
Looking across the water at Buda Castle.
- 19:30
Evening cruise
An hour on the Danube with everything lit.
Breakfast and the Parliament tour
About 08:45 to 11:00. Artizán at Hold utca 3 opens at seven on weekdays, and it’s thirteen minutes’ walk from the Parliament. Have the pastries. The best breakfast pastries I’ve had in this city came from that counter, and it’s bakery prices.
Be at the Hungarian Parliament a quarter of an hour before your slot for the security check. The only drink you can take in is half a litre of something clear, in a plastic bottle. There’s nothing to eat on Kossuth Lajos tér, so don’t count on a coffee by the gate.
The tour is 45 minutes. The room everyone remembers is the Dome Hall under the 96-metre dome, where the Holy Crown is kept under guard. Visits sometimes stop at short notice for sittings and state events. If that happens, you’ll still see the building lit from the river tonight.
Late morning: the Shoes on the Danube and St Stephen’s Basilica
About 11:00 to 12:45. Go down to the river at the south end of Kossuth tér and follow the embankment south. Five minutes on are the Shoes on the Danube Bank, sixty pairs of iron shoes on the stone edge above the water, a memorial to the Jews shot into the river here in 1944 and 1945. It’s a short stop, and not the place for a selfie.
Ten minutes further along the quay you reach Széchenyi István tér, at the Pest end of the Chain Bridge. Turn inland up pedestrianised Zrínyi utca and it’s about seven minutes to the front steps of St Stephen’s Basilica.
If you’ve bought online, go to the ticket office at Szent István tér 2 first and use the Prepaid Online Tickets lane, then walk over to the church at number 1. Go inside, then up to the Panorama Terrace round the dome. Allow an hour to an hour and a half, and cover your shoulders and knees.
Gelarto Rosa at Szent István tér 3 is two minutes from the door and opens at eleven every day. They shape the gelato into a rose, and it’s a treat to have before lunch, not instead of it.
Lunch at Két Szerecsen
About 13:00 to 14:00. Walk ten minutes east to Két Szerecsen at Nagymező utca 14. It’s open all day, every day, which makes it the safe lunch on a Monday, when several places round here are shut. Have the daily lunch menu. It’s reliable rather than remarkable, and mid-range.
Afternoon: Margaret Island
About 14:15 to 17:00. Walk six minutes to Oktogon and take tram 4 or 6 one stop to Nyugati pályaudvar. From there, bus 26 crosses Margaret Bridge onto the island and runs the length of it. Ride it about nine minutes to Szállodák, by the hotels at the north end, and walk back.
Margaret Island is 2.5 kilometres long, with no cars and flat paths all the way. The first time I went, I walked on from the bridge and was barely in the middle an hour later. That’s why I’d ride to the top and walk back, which fills the afternoon at an easy pace.
If you’d rather pedal, Bringóvár by the Danubius hotel, right by the bus stop, hires out four-wheeled pedal cars every day of the year, from 09:00 to 18:30. You pay at the end, the cars can’t leave the island, and under-18s can only hire with a parent.
In the middle of the island is the water tower, finished in 1911 and built from the start to be a lookout as well. It’s 153 steps up, and its opening hours are published a month at a time, so it may be shut out of season.
On the eastern bank are the ruins of the Dominican convent where King Béla IV’s daughter Margaret went to live in 1252, and the island is named after her. The walls stand a metre or so high, and her grave is marked among them.
The musical fountain at the south end is shut for a rebuild until May 2027, so don’t wait for it. There’s nowhere on the island I’d plan a meal round, which is why lunch came before and dinner is back on the river.
Evening: tram 2 down the river, dinner and a cruise
From about 17:15. From the south end of the island, take tram 4 or 6 one stop to Jászai Mari tér, then tram 2, which runs along the Pest embankment. It’s the river cruise you can ride on a transport ticket, so sit on the river side. It’s seven minutes to Vigadó tér.
Dunacorso at Vigadó tér 3 is a minute from the stop, on the promenade looking across at Buda Castle. It’s open from noon to eleven every day, with the kitchen closing at ten. You’re paying partly for the view, and it’s five minutes from the cruise pier.
