Note that I planned, wrote, and recorded several Budapest tours on VoiceMap. The app uses your location to play audio automatically at the right time and place – you can put your phone away and roam the city with me, so to say. My tours: City Center, Jewish Quarter, Andrássy Avenue.
Budapest's downtown (District 5) occupies a narrow north-south axis along the Danube's bank on the Pest side. In forty minutes, one can walk from one end to the other at a leisurely pace. Unlike with the Castle Hill in Buda, little has remained of medieval Pest: a sweeping 19th-century renewal program, similar to Haussmann's in Paris, replaced the flimsy old buildings with monumental architecture that better symbolized the city's elevated status in Austria-Hungary.
Today, Budapest's downtown is a melting pot of local residents, office workers, and tourists. Major attractions – the Hungarian Parliament building, the Shoes on the Danube Bank, Liberty Square, the St. Stephen’s Basilica – and the city's top restaurants congregate here, but it is possible to find uncrowded, charming areas and low-priced food and drinking venues as I will show.
You could start out at the foot of the Liberty Bridge on the Pest side, with wonderful views of the Danube and the soaring Buda hills across the river complete with the Buda Castle up north. Dating back to 1896, the Liberty Bridge is the third oldest in Budapest after the Chain Bridge and the Margaret Bridge; it was initially named after Hungary’s longtime Habsburg King, Franz Joseph (1830-1916).
During his 68-year reign, Franz Joseph went from being a hated military-obsessed autocrat who banned the constitution and executed the Hungarian revolutionary heroes of 1848, to a widely respected arch-grandfather of the nation who oversaw the greatest transformation of the Habsburg Monarchy. Hungary enjoyed impressive economic growth during his reign, especially after the 1867 creation of Austria-Hungary. In 1946, the bridge was renamed to Liberty Bridge by the Communist regime, but the small kiosk on the left still shows Franz Joseph’s name.
That enormous Renaissance Revival palazzo by the foot of the bridge used to be a customs house; today it is the central building of Corvinus, an important university in Hungary for economics and business. It is no coincidence that a customs house was located right here, along the Danube, since many agricultural products were transported via the river. This is also why Budapest’s biggest market hall is located beside it.
In 1896, Budapest inaugurated five indoor markets that replaced the open air, makeshift markets of the past. The biggest was the Great Market Hall, a massive, 19th-century steel and glass structure. Today, still, locals and tourists flock here for seasonal fruits, fresh and pickled vegetables, ground paprika, and Hungarian salami and szalonna. These produce vendors and butchers are on the ground level and downstairs. The upstairs feels more touristy, with souvenir shops and food vendors that serve lángos, goulash, and other typical Hungarian dishes.
Across the market sets off Váci utca, a famous pedestrian-only shopping street lined with overpriced souvenir shops and restaurants coaxing tourists with "goulash menus" and pretty hostesses. Think of it as the La Rambla of Budapest. Although worth a glance, I recommend you not spend too much time or money here. Its northern section, past the Elizabeth Bridge, is livelier anyway (more on that later).
There are few medieval buildings, for example Gothic, on the Pest side of the city. This is because the Mongolian invasion in the 13th century ravaged the old city of Pest and many survivors moved up to the Buda side, across the river, given that its hilltop was more easily defensible. Pest continued to fall under the radar during the Ottoman occupation in the 16th and 17th centuries, when both Buda and Pest and much of Hungary were ruled by Ottoman Turkey.
Since Hungary was the westernmost part of this big empire and a perennial battle zone (against the Habsburg Monarchy), the Ottomans didn’t settle down here for the long term. Apart from putting up a few hammams, some of which still exist, they simply converted the existing housing stock to fit their needs, for example churches into mosques.
It was around the year 1700, after the Ottomans were pushed out of Hungary, that Pest began to grow under Habsburg rule. Szerb utca, which translates to Serbian street, was one of the many Serbian neighborhoods of Budapest in the 18th century. The Serbian community found a home here when Ottoman Turkey still ruled the Balkans but Hungary no longer. These Serbian people were mainly merchants and artisans and many also grew grapes for wine on nearby vineyards.
Interestingly, after the Balkans were freed of Ottoman Turkey at the turn of the 20th century, most Hungarian Serbs returned to Serbia. The result is that today Budapest has only a small Serbian community left (there was a similar story in nearby Szentendre). But their Baroque-style churches were here to stay; the Saint George Serbian Orthodox Church still functions as a Serbian Orthodox church. Fans of Saint George can find a ceramic mosaic atop its corner fence, showing the heroic saint crushing the dragon.
As mentioned above, downtown Budapest today looks very different than it did two hundred years ago. As part of a massive urban development program in the second half of the 19th century, whole neighborhoods were reduced to rubble to make way for grander buildings and a more systematic urban environment. There do exist a few surviving Neoclassical buildings from the first half of the 19th century that help us imagine what these streets once looked like. One of these cute, one-story, Neoclassical houses stands at 32 Veres Pálné utca.
The small side street of Papnövelde utca is anchored by an oversized high school. Its rusticated lower level and brick facade hide something unusual at the top: several Greek temples. What might be the reason? The building is from the early 20th century when some architects reacted to the "decadent and individualistic overreaches" of the Art Nouveau. They believed that classical forms projected more enduring humanist values and hence the appearance of Greek temples as part of this battle of the styles.
