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Budapest was one of our stops on our 4-month European Adventure. We spent 3 days here, exploring both the Buda and Pest sides of the city. If you want to build your own itinerary and are just interested in what to see and do, check out our city guide.
This was our first time in Budapest, so we wanted to make sure we hit the main attractions. There are many places you can walk around for free, but to enter must buy tickets. We focused mainly on the free stuff but will mention if buying tickets to enter is a possibility. We’ve included a map at the end of this post with each day’s stops, along with any other suggestions.
There is much more to see than what we squeezed in! We’ll put suggestions at the end of things we didn’t get to but came up quite a bit in our research. If you want to check out where we ate during our 3 days, our gluten-free guide is here.
We used transit to get around quite a bit, with a 72-hour pass. We used Google Maps’ transportation feature to find out when trams, metros, or busses were coming. To stay connected to Google Maps on our trip without pesky Canadian roaming charges, we always buy an e-sim ahead of time. Our preferred provider is Airalo. We have used them all over the world and never had any issues, and we like that we can easily add more data if we need.
Here’s what we did during our 3 days (4 nights) in Budapest:
Day 0: Arrival, wander around the city center to get your bearings.
Day 1: Hungarian Parliament, Shoes on the Danube, Chain Bridge, St. Stephen’s Basilica, Josef Nador Square, Vaci shopping street
Day 2: Castle District (Vakert Bazar, Buda Castle, Fisherman’s Bastion, etc).
Day 3: City Park (a castle, statues, museums, thermal baths) and shopping
Day 4: Departure
One big suggestion we have is to take a Danube River cruise one evening. It doesn’t matter which of the days you add this on to, but we highly suggest doing it after dark to see the city all lit up (especially Hungarian Parliament). We didn’t book ahead; we just went to one of the vendors during the day to buy a ticket for that evening. There are plenty of highly rated tours through companies like Get Your Guide that you can book in advance if you’re going in high season. You can also book dinner cruises!
DETAILS
DAY 0:
Arrival Day! We arrived via Nyugati Train Station; however you may be arriving at the airport instead. Find your way to your accommodation (we took a tram), get settled, and then head into the city center. Explore! Get your bearings and find yourself some dinner. If you have the energy, wander along the river taking in the city lights before heading back to your accommodations for some sleep.
Note: we were not impressed with our hotel, so will not be recommending it here.
DAY 1:
Today you’ll be exploring the Pest side of the city. Start by taking tram No. 2, 2B, or 24 along the river towards Hungarian Parliament. The tram has beautiful views of the city! Once at the parliament building, make sure you wander around the entire outside, taking in the architecture and statues. If you want, you can pay to take a 45-minute tour inside the building as well.
From here, walk south along the Danube River. You should come across the Shoes on the Danube memorial. This is a moving Holocaust memorial to victims from World War II who were shot at this very spot.
Continue your walk along the river, towards the Szechenyi Chain Bridge. While there are many bridges that cross the Danube River and join the two sides of the city, the chain bridge is arguably the most famous. If you like, you can take a walk across the bridge to the Buda side of the city. You’ll be exploring this area tomorrow. Now is a great time to find some coffee or food if you’re hungry.
Cross back to the Pest side of the city and make your way to St. Stephen’s Basilica. The largest church in Budapest, the basilica is quite the sight in both the daylight and lit up at night. You can go inside by paying a reasonable admission fee and can even take an elevator up the cupola for views across the city. Even if you don’t plan on paying to enter, we highly suggest seeing the basilica during day and night while in Budapest (and really, it’s kind of hard to miss it).
Continue your exploration of Pest by making your way to Jozsef Nador Square. Here you will find two beautiful fountains: Herend Tree of Life and the Zsolnay Ornamental Fountain. It is a great spot to sit and people watch or enjoy a quiet cup of afternoon coffee.
Lastly, walk along Vaci Utca, the main shopping street within Budapest’s city center. It has many bars and restaurants, as well as shopping boutiques and designer stores. Even if you don’t plan on doing your shopping here, it’s worth walking down this major street to take in the hustle and bustle, as well as the many historic buildings which line the street. Complete your day by finding some traditional Langos – a fried dough with toppings, including cheese. We recommend Retro Langos, where they also have gluten free langos!
If you haven’t booked your Danube River cruise yet, make sure you head down to the water front to see if you can snag one for tonight or tomorrow night.
DAY 2:
Today you will be exploring the Castle District on the Buda side of the city. You can start wherever you like, but the order here will be the order we did things in. One suggestion if you want to avoid crowds (and don’t mind doing some doubling back), would be to start at Fisherman’s Bastion. It can get quite crowded, especially at the free spots that have good views (many “Instagrammers”!).
