Three days is the length I’d tell a friend to come for. It’s enough to see Budapest properly, with time left over to sit in a café and do nothing.
Day 1 is Buda, with Castle Hill in the morning and Gellért Hill at sunset. Day 2 crosses the middle of Pest, from the Great Synagogue to the Parliament, and ends on the river after dark. Day 3 runs up Andrássy Avenue to the Opera, Heroes’ Square and the hot pools at Széchenyi.
The days don’t have to go in that order, and on some days of the week they mustn’t. The table below shows which day to make which, so nothing is shut when you get there.
What to book before you go
Five things on this trip are worth booking first. Fit the days round them.
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. From April to October, aim for one at about 15:30. From November to March the building closes at 16:00, so take an early afternoon slot and see the Basilica after it instead. 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 Dohány Street Synagogue, for the morning of day 2. The ticket can’t be refunded or moved, and the synagogue is shut every Saturday and on Jewish holidays, so check the date twice before you pay.
The Opera House tour, for day 3. 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 13:30.
The Hospital in the Rock, for day 1. It sells timed tickets on its own website, and once bought they can’t be withdrawn. English tours leave on the hour, so book the 11:00. You can also buy at the door on the day, first come, first served.
St Stephen’s Hall in Buda Castle, also for day 1, is visited in timed slots. Book one for the middle of the afternoon, or take the guided walk on day 1 that includes it.
The bath and the evening cruise you can book the day before, or on the day. For getting around, a 72-hour travelcard covers every bus, tram and metro ride on this route.
Which day to do Buda, Pest and Andrássy
Three closures decide the order.
- Day 2 can’t be a Saturday. The synagogue is shut all day.
- Day 3 can’t be a Monday. The House of Terror is closed, and so is Callas, the lunch stop by the Opera.
- Day 1 should be a weekday, and never a Sunday. Matthias Church doesn’t let visitors in until 13:15 on a Sunday, and on a Saturday morning Castle Hill is the busiest place in the city.
| If your three days are | Day 1, Buda | Day 2, Pest | Day 3, Andrássy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday to Wednesday | Wednesday | Monday | Tuesday |
| Tuesday to Thursday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday |
| Wednesday to Friday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Thursday to Saturday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Friday to Sunday | Friday | Sunday | Saturday |
| Saturday to Monday | Monday | Sunday | Saturday |
| Sunday to Tuesday | Tuesday | Monday | Sunday |
If day 3 lands on a Friday, you’re in luck. Széchenyi stays open until 22:00 that night, so you can take the bath slowly.
Two of those rows put day 2 on a Sunday. That works, but the market hall doesn’t open until 10:00 on a Sunday, so skip it and have breakfast near the synagogue instead.
On a Monday day 1, Café Pierrot and the restaurant on Gellért Hill are both shut, and on a Tuesday Pierrot is. Day 1 says where to eat instead.
Day 1: Castle Hill, the Hospital in the Rock and Gellért Hill
Day 1 is all Buda and nearly all on foot. You ride up Castle Hill, walk its length from north to south, come down to the river and climb Gellért Hill for the sunset.
- 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.
- 09:00
Matthias Church
The painted interior when it opens, and the tower if you want it.
- 10:40
Along the west wall to the Hospital in the Rock
Your 11:00 tour, an hour underground.
- 12:15
Lunch on Fortuna utca
Café Pierrot and its courtyard garden.
- 14:00
Sándor Palace and Buda Castle
The guard on the hour, then St Stephen’s Hall.
- 16:30
Down through the Castle Garden Bazaar
To the river, then up the north side of Gellért Hill.
- 17:30
The Citadella on Gellért Hill
Every bridge in the city below you, then dinner on the hill.
The last two times move with the sunset, which is before four in December and around a quarter to nine in June. In winter you go up the hill earlier, and in summer you eat first and climb later.
Early morning: breakfast and Fisherman’s Bastion
About 08:00 to 09:00. Take bus 16 from Deák Ferenc tér in Pest. It crosses the Chain Bridge, climbs the hill and stops at Szentháromság tér, in the middle of everything you’ll see this morning. It’s a far easier way up than the funicular, which you’d pay for separately.
Pest-Buda Bistro at Fortuna utca 3 opens at half past seven every day, and nothing else on the hill opens that early. It’s a hotel bistro, so breakfast costs a bit more than it would in Pest, and it’s four minutes from the Bastion.