Then the river. Boats leave from the Legenda pier at 7 Jane Haining rakpart, down on the lower quay. In summer the light goes late, so book a sailing after dark if you want to see everything lit.
Map of day 2
Pins 1 to 3 are the morning on foot along the Pest bank. Pin 4 is the island to the north, and the day comes back down the river by tram to the cruise pier at pin 5.
Day 3: the Great Market Hall, the Great Synagogue and the National Museum
This one has to be a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. The synagogue is shut on Saturdays, the museum on Mondays, and the market hall is at its best on a weekday morning. It’s a day in the middle of Pest with a long museum afternoon, and it ends in the old Jewish Quarter.
- 08:00
Breakfast at Butter Brothers
Sourdough and coffee, five minutes from the market.
- 08:45
Great Market Hall
Three floors, before the crowds.
- 10:00
Dohány Street Synagogue
Two stops on tram 47 or 49, for the doors opening.
- 12:15
Lunch at Kőleves
The daily lunch menu in the old Jewish Quarter.
- 13:45
Hungarian National Museum
An afternoon with Hungary’s history.
- 16:45
The New York Café
Coffee and cake under the chandeliers.
- 19:30
Dinner at Gettó Gulyás
Hungarian stews done properly.
- 21:00
Szimpla Kert
The original ruin bar, two minutes away.
Breakfast and the Great Market Hall
About 08:00 to 09:45. Start at Butter Brothers at Lónyay utca 22, a bakery and bistro that opens at seven on weekdays. Have the sourdough and a coffee. It’s cheap to mid-range and five minutes from the market hall, and the M4 at Fővám tér, which has lifts at every station, gets you there from anywhere.
The Great Market Hall has three floors, with produce and butchers at ground level, food and souvenirs up on the gallery, and fish and pickles in the cellar. It’s quietest before eleven on a weekday. Buy your paprika here, and carry some cash, because the smallest stalls want it.
All the cooked food is upstairs, and each stall keeps its own hours, several of them opening later than the hall. So treat this as a look round, not a meal. Three quarters of an hour is plenty.
Morning: the Dohány Street Synagogue
About 10:00 to 12:00. Take tram 47 or 49 from Fővám tér two stops to Astoria, three minutes, and walk five minutes to Dohány utca. The Dohány Street Synagogue opens at ten, and it’s the largest synagogue in Europe.
There’s a security check at the gate, and the fast-track ticket takes you past the ticket queue but not past that. Cover your shoulders and knees, and men cover their heads. One ticket covers the whole complex, which takes in the synagogue, the Hungarian Jewish Museum, the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park, the Heroes’ Temple and the cemetery.
Take the guided tour, which is included and runs 45 minutes to an hour, because the memorials in the garden behind are hard to make sense of on your own. The one people stop at longest is the Tree of Life, a weeping willow in metal. Allow an hour and a half to two hours in all.
Lunch at Kőleves
About 12:15 to 13:30. Kőleves at Kazinczy utca 37-41 is nine minutes’ walk into the quarter and opens at noon from Tuesday to Sunday. It’s a Hungarian menu with a cheaper daily lunch menu, mid-range, and its garden is next door.
Afternoon: the Hungarian National Museum
About 13:45 to 16:30. Walk about a quarter of an hour south to the Hungarian National Museum at Múzeum körút 14-16. You buy tickets at the desk, with no timed slot. The ticket office closes at 17:00 and the rooms start closing at 17:30, so getting there before two gives you the two to three hours the permanent exhibitions need.
The second floor is the History of Hungary, twenty rooms from the founding of the state to the rise and fall of communism, and it’s the part I’d give most of the afternoon to. The first floor is archaeology, from prehistory to the arrival of the Magyars.
The rooms with the Coronation Mantle and the Seuso Treasure are shut while they’re rebuilt, with no reopening date, so if those are what you came for, check before you go. The cloakroom is compulsory, and only a handbag up to 30 by 25 by 15 centimetres goes in with you.
Late afternoon: coffee at the New York Café
About 16:45 to 18:00. Walk about eighteen minutes north-east to the New York Café at Erzsébet körút 9-11. Before six in the evening you can’t book, so everyone queues. It’s a splurge, and you come for the room, all gilding, marble and chandeliers, so have a coffee and a cake rather than a meal. It’s worth doing once.