We began our day at the Varkert Bazar, which is a set of pavilions along the base of Castle Hill. You’ll find some beautiful gardens you can wander through at no cost. There are a few cafes and exhibits that are housed here, but really, you’re coming here for the beautiful views and stroll along the river. From here, you can either take the funicular up the hill or the stairs if you’d like a good workout.
Once at the top of Castle Hill, you’ll find Buda Castle. The castle contains the National Gallery, the Budapest History Museum, and the Szechenyi Library. While you must pay admission to get in to see any of these three things, wandering around the outside of the castle is free. You can take in some beautiful views of the city from the grounds!
From here, you can continue through the Castle District to the Fisherman’s Bastion. While seeing the Fisherman’s Bastion in its bustling square is free, there are some portions you need a ticket to access. We found the free areas awfully busy, and these areas were especially full of Instagrammers trying to get their perfect shot. This sort of detracted from the views you can see from these free areas. It might not be a bad idea to get a ticket if the Bastion is something that you are super excited about. Alternatively, there is a café on site that has spectacular views as well, though you’ll pay a premium for your food and/or drink because of this.
Right across from Fisherman’s Bastion is Matthias Church– a Catholic church with a beautifully tiled rooftop. You can pay to enter the church and to go up the tower. Nearby is Sandor Palace, which is the official residence of the president of Hungary. You can watch a changing of the guard for free hourly. We didn’t get to see this as there was construction happening while we were there. A bit further down the quaint streets, you can find the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene. This church is more like ruins of a church, but with a restored tower that you can go up to see great views of the city.
By this point in the day, you have probably exhausted yourself, and if you haven’t yet had a bite to eat, go ahead and find some dinner and enjoy the city’s nightlife if that’s your cup of tea.
DAY 3:
Your final full day in Budapest will be spent at City Park. We suggest bringing a picnic to eat in the park or be prepared to eat at one of the park’s cafes. This is also a great day to visit the thermal baths if you’d like to do so while in Budapest – the Szechenyi Thermal Baths are in the park. If you plan on doing this, make sure to book your tickets ahead of time!
To begin your day at City Park, you’ll enter at Heroes’ Square. This is a massive open space which serves as the main entrance to the park. There are huge statues of each of the leaders of the 7 tribes which founded Hungary. From here, you can wander through the park towards Vajdahunyad Castle. You can walk the castle grounds for free, and you can pay admission to enter the castle and the attached museum. This castle is considered one of the most romantic in all of Budapest! Located nearby is the Statue of Anonymous, a dark hooded figure. The statue is much larger than we expected, and if you’re taking a walk through City Park, it is well worth stopping to see. You can also hunt for the Drakula mini statue, which is hidden behind the castle. There are mini statues by the same sculptor (Kolodko) throughout the city, though Drakula is arguably one of the more sought-after ones.
Once you’re done in the castle area of City Park, walk over to the House of Music. The outside of this building is spectacular, so even if you don’t plan on paying the admission fee to see the exhibits, we highly suggest checking out at least the surroundings. There is a café inside the House of Music if you need a bite to eat at this point.
Next, head over to the Museum of Ethnography. The building is covered in a massive garden and park – the perfect spot you’re your picnic! Of course, you can also go inside the museum and pay an admission to see the exhibits. The museum also has a couple of food options inside if you didn’t bring food with you.
If you still have energy left after spending the day at the park, you can head to the nearby Westend mall. This is a major shopping mall in Budapest, on the Pest side of the city.
MAP of Things to Do in Budapest
HOW TO USE THE MAP: Click on the Wanderlog logo in the bottom right corner to open the full-size map up in a new tab. There, you can choose to just look at one type of activity at a time or see all of the activities on the map at once (click the 3 squares in the top right to choose). You can also export the map to Google Maps, share the map with others, or save the map.
OTHER THINGS TO DO:
These are things we didn’t get to see during our time in Budapest, but came highly recommended on many “Things to do in Budapest” lists during our research:
- Great Market Hall
- Take a Budapest walking tour
- Dohany Street Synagogue
- Szechenyi Thermal Baths (or another thermal bath – these ones can be quite crowded)
- Gellert Hill Cave Church
- Margaret Island
- Take a pub crawl to ruin bars
- New York Palace Café
- Do a Buda Castle cave tour
Helpful Planning Tips
I rely on these tools when planning my trips:
- Get Your Guide – book tickets for experiences like the Szechenyi Baths, a Buda Castle cave tour, or a Danube River cruise
- Airalo eSIM – get Hungarian mobile data instantly on arrival, without roaming charges
- Stay22 – compare hotels across Budapest, including both the Buda and Pest sides of the city
- Wanderlog – organize your itinerary and map your Budapest days efficiently