Then Fisherman’s Bastion. The arcades and terraces are free at any hour, and the upper lookout only charges from nine, so before then you can go all the way up for nothing. Walk the arcades on the river side and the Parliament is straight across the water. You’ll be inside it tomorrow.
Morning: Matthias Church and the Hospital in the Rock
About 09:00 to 12:00. Matthias Church is a minute away across the square and opens to visitors at nine. Give it 45 minutes to an hour. The inside is patterned and painted from the floor to the vaults, with no plain stone anywhere.
The tower is a separate ticket, sold in half-hour slots from 09:30 to 12:00 and again from 14:00 to 16:30. If you want to go up, take the 10:00 slot. There’s nothing at all between noon and two, and by two you’ll be at the other end of the hill.
From the church, walk along Szentháromság utca to Tóth Árpád sétány, the promenade along the west wall. Opposite the church, a staircase and a lift go down to Lovas út, and the entrance to the hospital is a few steps to the right at the bottom. It’s about five minutes’ walk.
The Hospital in the Rock is in the caves under the hill, fifteen metres down. It opened as a hospital in 1944, took in the wounded again in 1956, and was turned into a nuclear bunker between 1958 and 1962. You can only see it on the hour-long guided tour, and it’s the part of Castle Hill I’d least want you to miss.
It’s 15 to 18 degrees down there all year. I went on a hot August morning in a T-shirt and was glad of the cape they lend you free at the door. There’s no phone signal, children under six aren’t let in, and it isn’t recommended for under-12s. Be there twenty minutes before your tour.
Lunch on Fortuna utca
About 12:15 to 13:30. Go back up the stairs and it’s eight minutes to Café Pierrot at Fortuna utca 14. It opens at half past eleven and has a courtyard garden at the back, which is the nicest place to sit on the hill. It’s mid-range to dear.
Pierrot is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. On those days, have lunch at Pest-Buda, where you had breakfast, six minutes from the hospital.
Afternoon: Buda Castle and St Stephen’s Hall
About 13:45 to 16:30. Walk south along the hill. It’s about a quarter of an hour on cobbles to Szent György tér and Sándor Palace, the President’s residence, where the guard changes on the hour. You’ll be there for the two o’clock. The full ceremony is at noon, which you’ve traded for the bunker.
Then Buda Castle itself. The courtyards and the terraces on the river side are free at any hour, and the terraces look straight down on the Chain Bridge. Bear in mind the palace is a building site, so expect fences, cranes and paths that move.
The room to pay for is St Stephen’s Hall, with its carved panelling and the portraits of Hungary’s kings round the walls. It’s visited in timed slots, so book one before you go, or take the guided walk below, which includes it. The last tour of the hall starts at 17:15, and the Castle Museum beside it takes its last visitors at 17:30.
In December, when the sun’s down before four, cut this part short and leave for Gellért Hill by half past three.
Late afternoon: down to the river and up Gellért Hill
About 16:30 to 17:30. From the palace, walk down through the gardens of the Castle Garden Bazaar to the river. It’s about eight minutes, and the lifts at the bottom end make it the step-free way between the castle and the water.
Turn right along the river. About ten minutes on, at Döbrentei tér by the Buda end of Elisabeth Bridge, the gentler path up the north side of Gellért Hill begins. It’s about eight minutes to the top, and it is a climb, so take it slowly.
Evening: sunset from the Citadella, and dinner on the hill
From about 17:30. The Citadella, the old fortress on top of the hill, reopened in April 2026 after more than five years of rebuilding. The park inside its walls is free, open until midnight from April to October and until 22:00 in winter, and the Liberty Statue stands at the front of it.
From the lookouts you can see every bridge in the middle of the city, Castle Hill where your day began, and the Parliament far up the river. I’ve stood up here on a November evening as the light went, with the Parliament lit at the end of the river, and it’s the view of Budapest I’d climb for again. This is the side of the river to be on when the city lights up.
Búsuló Juhász at Kelenhegyi út 58 is the only restaurant on the hill, nine minutes from the Citadella, with a terrace to eat on. It’s open from noon, Tuesday to Sunday, and the kitchen takes orders until ten. It’s a view restaurant, so it’s mid-range to dear. In winter, eat after the sunset. In June, when the sun doesn’t set until about a quarter to nine, eat first and walk up for the last of the light.