That leaves an hour or so to go back to where you’re staying before dinner.
Evening: Gettó Gulyás and the ruin bars
From about 19:30. Gettó Gulyás at Wesselényi utca 18 is ten minutes from the café and open from noon to eleven every day. It does Hungarian stews properly, which is harder to find in this city than you’d think. Have the venison stew with juniper and porcini, and the túrógombóc, curd dumplings, if there’s room. It’s good value for the quarter.
Then walk two minutes to Szimpla Kert on Kazinczy utca, the original ruin bar. It fills up after nine, so go early or go late. Our ruin bars guide has the others.
Map of day 3
The day makes a loop round the middle of Pest. It starts at the market hall by the river, goes north to the synagogue, south to the museum, and back up into the quarter for the evening.
Day 4: Széchenyi Baths, City Park, the House of Terror and the Opera
Any day but a Monday, when the House of Terror and Callas are both shut. It starts slowly, in the hot water at seven, and works its way back down Andrássy Avenue to the Opera. At a weekend the bath doesn’t open until eight, so start an hour later and give City Park less time.
- 07:00
Széchenyi Thermal Bath
The outdoor pools at opening time.
- 09:45
Breakfast at Pavilon Kert
A chimney cake, four minutes from the bath.
- 10:30
City Park and Vajdahunyad Castle
The lake and the castle.
- 11:30
Heroes' Square
The chieftains and the kings.
- 12:15
Lunch at Gundel
The grand restaurant by the park.
- 13:30
House of Terror
Two to three hours at Andrássy út 60.
- 16:30
The Opera House tour
An hour inside, and a song on the stairs.
- 17:45
Dinner at Callas
Next door to the Opera.
Early morning: Széchenyi Thermal Bath
About 07:00 to 09:45. Take the M1 to Széchenyi fürdő, two minutes from the door. The day-ticket entrance is round the far side, so walk round before you join a queue. Széchenyi opens at seven on weekdays, and early on a weekday is the best time of all.
On a weekday morning soon after seven I had a corner of the big outdoor pool to myself, which never happens in the afternoon. The hot pool in the courtyard is kept at 36 to 38°C, and the bath suggests no more than twenty minutes at a time in it, so swap between it and the cooler pools round it.
Bring a towel and flip-flops, because nothing is for hire, and a cap if you want the lap pool. You have to be 14 or over. Online tickets get priority when it’s full.
Mid-morning: City Park and Heroes’ Square
About 09:45 to 12:15. You’ll come out hungry. Pavilon Kert at Állatkerti körút 3 is four minutes from the bath, a garden with four counters, and Kató Néni’s opens at nine every day with chimney cake, including one filled with ice cream. It’s an open-air garden, so I’d count on it from spring to autumn. In winter, have breakfast where you’re staying before the bath.
Then wander into City Park, about eleven minutes to Vajdahunyad Castle on the lake. There are pedal boats on the lake in summer, and it turns into an ice rink in winter.
Heroes’ Square is seven minutes on, free and open. Seven Magyar chieftains ride at the foot of the column, and fourteen of Hungary’s rulers stand along the two colonnades behind. Half an hour is plenty, and there’s no shade on it at all.
Lunch at Gundel
About 12:15 to 13:15. Gundel at Gundel Károly út 4 is four minutes from the square, open every day, with its lunch menu from 11:30. It’s the grandest meal on this page and the dearest, and the Somló sponge cake is the house dessert. For something cheaper, go back to Pavilon Kert, where Buja Disznó(k) does breaded cutlets and hearty plates from eleven.
Afternoon: the House of Terror
About 13:30 to 16:00. Take the M1 from Hősök tere three stops to Vörösmarty utca, three minutes. Mind the name, because Vörösmarty tér is at the other end of the line. The House of Terror is about 100 metres up Andrássy út from the station.
This is the building where the political police held prisoners, and a slow lift takes you down to the cells in the cellar. Tickets are sold only at the museum’s own desk, and you hire the audio guide there too, because the rooms say very little on their own. Give it two to three hours. The cash desk closes at 17:30.
It’s grim, and some people find it too much, which is fair. It’s closed on Mondays and for a week in late January, and it shut at short notice in 2026, so check its website the night before.
