The aim of our blog is to provide useful information for our guest about Budapest. There will be posts about what to see, how to see, what to eat, where to have party, how to travel at Budapest and more.
When you arrive to Budapest and even you have just a short time to look around there are some places that you must see!
These are the most frequented places by tourists during the whole year. In the following post we collected our most desired places and give you a short description about them.
Let's see the list:
1. Parliament
The Hungarian Parliament Building (Hungarian: Országház, which translates to House of the Country) is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings, a notable landmark of Hungary and a popular tourist destination of Budapest. It lies in Lajos Kossuth Square, on the bank of the Danube, in Budapest. It is currently the largest building in Hungary. (source: http://goo.gl/NDUKA)
Description:
The Parliament building, designed by Imre Steindl and completed in 1902, has 690 sumptuously decorated rooms but you'll only get to see three on a guided tour of the North Wing: the main staircase and landing, where the Crown of St. Stephen, the nation's most important icon, is on display, along with the ceremonial sword, orb and the oldest object among the coronation regalia, the 10th-century Persian-made sceptre with a crystal head depicting a lion; the Loge Hall; and the Congress Hall, where the House of Lords of the one-time bicameral assembly sat until 1944. The building is a blend of many architectural styles (neo-Gothic, neo-Romanesque, neobaroque) and overall works very well. Unfortunately, what was spent on the design wasn't matched in the building materials. The ornate structure was surfaced with a porous form of limestone that does not resist pollution very well. Renovations began almost immediately after building crumbles. Members of parliament sit in the National Assembly Hall in the South Wing from February to June, and September to December. You can join a tour in any of eight languages - they depart continually in Hungarian, but the English-language ones are at 10am, noon and 2pm. To avoid disappointment, book ahead in person. (source: Lonely Planet: Budapest City Guide)
Info:
Országház; +361 441 4904, +361 441 4415; V Kossuth Lajos tér 1-3, Gate X; admission for EU citizens free other adult/student and child 2640/1320 HUF/person; 1st of May to 30th of September, 8am-6pm Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm Sat, 8am-2pm Sun.
You can go by Metro line 2, M2 Kossuth Lajos tér station
2. Chain Bridge
Perhaps this is the most symbolic monument of Budapest at least for our team for sure.
This is a twin-towered structure to the south, is the city's oldest and arguable its most beautiful bridge. It is named in honour of its initiator, István Széchenyi, but was built by a Scots-man named Adam Clark. When it opened in 1849, Chain Bridge was unique for two reasons: it was the first permanent dry link between Buda and Pest; and the aristrocracy - previously exempt from all taxation - had to pay the toll. (source: Lonely Planet, Budapest City Guide)
3. Royal Palace
The enormous palace complex has been razed and rebuilt at least a half-dozen times over the past seven centuries. Béla IV established a royal residence here in the mid-13th century and subsequent kings added on to it. The palace levelled in the battle to rout the Turks in 1686; the Habsburgs rebuilt it, but spent very little time here. Today the Royal Palace contains two important museums as well as the National Széchenyi Library, which contains codices and manuscripts, a large collection of foreign newspapers and a copy of everything published in Hungary or the Hungarian language. It was founded by Count Ferenc Széchenyi (1754-1820), father of István Széchenyi, who endowed it with 15,000 books and 2000 manuscripts. There are two royal entrances to the Royal Palace. The first is via the Habsburg Steps, southeast of Szent György tér and through an ornamental gateway dating from 1903. The other way in is via Corvinus Gate, with its big black raven symbolising King Matthias Corvinus, southwest of the square.
The Hungarian National Gallery is on overwhelming collection spread across four floors that traces Hungarian art from the 11th century to the present. The largest collections include medieval and Renaissance stonework, Gothic wooden sculptures and panel paintings, late-Gothic winged altars, and late Rnaissance and baroque art. (LP, Bp, CG) From the Royal Place you can read another spot later on.
Beautiful, isn't it?!