On a Monday, Búsuló Juhász is shut. Walk down the north side and over Elisabeth Bridge to Kiosk on Március 15. tér, about twenty minutes from the Citadella and open every day. The kitchen runs until ten but stops for an hour from half past four, so on a winter Monday have a drink first and order after half past five.
If you’ve got hours to spare before a summer sunset, Rudas Thermal Bath is at the foot of the hill by Elisabeth Bridge. Go before you climb, because it closes at 20:00 on every day but Monday.
To get home, walk down the far side of the hill to Szent Gellért tér, about a quarter of an hour from the restaurant, for the M4 or trams 47 and 49 back into Pest.
Map of day 1 in Budapest
The six pins are in the order you reach them, north to south along the Buda bank. Pins 1 to 4 are on top of Castle Hill, and the day comes down to the river only once, between pins 4 and 5.
Day 2: the market hall, the synagogue, the Basilica and the Parliament
Day 2 crosses the middle of Pest from south to north, mostly on foot, and ends on the river after dark. It’s the longest day of the three, broken up by lunch in the Jewish Quarter and cake before the Parliament.
- 08:00
Breakfast at Butter Brothers
Sourdough and coffee, five minutes from the market hall.
- 08:45
Great Market Hall
The ground floor before the crowds arrive.
- 10:00
Dohány Street Synagogue
Two stops on tram 47 or 49, for the doors opening.
- 12:15
Lunch at Gettó Gulyás
Hungarian stews, six minutes from the synagogue.
- 13:30
St Stephen's Basilica
The church, and the terrace up by the dome.
- 14:45
Coffee at Mamie, then the Parliament
Cake on Nádor utca, then your 15:30 tour.
- 16:45
The Shoes on the Danube and the Chain Bridge
Along the quay to the Pest end of the bridge.
- 18:00
Dinner on the promenade
Dunacorso, looking across at Castle Hill.
- 19:30
Evening cruise
An hour on the Danube with everything lit.
Breakfast and the Great Market Hall
About 08:00 to 09:40. Start at Butter Brothers at Lónyay utca 22, a bakery and bistro that opens at seven on weekdays and eight at weekends. Have the sourdough and a coffee. It’s five minutes from the market hall, and the M4 to Fővám tér, which has lifts at every station, gets you there.
The Great Market Hall is quietest before eleven on a weekday, which is why you’re here now. The ground floor is produce, butchers and the strings of dried paprika everyone photographs, and it’s the place to buy paprika to take home.
Every counter that cooks is upstairs on the gallery, and each stall keeps its own hours, several of them opening later than the hall. So treat this as a look round rather than a meal. Forty-five minutes is about right. The one time I stayed past eleven, the lunch crowd had arrived and it was elbows all the way down the aisles.
On a Sunday the hall doesn’t open until 10:00, and it’s shut on public holidays. On those days skip it and have breakfast at Stika at Dob utca 46/a, which opens at eight at weekends and is eleven minutes’ walk from the synagogue.
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 in Europe.
There’s a security check at the gate, and the fast-track ticket gets 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: the synagogue, the Jewish Museum, the Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Park with its metal Tree of Life, the Heroes’ Temple and the cemetery.
Take the guided tour, which runs 45 minutes to an hour and comes with your ticket. Without it, the memorials in the garden at the back are hard to make sense of. Allow an hour and a half to two hours in all.
This is why the synagogue goes first on day 2. On a Friday it closes at 16:00, and at 14:00 from November to February, with last entry an hour before that. A morning visit fits on any day it’s open.
Lunch at Gettó Gulyás
About 12:15 to 13:15. Gettó Gulyás at Wesselényi utca 18 is six minutes away and opens at noon 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.
If you’d rather something different, Mazel Tov on Akácfa utca is twelve minutes from the synagogue and also open from noon every day, with Middle Eastern food in a covered courtyard. Our ruin bars guide has more on it.
Afternoon: St Stephen’s Basilica
About 13:30 to 14:30. It’s a thirteen-minute walk west to Szent István tér and 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 to swap your voucher, then walk over to the church at number 1.
Inside, find the Holy Right, King Stephen’s mummified hand, in its glass case. Cover your shoulders and knees for the church.
Then go up to the Panorama Terrace, the highest lookout in Pest, 65 metres up.