Late afternoon: the Opera House tour
About 16:15 to 17:30. Walk eleven minutes down Andrássy Avenue to the State Opera House for the 16:30 English tour. It takes an hour through the foyers, the grand staircase and, unless there’s a rehearsal on, the auditorium under its painted ceiling.
Every tour ends with a short concert by Opera soloists on the staircase landing. Photos are allowed, without flash. When the auditorium is closed for a rehearsal, the tour goes to other parts of the house instead.
Evening: dinner at Callas and Andrássy Avenue lit up
From about 17:45. Callas Café at Andrássy út 20 is two minutes from the Opera’s front door, with tables on the pavement facing it. The food is Hungarian and good, and it’s dear. It’s open from noon to midnight, Tuesday to Sunday, so on a performance night it’s one of the few places you can still eat after the show.
It takes a fortnight off in the depths of winter. In those weeks, Két Szerecsen from day 2 is five minutes away and open every evening.
Afterwards, walk a stretch of Andrássy Avenue. If it’s dark by then, the lamps are lit and it’s at its best.
Map of day 4
The day runs from the top of Andrássy Avenue to the bottom. Pins 1 to 3 are in and around City Park, and the M1 under the avenue takes you down to pins 4 and 5.
Day 5: the Danube Bend, with Esztergom, Visegrád and Szentendre
The table puts this on your Saturday, the day Castle Hill is busiest and the synagogue is shut, so it’s a good one to spend out of town. North of Budapest the Danube turns sharply between wooded hills, and the three old towns along that bend make the classic day out.
- 08:00
Breakfast at Mamie
Cakes and coffee on Nádor utca, twelve minutes from the coach.
- Morning
Meet the coach
The Eurama office by Eötvös tér, with your photo ID.
- First
Esztergom
Inside the basilica, the one building you go into.
- Next
Slovakia and Visegrád
Photo stops above the river.
- Last
Szentendre
A walk round the old town.
- Evening
Back in Pest
A simple dinner at Belvárosi Disznótoros.
Breakfast and the meeting point
Before the time on your voucher. Mamie at Nádor utca 26 opens at eight every day, with cakes, biscuits and butter brioche, and it’s twelve minutes’ walk from the meeting point. If your voucher has an earlier start than that allows, eat where you’re staying.
The tour meets at the Eurama office at Apáczai Csere János utca 12, two minutes from the Eötvös tér stop on tram 2 and buses 105 and 178. Show your ticket on your phone with a valid photo ID.
On the tour: Esztergom, Visegrád and Szentendre
About nine and a half hours. The coach takes a group of no more than four, with a live guide in English, German, French, Italian or Spanish. Know before you book what you go inside, because it’s one building all day, the basilica at Esztergom. Szentendre is walked rather than toured, Visegrád is a photo stop, and there’s a second photo stop across the border in Slovakia.
The basilica’s church is open every day. The crypt, the treasury and the dome lookout shut from mid-January to late February, and the building isn’t wheelchair accessible. A three-course Hungarian lunch is included, though drinks are not.
I tried all three towns on my own once, by train and ferry, and spent more of the day travelling than looking. Two is the most you can do in a day without a coach, and that’s the case for the tour.
The return is by coach. A boat home is sold from May to September, but only at weekends and only when there’s enough water in the Danube, and the operator can still switch it. In 2026 low water stopped the scheduled Danube Bend boats from mid-July, so treat the boat as a bonus, not the reason you booked.
Evening: back in Pest
From the end of the tour. The coach brings you back to the city centre, and after a three-course lunch you’ll want something simple. Belvárosi Disznótoros at Király utca 1/d, by Deák Ferenc tér, is about ten minutes’ walk from the office. You pick your meat at the butcher’s counter and they grill it while you wait, with pickles and bread. It’s the cheapest proper meal on this page, and it’s open until ten on a Saturday.
On your own instead: Szentendre, Óbuda and Aquincum
A full day, at your own pace. Without the coach, I’d do Szentendre and stop on the way home at Óbuda and the Roman town at Aquincum, which are all on the same suburban line. Esztergom is about an hour and five minutes by train from Nyugati station, but joining it to the other two on your own is where the day goes wrong.
