| General Information | Attractions |
Budapest is the political, administrative, social, economic, scientific, and cultural centre of the country. The visitor finds the capital a vibrant, cosmopolitan metropolis with a colourful night-life and shops of almost every description. The city is a harmony of fascinating contrasts: ruins bear witness to its 2,000-year past alongside modern buildings; there are organ concerts and operetta; religious services and casinos; luxurious meals with gypsy music, and fast food snacks; fairs and festivals; deluxe downtown hotels and accommodations provided in bucolic settings.
Do you ask what is Budapest like? Briefly: untouched. Beautiful. Exciting. Startling. In so many words: One of the most beautiful capitals of Europe, the vista of the Buda part has been declared as the part of the World Heritage registry by UNESCO. It is to be discovered, like a small town, in some details, almost provincial, but in fact it is a city with all of its splendour and seamy side. Budapest has a smack of nostalgia, its mood recalls the turn of the century at many places: you can meet Secession everywhere. Our town is dynamic, with memories of the Roman era and the Turk dominium inlaid as well. It had been the prominent cultural capital of Central Europe in the first half of the twentieth century, and someone "travelling in culture" cannot omit Budapest from his itinerary nowadays. History has not spared our city but has not succeeded in destroying it either. Budapest and the country have given uniquely numerous philosophers and inventors to the world. Its citizens are mercurial and leery, they skip the unpleasant and the "I-don't-like-it" with healthy and wise sense of humour. They are a bit on the loose, they do not like rules (including traffic regulations). And that is very important: hospitable and liberal people live here, whose sparkling city receives the visitor with pleasure.Buda was settled during the 9th century by Magyar tribes, who built on the Roman military camp Aquincum. Since then, this ancient city has been the focus of foreign oppression and Hungarian resistance. Burned to the ground in 1241 by the Mongols, the city rose from ashes to Renaissance glory under King Mátyás, was conquered by the Turks in 1541, and then conquered again by the Hapsburgs in 1686.
Buda became the second city of the Hapsburg empire and prospered in this role; unfortunately, this alliance with Austria put it on the wrong side of both world wars. In 1872, Pest, Buda and Óbuda merged in a new city: Budapest. At the end of the World War II, a two-month battle for Buda between the Nazis and the Red Army and English-American bombing left all the bridges destroyed and the severed halves in the city in ruins. The cycle of occupation and revolt continued through the Cold War: Stalinist hard-liners kept the city in fear until Imre Nagy's reforms left the door open for the anti-Soviet uprising of 1956, which was quickly crushed by Soviet tanks. Subsequent "goulash-communist" governments stirred a little capitalism into Hungary's Eastern-bloc socialism, setting Budapest up to be the charming "Western city with Eastern flavour" that is today.
At once a cosmopolitan European capital and the stronghold of Magyar nationalism, Budapest has awakened from its Communist-era coma with the same vigour that rebuilt the city from the rubble of W.W.II. Endowed with an architectural majesty befitting the Hapsburg Empire's number-two city, the Hungarian capital also possesses an intellectual and cultural scene often compared to that of Paris. Today, the city maintains its charm and a vibrant spirit -- refusing to buckle under the relentless siege of glitzification -- while pursuing a difficult course of modernisation.
Budapest in numbers:
Area: 525 km2 (203 sq. miles) two-third of which lies on the Pest side, one-third lies on the right riverbank, Buda.North-South extension: appr. 25 km (15 miles), East-West: appr. 29 km (18 miles). Its deepest point is the level of the Danube (at normal water level 96 metres over sea level), the highest point is János-hegy (527 m).Population: 1.775 million (according to the 2001 census) that is 18% of the country's. Density of population: 3632 p/km2.Administration: 23 districts (Roman numbers in addresses always mean districts)Number of bridges: 9, 2 railway bridges and 7 road bridges.Geographic position: 47o 5'0" N, 19o 0'0" E
On the west bank of the Danube, Buda inspires countless artists with its hilltop citadel, trees, and the cobblestone Castle District, while on the east side Pest pulses as the heart of the modern city. Nine bridges connect the two halves, including the old Széchenyi-lánchíd (Chain Bridge), the slender, white Erzsébet-híd (Elisabeth Bridge), the green Szabadság-híd (Freedom Bridge), while the newest Lágymányosi-híd has a modern design and a special lighting system with mirrors.
Budapest has long been famous not only as a splendid capital city but also as a splendid spa, with 123 springs yielding 50,000 cubic meters of thermal water daily for use in baths and thermal hotels for both therapy and recreation. Another special attraction is the caves, many of which can be visited -- for example the Szemlohegy and the Pálvölgy caves. When you come to Hungary, your greatest experience will be meeting people who are easy-going and friendly; almost everyone in the tourist business speaks English and/or other foreign languages.
Castle Hill
The Castle District on Castle Hill is the premier destination for visitors and
contains many of Budapest's most important monuments and museums, not to mention
grand views of Pest across the snaking Danube. The walled area consists of two
distinct parts: the Old Town where commoners lived in the Middle Ages, and the
Royal Palace. Stroll around the medieval streets of the Old Town and and take
in the odd museum. A brief tour in one of the horse-drawn hackney cabs is worthwhile
for the leg weary. The Old Town is filled with attractively painted houses,
decorative churches, Mathias Church and the famous Fishermen's Bastion. The
latter was built as a viewing platform in 1905, named after the guild of fishermen
responsible for defending this stretch of wall in the Middle Ages. It has commanding
views over the city, and is dominated by seven gleaming turrets (representing
the seven Magyar tribes who entered the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century)
and a statue of St Stephen on horseback. Immediately south of the Old Town is
the Royal Palace.