The terrace and the Treasury stay open until 19:00 every day, after the church has closed. On a Sunday the church doesn’t let visitors in until 13:00, which is why this plan gets here at half past one.
Late afternoon: coffee at Mamie and the Parliament tour
About 14:45 to 16:45. Mamie at Nádor utca 26 is nine minutes north of the Basilica, on the way to the Parliament, and it’s open from eight until eight every day. It’s the pastry shop of the Artizán bakery family, with cakes, biscuits and butter brioche. There’s nothing to eat by the Parliament itself, so this is the stop. Leave by about ten past three.
From Mamie it’s nine more minutes to Kossuth Lajos tér and the Hungarian Parliament. Be there a quarter of an hour before your slot for the security check, and allow an hour in all for a 45-minute tour.
The tour takes in the Grand Staircase and the Dome Hall under the 96-metre dome, where the Holy Crown is kept under guard, and that’s the one room where you can’t take photos. Visits sometimes stop at short notice for sittings and state events. If that happens to you, the building from the river tonight is the consolation.
From November to March, when the building closes at 16:00, swap this round. After lunch, walk five minutes to Astoria and take the M2 two stops to Kossuth Lajos tér for an early afternoon tour. Then walk the quay past the Shoes and up Zrínyi utca to the Basilica, whose church is open until quarter to six, and come back down the same street to the Chain Bridge for the evening.
Evening: the Shoes on the Danube, the Chain Bridge and a cruise
From about 16:45. Go down to the river at the south end of Kossuth tér and follow the embankment south. After five minutes you reach the Shoes on the Danube Bank, sixty pairs of iron shoes on the stone edge above the water. They remember the Jews shot into the river here in 1944 and 1945, and people still leave candles and flowers in them. It’s a short stop, and it’s not the place for a selfie.
Ten minutes further along the quay is the Pest end of the Chain Bridge. Walk out to the middle, a few minutes each way, and look back at Castle Hill, where you were yesterday. In winter the bridge and the palace are lit by now.
Dunacorso on Vigadó tér is nine minutes south of the bridge, on the promenade facing Castle Hill. It’s open from noon to eleven every day, with the kitchen closing at ten. You’re paying partly for the view, but it’s the best-placed dinner on the river, and the cruise pier is five minutes away.
Then the river. Boats leave from the Legenda pier at 7 Jane Haining rakpart, down on the lower quay. The Parliament is lit from dusk, and on a May evening I went it was half past eight before the floodlights came on, so in summer book a later sailing and let the light go first.
Map of day 2 in Budapest
The seven pins are in the order you reach them. The day goes north through Pest from the market hall to the Parliament, then turns back south along the river, so it finishes a few minutes’ walk from where the boats leave.
Day 3: Andrássy Avenue, the Opera, Heroes’ Square and Széchenyi Baths
Day 3 runs up Andrássy Avenue from the city end to City Park, with the old M1 underneath for when your legs need it, and ends in the hot water.
- 08:30
Breakfast at the New York Café
The grand café, before the queue builds.
- 10:00
House of Terror
Two hours or more at Andrássy út 60.
- 12:30
Lunch at Callas
Next door to the Opera House.
- 13:30
Opera House tour
An hour inside, and a song on the staircase at the end.
- 14:45
The M1 to Heroes' Square
Five stops on the old yellow metro.
- 15:30
City Park and Vajdahunyad Castle
A short wander to the bath.
- 16:00
Széchenyi Thermal Bath
Two or three hours in the outdoor pools.
- 19:00
Dinner, then the ruin bars
Gundel by the park, or back into town.
Breakfast at the New York Café
About 08:30 to 09:45. The New York Café at Erzsébet körút 9-11 opens at seven every day. You can’t book a table before six in the evening, so everyone queues, and first thing in the morning is the time to try.
Come for the room, all gilding, marble and chandeliers. It’s a splurge, and the food isn’t why you’re here, so have coffee and a pastry rather than a big breakfast. Then walk a quarter of an hour up the boulevard to Oktogon and along Andrássy Avenue to number 60.
Morning: the House of Terror
About 10:00 to 12:15. The House of Terror opens at ten, and that’s the time to come, before the queues build. This was the Arrow Cross headquarters in 1944 and then the communist political police’s, where prisoners were held and beaten, and a slow lift takes you down to the cells in the cellar.