About 08:30 to 12:00. The H5 suburban train leaves Batthyány tér, on the M2, about every 20 minutes and takes 39 minutes to Szentendre. Read the destination on the front, because many trains turn back at Békásmegyer.
A Budapest pass or Budapest Card only covers you as far as Békásmegyer, at the city boundary, so buy the H5 suburban railway tour ticket for the rest. It’s valid all day, there and back, and it’s sold in the MÁV app and at MÁV ticket offices and machines, not by the inspectors on the train. The last trains back leave Szentendre after eleven at night.
From the station it’s about eleven minutes north on foot to Fő tér. Go early, because the tour groups fill the streets by midday. The Kovács Margit Ceramic Collection at Vastagh György utca 1, just off the square, is open every day from 10:00 to 18:00. The open-air museum, the Skanzen, is out of town by local bus, shut on Mondays and closed for the winter from mid-November, so I’d leave it for another trip.
About 12:30 to 14:00. Take the H5 back 30 minutes to Szentlélek tér, Óbuda’s own station, and walk six minutes to Kéhli on Mókus utca for lunch. It’s been in the same business for about 125 years, it opens at noon every day, and the dishes its kitchen leads on are slow-roast goose leg with braised red cabbage, stuffed cabbage, and goulash in a cup or a bowl. On a Saturday the kitchen shuts from 16:00 to 17:30, so don’t leave lunch late.
About 14:15 to 17:15. Bus 34 or 134 from Szentlélek tér gets you to the Aquincum Museum in under twenty minutes, door to door from Kéhli. It’s the Roman town that stood here before Budapest, mostly open ground, and you walk its streets past the bath houses and the forum. Give it two to three hours. It’s shut on Mondays, and the last entry is 17:30 from April to October. From Aquincum the H5 is fourteen minutes back to Batthyány tér.
In winter the last entry is 15:30 and the park only opens in dry weather, so turn the day round. Do Aquincum first, at ten, then lunch at Kéhli, then Szentendre in the afternoon.
Map of day 5
Pins 1 to 3 are the three towns on the tour, from Esztergom furthest up the river back down to Szentendre. Pin 4, Aquincum, is on the H5 line if you go on your own.
Day 6: Memento Park, Gellért Hill and Rudas Baths
The table puts this on a Sunday for most arrival days, which suits it, because the Basilica’s church and Matthias Church don’t let visitors in until lunchtime anyway. Just don’t make it a Monday, when the only restaurant on Gellért Hill is shut.
- 09:00
Breakfast at Fekete
Coffee and a cinnamon roll in a courtyard on Múzeum körút.
- 10:15
Memento Park
The city’s communist statues, out at the edge of town.
- 12:45
Lunch at Búsuló Juhász
The only restaurant on Gellért Hill.
- 14:15
The Citadella and the Liberty Statue
The fortress walls and the view over the river.
- 16:15
Rudas Thermal Bath
The Ottoman pool under the dome, and the one on the roof.
- 20:00
Dinner at Déryné
On Krisztina tér, five minutes by tram.
Breakfast at Fekete, then out to Memento Park
About 09:00 to 12:00. Fekete at Múzeum körút 5 serves specialty coffee in a courtyard, and the cinnamon rolls are the thing to have. It’s open every day by nine, with the kitchen running from the morning to the middle of the afternoon.
Walk seven minutes to Kálvin tér, take the M4 to the end of the line at Kelenföld vasútállomás and leave by the Őrmező exit. Bus 101E towards Budatétény takes nine minutes to the Memento Park stop, and 101B works too. The stop is east of the park, so walk west to the brick gate. Allow about three quarters of an hour door to door.
When communism fell, Budapest didn’t melt its monuments down. It put 41 of them in a park in District XXII, and Memento Park is where they stand now, in five semicircles: Lenin, Marx and Engels, Captain Ostapenko and the soldiers of the Red Army. It opens at ten every day of the week.
The strangest thing here is out front, a full-size copy of the grandstand that stood on Parade Square in the middle of the city, under an eight-metre bronze Stalin. On 23 October 1956 the crowd sawed him off at the knees and pulled him down, and only his boots were left. You can climb up to the balcony.