The Royal Palace has been burned, bombed, razed, rebuilt and redesigned at least
half a dozen times over the past seven centuries. What you see today clinging
to the southern end of Castle Hill is an 18th and early 20th-century amalgam
reconstructed after the last war. It houses, among other things, the impressive
National Gallery (which has a huge section devoted to Hungarian art), the National
Library and the Budapest History Museum. At the rear of the museum take a relaxing
break in the palace gardens. Ferdinand Gate under the conical Mace Tower will
bring you to a set of steps. These descend to a historic Turkish cemetery dating
from the decisive Independence battle for Buda of 1686. To get to the Royal
Palace, take the Sikló, a funicular built in 1870 from Clark Ádám, or for the
more energetic, walk up the `Royal Steps' or the wide staircase that goes to
the southern end of the Royal Palace.
Király Bath
Budapest rests on a network of warm thermal and cool mineral springs. As a result,
communal bathhouses, pools and spas are a house speciality. They are truly relaxing
and combine magnificently with a day spent exploring the city on weary feet;
for many visitors the bathhouses rate among the cities greatest delights. They're
clean, safe and cheap. Some are architectural attractions in their own right,
for example, in between Margaret Island and the Castle District along the Danube
on the Buda bank is the Király bath on Fo utca. It has four pools, including
the main one with a fantastic skylit dome dating back to 1570. Awesome. For
sheer grandeur, near City Park, is the immense Széchenyi bath, which is clean,
bright and actually warm (even when the air isn't). Delightful.
Gellért Hill
Another hill, another climb, however the panoramic views of the Royal Palace,
the Danube and its bridges are well worth the effort. At the top of Gellert
Hill is the Citadella, a fortress of sorts, and the Independence Monument, Budapest's
unofficial symbol. With every hill climb comes the rewarding stroll down the
other side, in this case to the pleasant Jubilee Park, an ideal spot for a picnic.
Below Gellért Hill lie a gush of hot springs and not surprisingly there are
more public baths in the locale. The Gellért Hotel on Kelenhegyi út is a kind
of Art Nouveau palace and the city's favourite old-world hotel. It has an impressive
spa open to the public (likened to taking a soak in a cathedral). A few minutes
northeast of Elizabeth Bridge is Rudas bath, with its octagonal pool, domed
cupola, colored glass and massive columns. It is restricted to males only, mostly
because it is an authentic Turkish bath where men and women bathing together
is a no-no.
Opera House
In the heart of Pest on Andrássy út, is the Opera House. The main reason for
going here, apart from its lavishly rich, decorated interior, is to catch a
performance. A night out at the Opera House is authentically Budapest, an absolute
must. Tours of the neo-Renaissance building are also available if you can't
make a gig. Given the number of festivals in Budapest, including the Budafest
Summer Opera & Ballet festival, there is almost a year-round performance
schedule. If the Gy?r Ballet from Western Transdanubia are in town, jump at
the chance of a ticket - they are Hungary's best classical dance troupe (and
not a piano accordion in sight).
City Park
City Park, or Városliget in Pest's northeastern reaches makes a welcome break
from the built-up inner-city area and incorporates many of Budapest's drawcards.
The entrance to City Park is Heroes' Square, which has the nation's most solemn
monument - an empty coffin representing one of the unknown insurgents from the
1956 Uprising - beneath a stone tile. The inspirational Millenary Monument,
a 36m (120ft) pillar backed by colonnades, defines the square. The Angel Gabriel
tops the pillar, offering King Stephen the Hungarian crown. To the north of
the square is the Museum of Fine Arts (1906) which houses the city's outstanding
foreign works (especially the Old Masters collection), while to the south is
the ornate Palace of Art. Inside the City Park is the City Zoo, a five minute
walk to the west and past Budapest's most famous restaurant, Gundel's. Next
to the zoo is the Grand Circus. The gigantic `wedding cake' building south of
the circus is the glorious, Széchenyi Bath. In the middle of the park is the
stunning Vajdahunyad Castle on the island in the lake, which becomes a picturesque
setting for ice-skating in the winter. Outside the church opposite the castle,
Ják Chapel, is a statue of a hooded scribe outside named Anonymous after an
unknown chronicler who wrote a history of the early Magyars. Writers today touch
his pen for inspiration. The surrounding streets on the southeastern corner
of City Park are loaded with gorgeous buildings, residences and embassies. To
get to City Park take the yellow Metro to Hosök tere.
[Source: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/budapest/attractions.htm
]
Other Budapest sites not to be missed:
Margaret Island, the Chain Bridge, the Parliament, Heroes' Square featuring the Millennium Memorial, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Palace of Exhibitions.
Useful info:
Many street names occur more than once in town; always check the district (with Roman numbers) as well as the kind of the street. Utca, abbr. u (street), út or útja (avenue), tér or tere (square, but may be a park, plaza or boulevard), híd (bridge), and körút abbr. krt. (ring-boulevard). Numbers on either side of the streets are not always in sync; a few streets are numbered up one side and down the other (default is odd/even). Moreover, streets occasionally arbitrarily change their names from one block to the next. Since many have shed their Communist labels, an up-to-date map is essential. To check it: there should not be Lenin krt. exist on the Great Ring Boulevard. Anyone planning an exhaustive visit should consider purchasing Budapest: A Critical Guide, from András Török.