BUDAPEST · HUNGARY
Two cities, one river, every kind of day.
Thermal baths, Danube cruises, Buda Castle and Parliament. Ruin bars in the Jewish Quarter and goulash in the market hall. The European capital that runs on hot water and the long evening walk.
The Danube cruise everyone books
If you only do one thing on the river, this is it.
The classic Pest-to-Buda-and-back loop — Parliament, the Chain Bridge, the lit-up Castle from the water. The trip the rest of the harbour copies.
The classics
Budapest’s Most Popular Tours
Danube cruises and thermal baths, Buda Castle and the Basilica, the river by night and the city by bike. The shortlist most travellers come for.
Bath day
The thermal capital of Europe, three ways.
Budapest sits on 125 hot springs. The city has been bathing in them since the Romans. Three baths are worth the trip on their own — one a palace, one a Belle Époque jewel, one a 500-year-old Ottoman dome.
By side of the river
Buda or Pest?
The Danube splits the city. The two halves don’t feel the same. Pick the side you want to start on — you’ll cross at least one bridge before the day is over.
Buda
Hills, castle, baths.
The west bank. Castle Hill, Matthias Church, Fisherman’s Bastion, the Gellért and Rudas baths under the cliff. Quieter streets. The panoramic walks. The cable car up to the Castle.
Start on Buda →Pest
Boulevards, baths, ruin bars.
The east bank. Parliament on the river. St. Stephen’s Basilica and Andrássy Avenue. The Jewish Quarter and Szimpla Kert. The Széchenyi bath in City Park. Where the food and the nightlife happen.
Start on Pest →Find your Budapest
Pick the kind of day you want.
Soak in a thermal bath. Ride the river. Climb Buda Castle. Eat your way through the Great Market Hall. Stay out until 3 a.m. in a ruin bar. Or leave town for the Danube Bend.
After dark
Budapest’s second city, after sunset.
Parliament gets the floodlights. The Danube turns gold. Dinner cruises with folk music, ruin bars in old tenement courtyards, organ recitals in the Basilica. The city after 7 p.m. is its own destination.
Parliament lit from the water
Dinner on the Danube
The Danube goes from grey-blue to gold once the floodlights come on. The dinner cruises run a slow Pest-side loop past Parliament, the Chain Bridge and Buda Castle, with Hungarian folk music or a piano trio, three or four courses, and unlimited wine for the upgrades. Two hours.
- 1 Budapest: Evening Cruise including Drinks and Live Music
- 2 Budapest: Candlelit Dinner River Cruise with Live Music
- 3 Budapest: Dinner Cruise with Live Music and Folk Dance Show
The Jewish Quarter, District VII
Ruin Bars
In the 90s, twentysomething Budapesters started filling abandoned tenement courtyards with mismatched furniture, fairy lights and a bar. Szimpla Kert is still the original; the crawls cover three or four others in a night. Loose, cheap, no dress code, the bones of the building still showing.
- 1 Budapest: Ruin Bar Pub Crawl with Entry Tickets
- 2 Budapest Original Ruin Pub Crawl Including 5 Shots
- 3 The Original Budapest Pub Crawl – Free Shots, Games & VIP Entry
Show, concert, late tour
Show Night
Folkloric Hungarian music at the Danube Palace, organ recitals at St. Stephen’s Basilica, classical concerts in the Old Music Academy. The city has more 19th-century concert halls per square mile than any other in Europe. Most evenings finish on a half-hour ride home along the river.
- 1 Budapest: 1-Hour Evening Sightseeing Cruise with Drink
- 2 Budapest By Night Sightseeing Cruise
- 3 Budapest: Evening Cruise including Drinks and Live Music
Or by activity
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Cruise if you want the river. Walk if you want the old town. Bike if you want range. Spa if you came for the baths. Drinking tour if it’s your first night.
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