Give it an hour to an hour and a half. The park’s own guided tour in English starts at 11:15 on the days its booking calendar shows, and takes seventy minutes. The paths are gravel, there are steps up to the grandstand, and there’s no shelter anywhere, so this morning wants a dry day.
Lunch on Gellért Hill
About 12:00 to 14:00. Take bus 101E back to Kelenföld, then tram 19 or the M4 to Móricz Zsigmond körtér. From there, bus 27 is the only bus that goes up onto Gellért Hill, to the Búsuló Juhász stop. The whole trip is about three quarters of an hour.
The stop is named after the restaurant beside it. Búsuló Juhász at Kelenhegyi út 58 opens at noon from Tuesday to Sunday, with a small terrace and a big covered one, and the kitchen takes orders until ten. It’s a view restaurant, so mid-range to dear.
Afternoon: the Citadella and the Liberty Statue
About 14:00 to 16:00. The Citadella, the fortress on top of Gellért Hill, is nine minutes’ walk up from the restaurant. It reopened in April 2026 after a rebuild that began in 2020, and the park inside the walls is free.
The one thing with a ticket is the Bastion of Liberty exhibition inside the fortress, in timed slots every twenty minutes, with lifts to every level. Last entry is 16:40, except on a Friday, when it’s 18:40. Out front stands the Liberty Statue, and the lookouts take in every bridge in the middle of the city, with Castle Hill and the Parliament up the river.
Late afternoon: Rudas Thermal Bath
About 16:15 to 19:40. Walk down the north side of the hill to Döbrentei tér and Rudas, about ten minutes. The reason to come here is the Turkish bath, built between 1566 and 1572 and in use for more than 450 years, an octagonal pool under a ten-metre dome held up on eight pillars. Nothing else in Budapest feels like it.
Up on the roof is a panorama pool at 36°C, looking across the river at Pest. You have to be 14 or over, you’ll want a cap for the swimming pool, and booking ahead is a good idea at weekends.
The Turkish bath is open to men and women together all day at weekends, and from 11:00 on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays it’s women only and on Wednesdays men only, all day, so if you’re a couple, keep this day off those two.
Rudas closes at 20:00 on every day but Monday. The cash desks shut an hour before, and you have to be out of the pools twenty minutes before the doors close.
From May to early August, when the sun is still up at eight, do it the other way round. Go down to Rudas straight after lunch, then walk back up the north path, about eight minutes, for the evening light. The Citadella park stays open until midnight from April to October.
Evening: dinner at Déryné
From about 19:45. Take tram 56A from Rudas Gyógyfürdő to Krisztina tér, five minutes, then walk three minutes to Déryné at Krisztina tér 3. It’s open until midnight or later every night and has its own bakery. It’s mid-range to dear, with an oyster, caviar and steak list at the top end that’s worth knowing about before you sit down.
Map of day 6
Memento Park is pin 1, far out to the south-west. The rest of the day is on Gellért Hill and at its foot by the river.
Day 7: Gödöllő Palace and Lukács Baths
This one works on any day the Gödöllő tour runs. The morning is a coach out to the royal palace at Gödöllő, which leaves at ten and drops you back in the centre in the early afternoon. The rest of the day is a long soak with the regulars, and on a Tuesday Lukács stays open until 22:00.
- 09:00
Breakfast at Gerbeaud
Coffee and the house cake on Vörösmarty tér.
- 10:00
The coach to Gödöllő
Four hours, with the palace tour.
- 14:15
Late lunch at Kiosk
On the river by Elisabeth Bridge.
- 16:00
Lukács Thermal Bath
Tram 19 or 41 up the Buda bank to the bath.
- 19:15
Dinner at Mazel Tov
Middle Eastern food in a covered courtyard.
Breakfast at Gerbeaud and the coach to Gödöllő
About 09:00 to 14:00. Gerbeaud at Vörösmarty tér 7-8 opens at nine every day. You can’t book, so take the first free table. It’s a grand café, so the dearest coffee and cake you’ll have all week, and the Gerbeaud slice is the house cake. The meeting point is five minutes’ walk away.
The coach leaves at ten from the same Eurama office as the Danube Bend tour, at Apáczai Csere János utca 12, and they check a photo ID with the ticket. The whole thing takes four hours, with a live guide in one of five languages and skip-the-line entry to the palace.