4. Fishermen's Bastion
The bastion is a neo-Gothic masquerade that most visitors (and Hungarians) believe to be much older. But who cares? It looks medieval and offers among the best views in Budapest. Built as a viewing platform in 1905 by Frigyes Schulek, the bastion's name taken from the medieval guild of fishermen responsible for defending this scretch of the wall. The seven gleaming white turrets represent the Magyar tribes that entered the Carpatian Basin in the late 9th century. In front of the bastion is an ornate equestrian monument to St Stephen by sculptor Alajos Stróbl. (LP, Bp, CG)
It is located on the castle hill, you just have to come up and enjoy the view and take some pictures of you and upload on FB:)
(http://goo.gl/Wxcqk)
View from the Bastion (http://goo.gl/afim0)
5. Liberty Monument
The lovely lady with the palm frond, proclaiming freedom throughout the city from atop Gellért Hill, is just east of the Citadella. Standing 14m high, she was erected in 1947 in tribute to the Soviet soldiers who died liberating Budapest in 1945. But the victims' names (previously in Cyrillic letters on the plinth) and the staute of the Soviet soldiers were removed in 1992 and sent to what is now called Memento Park. In fact, the monument had been designed by the politically 'flexible' sculptor Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl much earlier for the ultraright government of Admiral Miklós Horthy. After the war, when procommunist monuments were in short supply, Kisfaludi Strobl passed it off as a memorial to the Soviets. Today the monument is dedicated to 'Those who gave up their lives for Hungary's independence, freedom and prosperity'. (Lonely Planet, Bp, City Guide)
If you walk west for a few minutes along Citadella stéány north of the fortress, you'll come to a lookout at arguable the best vantage point in Budapest.
You can reach the statue by bus 27 (stop Búsuló Juhász/Citadella) from the Móricz Zsigmond circus. From that stop you have to head up to the hill, but you will see the staute already. From our hostel this Statue and the vantage point at the Citadella is just 10 minutes on walk.
Liberty Monument
View from the Citadella
Citadella sétány
Buda Castle from the Citadella
6. Citadella
May be we should write first about the Citadella, because this area includes the place of the Liberty Monument. Anyway, thus probably you are interested to see the Citadella.
The Citadella atop Gellért Hill is a fortress that never did battle. Built by the Habsburgs after the 1848-49 War of Independence to defend the city from further insurrection, by the time it was ready in 1851 the political climate had changed and the Citadella had become obsolete. Today the Citadella contains some big guns and dusty displays in the central courtyard, the rather hokey 1944 Bunker Waxworks (1944 Bunker Panoptikum, +361 466 5794, admission 1200 HUF, opening hours: 9am-8pm May-Sep, 9am-5pm Sep-May) inside a bunker used during WWII and a rundown hotel-cum-hostel. (Lonely Planet, Bp, CG)
For further information please visit to this site: www.citadella.hu
There is a panorama restaurant that you should also try out!
7. Váci Street
Váci utca (Váci street) is one of the main pedestrian thoroughfares and perhaps the most famous street of central Budapest,Hungary. It features a large number of restaurants and shops catering primarily to the tourist market. The Lonely Planet says "It's tourist central, but the line of cafés and shops are worth seeing — at least once."
Váci utca is one of the main shopping streets in Budapest. Among the retaliers located here are: Zara, H&M, Mango, ESPRIT,Douglas AG, Swarovski, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Nike. The street opens to Vörösmarty Square. (http://goo.gl/IgATi)
(http://goo.gl/QmXbS)
8. Great Market
The 'Great Market' is Budapest's biggest food market but, because it has been attracting tourists ever since it was renovated for the millecentenary in 1996, it now has dozens of stalls on the 1st floor selling Hungarian folk costumes, dolls, painted eggs, embroidered tablecloths, carve hunting knives and so on. At the same time, gourmets will available on the ground floor at a fraction of what they would cost in the shops on nearby Váci utca shrink-wrapped and potted foie gras and goose-liver paté (2600/4900 HUF for 100/200g), a good selection of dried mushrooms, garlands of dried paprika (600 HUF to 1000 HUF), souvenir sacks and tins of paprika powder (400 HUF to 1200 HUF), and so many kinds of honey (1500 HUF to 3000 HUF) and types of wine as you'd care to name.
9. Margaret-island
Like the Buda Hills, Margaret Island (Margit-sziget) is not overly endowed with important sights and landmarks. Instead, the island is a great spot for sports and other activities, and you could spend the entire day here cycling, swimming or just pampering yourself at the Danubius Grand Hotel Margitsziget, one of the most modern spas in Budapest. Margaret Island has two popular swimming pools on its western side. We think that we will make an entire post just about the Margaret Island. (LP, Bp, CG)
You can go there if you take a tram 6 or 4 and get off at Margit-sziget. Its bridge is the Margit Bridge, that is freshly renovated in 2011. This bridge rigth now can fight with the Chain Bridge which could get the most beautiful bridge title.
(source: http://goo.gl/aMvIF)
10. Széchenyi Bath
At the northern end of City Park (Városliget), the Széchenyi complex is unusual for its immensity (a dozen thermal baths and five swimming pools), its bright, clean atmosphere and its water temperatures (up to 38°C), which really are what the wall plaques say they are. It is open to both men and women at all times, and you get 400 HUF back on your daytime entry fee if you leave within two hours.
http://www.szechenyibath.com/
(http://goo.gl/9ES0o)
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