The room texts are in Hungarian, with a printed English sheet in each room, so hire the audio guide at the desk if you’d rather listen than read. Give it two hours or more. It’s grim, and some people find it too much, which is fair. It’s also the place that explains this city’s 20th century better than anywhere else.
Tickets are sold only at the museum’s own desk, so there’s nothing to book for plain entry. It’s closed on Mondays and for a week in late January, and it has shut at short notice before, so check its website the night before.
If you’d rather see communist Budapest with a guide, the walk below includes entry to the museum. It takes three hours and runs at set times, starting in front of the Opera House, so on that day it takes the place of this morning and lunch. Check the slots against your Opera tour when you book.
Lunch at Callas, by the Opera House
About 12:30 to 13:25. Walk back down the avenue, past Oktogon, to the Opera House. It’s about eleven minutes. Callas Café at Andrássy út 20 is two minutes from the Opera’s front door, with tables on the pavement looking straight at it. The food is Hungarian and good, it’s dear, and it opens at noon from Tuesday to Sunday. It takes a fortnight off in the depths of winter, so in January or February check its website.
If Callas is shut, Két Szerecsen at Nagymező utca 14 is five minutes away and open all day, every day. Have the daily lunch menu.
Afternoon: the Opera House tour
About 13:30 to 14:30. The State Opera House is Miklós Ybl’s gilded opera house, and the English tour at 13:30 takes an hour through the foyers, the 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 grand staircase landing, with your group sitting on the steps below. Photos are allowed, without flash. When the auditorium is closed for a rehearsal, the tour goes to other parts of the house instead.
The M1 to Heroes’ Square and City Park
About 14:45 to 16:00. Walking the rest of the avenue takes over half an hour, so ride under it. The M1 stops on the pavement outside the Opera, and it’s five stops to Hősök tere in little yellow trains, through tiled stations just under the street. Every M1 station is stairs only.
Heroes’ Square is free and open, and half an hour is plenty. Seven Magyar chieftains ride at the foot of the column, and fourteen of Hungary’s rulers stand along the two colonnades behind. There’s no shade on it at all, which you’ll notice in July.
Walk behind the square into City Park, seven minutes to Vajdahunyad Castle on the lake, where there are boats to hire in summer and an ice rink in winter. The bath’s yellow domes are nine minutes further on.
Late afternoon: Széchenyi Thermal Bath
About 16:00 to 18:45. You’ve earned Széchenyi. Its outdoor pools are warm enough to sit in all year, with the yellow wings of the bath all round you, and two to three hours is about right. Day tickets are sold round the far side of the building, so walk round before you join a queue.
Bring a towel and flip-flops, because nothing is for hire, and a swimming cap if you want the lap pool. You have to be 14 or over. Last entry is an hour before closing, which is 20:00 on most days and 22:00 on a Friday, and you have to be out of the water twenty minutes before the doors shut.
If you’ve been to Széchenyi before, or you’d rather somewhere quieter, our thermal baths guide compares the others.
Evening: dinner, then the ruin bars
From about 19:00. Gundel at Gundel Károly út 4 is six minutes from the bath, and it’s the grandest dinner on this trip and the dearest. It’s open every day, with the kitchen taking orders until nine, and the Somló sponge cake is the house dessert.
For something simpler, take the M1 from Széchenyi fürdő back to Opera and walk five minutes to Két Szerecsen, which is open until half past eleven every night.
Then, if you’ve still got the legs, walk eleven minutes from Két Szerecsen to Szimpla Kert on Kazinczy utca, the original ruin bar. It fills up after nine. I went expecting to stay for one drink and to feel too old for it, and it turned out to be one of the best nights of the trip. Our ruin bars guide has the others.
Map of day 3 in Budapest
Pins 2 to 6 run in a straight line up Andrássy Avenue to the bath, with the M1 under the whole of it. Pin 1 is breakfast on the Grand Boulevard, and pin 7 is back in the old Jewish Quarter for the night.
Change the trip to suit you
The three days above are the classic first visit, and if you just want a good trip, follow them as they are. If you’re into something in particular, here’s what to swap.
Love food
On day 2, swap lunch at Gettó Gulyás for Belvárosi Disznótoros on Király utca, seven minutes from the synagogue and open every day. You pick your meat at the butcher’s counter and they grill it while you wait. It’s the cheapest proper meal on this page and the least like a tourist restaurant.