Gödöllő is the Baroque royal palace east of the city, best known as a residence of Queen Elisabeth, Sisi. From April to October it’s open every day of the week, which is rare for a Hungarian museum. It’s shut on 1 November, and from late October to the end of January the palace park closes at 16:00. A renovation of the whole palace is under way, so expect some works.
To go on your own instead, take the H8 suburban train from Örs vezér tere, at the end of the M2, and get off at Gödöllő, Szabadság tér, one stop before the end. It takes about 42 minutes and leaves you about 200 metres from the palace. Gödöllő is outside the city boundary too, so ask for the suburban railway tour ticket for the H8 and H9 by name.
Late lunch at Kiosk
About 14:15 to 15:30. The tour has no meal in it. Kiosk at Március 15. tér 4, by the Pest end of Elisabeth Bridge, is about ten minutes’ walk from the office. It’s a proper sit-down meal on the river, mid-range, open from noon. The kitchen stops between 16:30 and 17:30 every day, so order before half past four.
Afternoon: Lukács Thermal Bath
About 16:00 to 18:40. Walk over Elisabeth Bridge to the Rudas Gyógyfürdő stop, about eleven minutes, and take tram 19 or 41 north along the Buda bank under Castle Hill. It’s about thirteen minutes to Szent Lukács Gyógyfürdő, two minutes from the gate of Lukács.
After Széchenyi and Rudas, this is the quiet one. The afternoon I spent here, I seemed to be the only person in the courtyard pool who wasn’t a regular. Head for the outdoor adventure pool, kept at 33 to 35°C all year, with bubble beds, neck showers and a ring of current that carries you round, which is easy to miss. Inside are three medicinal pools at 32, 36 and 40°C.
You have to be 14 or over, and you’ll want a cap in the swimming pools. Sauna World takes a ticket of its own and opens at 14:00 on weekdays. The bath closes at 19:00, or 22:00 on a Tuesday, with the cash desks closing an hour before and the pools twenty minutes before.
Evening: dinner at Mazel Tov
From about 18:45. Walk about eight minutes to the Margit híd, budai hídfő stop and take tram 4 or 6 over Margaret Bridge to Király utca / Erzsébet körút, nine minutes, then walk seven minutes to Mazel Tov at Akácfa utca 47. It’s about 25 minutes door to door.
It’s a covered courtyard, bright and calm by day and a busy bar by night, with Middle Eastern food rather than Hungarian. Shakshuka, falafel and hummus are what it’s known for, it’s mid-range, and the kitchen takes orders until ten, or half past on a Friday or Saturday. People book ahead, so it’s worth doing the same. Our ruin bars guide has more on it.
Map of day 7
Gödöllő is pin 1, well east of the city. Pins 2 and 3 are the afternoon, from the Pest bank by Elisabeth Bridge up the Buda bank to the bath.
Change the week to suit you
The week above is the one I’d plan for a first visit. If you’re into something in particular, here’s what to swap.
Love food
The meals I’d send a food lover to are already in the week: Borkonyha’s wine on day 1, Gundel on day 4 and Gettó Gulyás’s stews on day 3. The one swap I’d make is lunch on day 3.
After the synagogue, take tram 47 or 49 back to Fővám tér, three minutes, and eat upstairs on the market hall’s gallery instead of at Kőleves. Lángos is the thing to have. Then it’s one stop on the same tram to Kálvin tér for the museum.
Love history
On day 1, swap the caves for the Hospital in the Rock, the wartime hospital and Cold War bunker inside Castle Hill. It’s guided tours only, every day, with the last at 18:00.
If you take the tour on day 5, you never see Roman Budapest. Unless day 7 is a Monday, swap Gödöllő for Aquincum. The H5 takes fourteen minutes from Batthyány tér, and it opens at ten. Lunch at Kéhli is about twenty minutes back down the line, and from Kéhli the H5 and a short walk get you to Lukács in about the same.
Want to relax
On day 7, swap the coach for the Buda Hills. The cog railway, which is part of the city network, takes fourteen minutes from Városmajor up to Széchenyi-hegy. Walk twelve minutes to Normafa and have lunch at Normafa Síház, which opens at noon from Tuesday to Friday and at eleven at weekends, and is shut on Mondays.