For dinner on day 2, swap the promenade for Borkonyha on Sas utca, four minutes from the Basilica. It’s a wine restaurant first, and a proper splurge, so let them choose the wine. It’s closed on Sundays, so on a Sunday day 2, keep Dunacorso.
Love history
On day 1, swap St Stephen’s Hall for the Buda Castle Caves, the passages that run under the hill a few minutes from Matthias Church. You can only go in on a guided tour booked online, and it’s 12 degrees down there all year.
If you can add a morning, Memento Park is where Budapest’s communist-era statues ended up. It’s open every day from 10:00, entirely outdoors, and about ten minutes by bus 101E from Kelenföld, at the end of the M4.
Want to relax
Drop the House of Terror on day 3 and have a slow breakfast instead, then get to Széchenyi by half past two for three unhurried hours in the water. On day 1, skip the Hospital in the Rock and take your time over lunch in Pierrot’s garden.
If you’d like a second bath, make it Rudas on day 1, at the foot of Gellért Hill before you climb it. Its Turkish bath is more than 450 years old, with an octagonal pool under the dome, but some days it’s men only or women only, so check our Rudas page before you go.
Here for the nightlife
Szimpla Kert fills up after nine, so go early or go late. Mazel Tov on Akácfa utca turns from a bright lunch room into a busy bar at night, and stays open until midnight from Friday to Sunday.
If your day 1 is a Friday or a Saturday, Rudas runs night bathing from 22:00 until 03:00 on a separate ticket, at the foot of the hill where your evening ends. Weekends are when the stag parties are out in the old Jewish Quarter, so a weekday night there is calmer.
With children
Széchenyi only lets in over-14s, so on day 3 swap the bath for the Budapest Zoo, a few minutes from Heroes’ Square, or City Park’s Main Playground, open every day from half past eight until dusk. Our thermal baths guide says which baths take children.
The Hospital in the Rock doesn’t admit under-6s. For younger ones on day 1, the short tour of the Buda Castle Caves takes children from five. Skip the House of Terror with children of any age, and give day 3’s morning to Andrássy Avenue on foot instead.
Short on time, or got longer?
If a day runs late, drop things in this order: the market hall on day 2, the Matthias Church tower on day 1, and the last hour of the House of Terror on day 3. Protect the things you’ve booked, because the synagogue ticket can’t be moved and the Hospital in the Rock’s can’t be withdrawn. Protect the sunset on Gellért Hill, the bath and the river at night too.
If you land mid-morning on day 1, take airport bus 100E, which needs its own ticket, to Deák Ferenc tér. That’s where bus 16 up Castle Hill starts. Book a later tour at the Hospital in the Rock. Matthias Church lets visitors in until 17:00 on a weekday, so you can still see the whole hill.
If you’ve got a fourth day, use it to leave the city. The Danube Bend takes a whole day, and the half-day coach trip to the royal palace at Gödöllő leaves at ten and drops you back in the centre for the afternoon. Margaret Island and Lukács bath make a slower fourth day without leaving town. Our week in Budapest plan has all of it.
If it rains, or it’s winter
Day 1 is the one that minds the weather, because Gellért Hill and the castle terraces are out in the open. If you can, put it on the driest of your three days, as long as it keeps to the weekday rules above. In rain, stay longer in the Hospital in the Rock and the Castle Museum, and swap the climb for Rudas at the foot of the hill.
Days 2 and 3 are mostly indoors. On day 2, take tram 2 along the river from Kossuth Lajos tér to Széchenyi István tér, by the Chain Bridge, instead of walking the quay. On day 3, keep the bath. Sitting in hot water while it pours is one of the best things to do in Budapest.
In winter the Parliament closes at 16:00 (day 2 says how to swap it round), and the synagogue closes at 16:00 too, earlier on a Friday, which the morning visit already allows for. It’s dark by five, and before four in December, so go up Gellért Hill straight after the castle. Callas takes a fortnight off in deep winter, the House of Terror closes for a week in late January, and the Matthias Church tower shuts over Christmas and New Year.
On Hungarian public holidays the market hall is shut and Széchenyi keeps its weekend hours, opening at 08:00. Over Christmas, many of these places close on 24, 25 and 26 December, so check each one before you plan those days.
For less time in the city, see our one day in Budapest and weekend in Budapest plans. For longer, try a week in Budapest, or pick from the best things to do in Budapest.