Then walk about 22 minutes along the ridge to the top of the Zugliget Chairlift, which takes about twelve minutes down on a ticket of its own and is out of service on Mondays of even weeks. Bus 291 from the bottom takes about twenty minutes to Margit körút, and Lukács is about eight minutes’ walk from there. Up in the hills I had the views without any of Castle Hill’s crowds.
Here for the nightlife
On a Saturday, Rudas runs night bathing from 22:00 to 03:00 on a ticket of its own, sold online only, which makes a late finish to the Danube Bend day. It runs on Fridays too.
Mazel Tov on day 7 stays open until midnight from Friday to Sunday. Weekends are when the stag parties are out in the old Jewish Quarter, so a weekday night there is calmer. Our ruin bars guide has the bars beyond Szimpla.
With children
All three baths on this page only let in over-14s. On day 2, take younger ones to Palatinus on Margaret Island, open every day, with a slide park and outdoor pools in summer. On day 4, swap the House of Terror for the Budapest Zoo, a few minutes from Heroes’ Square.
The Buda Castle Caves’ short tour takes children from five, and the long one from twelve. The Buda Hills day in the Want to relax tab suits children well. Before you book a day trip, check the tour’s age rules.
If you only have four or five days
Four days: keep days 1 to 4. That’s all of Castle Hill, the Parliament and the Basilica, the synagogue and the National Museum, and the bath, the House of Terror and the Opera, with none of it rushed. Keep to the rules in the table section: days 1 and 2 not on a Sunday, day 3 from Tuesday to Friday, and day 4 not on a Monday.
Five days: add day 5 if you want a day out of town. If you’d rather not spend a day on a coach, add day 6 instead, which needs nothing booked but the Memento Park ticket.
Six days: drop day 7, or keep the Gödöllő morning and drop Memento Park from day 6.
If a day runs late, these are the parts to let go first: the Matthias Church tower on day 1, the north end of Margaret Island on day 2, the New York Café on day 3 and the Bastion of Liberty exhibition on day 6. Protect what you’ve booked, because the synagogue ticket can’t be moved.
On the day you arrive or leave, airport bus 100E, which needs its own ticket, ends at Deák Ferenc tér. If you land in the afternoon, spend the evening on day 3’s Gettó Gulyás and the ruin bars, and skip them when day 3 comes round. On the way out, day 7’s afternoon at Lukács is the gentlest last few hours.
If it rains, or it’s winter
A week will have a wet day in it somewhere. The days that mind are day 6, because Memento Park and Gellért Hill are out in the open, and the Margaret Island afternoon on day 2. Swap day 6 with a drier day if you can, as long as it keeps to the rules. On a wet day 2, drop the island, ride tram 2 the whole length of the embankment, and take a longer lunch.
Everything else is mostly indoors, and the baths are better in bad weather. If you go to Szentendre and Aquincum on your own, remember that Aquincum in winter only opens when it’s dry.
In winter, the Parliament closes at 16:00, which a 10:00 slot leaves plenty of room for. The synagogue closes at 16:00 too, and at 14:00 on a Friday, which is why day 3 has it in the morning. Memento Park closes earlier in the afternoon, so be out there by late morning. The Citadella park keeps shorter hours from November to March, from 08:00 to 22:00.
Out of town, the Esztergom basilica’s crypt, treasury and dome are shut from mid-January to late February, the Skanzen closes for the winter from mid-November, and Gödöllő’s park closes at 16:00 from late October to the end of January. Pavilon Kert is an open-air garden, so I wouldn’t count on it in January.
Callas takes a fortnight off in deep winter, the House of Terror closes for a week in late January, and the Matthias Church tower is shut from 21 December to 1 January. On public holidays the market hall is shut and Széchenyi keeps its weekend hours, and many of these places close on 24, 25 and 26 December.
If day 6 isn’t a Sunday, the Cave Church, cut into the rock above the embankment near the foot of Gellért Hill, is worth a stop. It’s shut on Sundays and during the Mass that starts at 17:00 every day.
For less time, see our one day in Budapest, weekend in Budapest and three days in Budapest plans, or pick from the best things to do in Budapest.