Hungary is a majority Catholic country; among religious people, about two-thirds are Roman Catholic. As everywhere else in Europe, the proportion of religious people is quickly dwindling. The reason I am mentioning this is that one of the main Catholic seminaries of Hungary is also located in Papnövelde utca, across from the high school. In fact, "papnövelde" translates to seminary in Hungarian.
At the end of it stands a beautiful Baroque church which belongs to the seminary. Its facade was inspired by the Baroque churches of Rome while its onion-shaped towers are the standard Habsburg-type. One will find these bulky church towers anywhere from Prague to Vienna to Transylvania. Beside it, on Egyetem tér, stands the imposing law school that breeds the Hungarian political elite.
Across the plaza, the Károlyi Palace is one of the few aristocratic winter palaces that has survived the 19th century urban renewal of Budapest. The Károlyi was an old, blue-blooded Hungarian family. After WWI, during the short-lived Soviet style Communist republic, they fled Hungary and the palace was nationalized. Today, the Petőfi Museum of Literature occupies the building but the Károlyi coat of arms still crowns the facade.
Anyone can access the courtyard lined with bulky Doric columns and the charming park which used to be the palace’s private garden. The residential buildings ringing the park count among the most coveted and most expensive on the Pest side of Budapest. Szóköz, on the ground level of the palace, and the outdoor-only Csendes Társ, abutting the park, are ideal stops for coffee, snacks, or wine.
Bookworms, heads-up: Múzeum körút, around the block from here, is home to several antique bookstores; like it or not, specialty coffee shops have started to replace them at an alarming rate. The books are generally in Hungarian, but one can find wonderful Budapest drawings and prints and manuscripts and small English sections here and there. Try Központi Antikvárium (#13-15) and Honterus (#35), for example. My favorite is Weöres Sándor Antikvárium (#27), a hole in the wall where you have to crane your neck to find the witty shop assistant, Gábor, hiding behind towers of books.
Back on Károlyi utca lies Belvárosi Disznótoros, a standing-only sausage shop that counted the late Anthony Bourdain among its fans. Like a local, you could go for a paprika, blood, or liver sausage, pairing it with a dollop of mustard and a thick slice of bread. There are two old-school bars nearby that offer low-priced drinks and a journey back in time: Ibolya and Grinzingi.
Similar to Vienna, Budapest enjoyed a thriving coffeehouse culture during Austria-Hungary – around the turn of the 20th century, more than 500 cafés swarmed across Budapest. Apart from low-priced caffeine, coffeehouses offered a home away from home to the city's fast-growing populace. Artists and journalists camped out for the whole day in these high-ceilinged establishments, even directing their mail to their favored café.
Most of Budapest’s coffeehouses have long since disappeared because the Communist regime of the 1950s nationalized the coffeehouses which didn't usually end well. But a few are still around or have reopened in the post-communist period after 1990, such as the elegant Central Cafe with an excellent Dobos torte. If specialty coffee is more your speed, try Madal just steps away.
Your dreamy stroll will come to an abrupt end at Kossuth Lajos utca, a crowded, six-lane avenue piercing through downtown. If there were an award for the most attention-grabbing building in Budapest, then Párizsi Udvar would be a strong contender. Architect Henrik Schmahl loaded the facade with a rich ornamental program climaxing in the ceramic pinnacles soaring from the roof level. The revival style building from 1910 evokes Gothic-Byzantine vibes, that is to say, reminiscent of a birthday cake with lots of caramelized elements. It's currently home to a five-star hotel.
FUGA is an excellent architecture bookstore with books in both Hungarian and English. They also host art exhibitions on the ground level and in the basement. For reasons that have to do with Hungary’s Communist past, few family businesses exist today that are internationally known or count among the very best within their fields. A notable exception is Vass Shoes, in Haris köz, an upscale men’s shoe manufacturer and a pilgrimage site for shoe-fanatics from around the world.
The company was founded in 1978 by shoemaker László Vass who set out to revive Budapest’s handmade shoemaking traditions. With prices starting at €400, Vass shoes are very expensive but made to last: I bought a dark brown suede derby in 2009 from their “Budapest” line which is still a joy to wear. Their store keeps an inventory of all models and customers can also order a bespoke pair.
Kamermayer Károly tér is a quiet square flanked by pre-war buildings. The comfortably classic Gerlóczy Café could be a good stop for a drink or dessert. Here is also the house in which the famous war photographer, Robert Capa, grew up in the 1920s (Budapest has an excellent Capa Museum with a permanent collection of his works). If you are like me and into small Baroque statues of saints and Annunciation paintings, see if Ecclesia store might have a bargain for you.
Distinctly hipster vibes imbue the Röser courtyard a bit further down, where bearded and tattooed baristas serve pricey cups of pourovers at Kontakt with a strict no-milk and no-sugar policy. Rododendron, also here, is a hub for designer products, prints, and postcards made by local artists.
Back on Városház utca, it is fascinating to picture what this huge building, still one of the largest in the city, looked like in 18th-century Buda-Pest surrounded by a few dozen flimsy houses. Built as a hospital and rehab facility for wounded soldiers, the complex was a city within the city complete with retail stores, schools, apartments, grain storage, and a beautiful church whose tower still rises high above. At the end of the 18th century the building became a military barrack and today it houses the City Hall and the Mayor's Office.
Take note of the three projecting entrance portals – the central one marked by the Atlas figure – flanked by wall reliefs that convey the heroic deeds of the reigning emperor, Habsburg Charles VI. Colossal pilasters and modest window surrounds break up the monotony of the immense facade. I know what you are thinking and I agree: a sweeping renovation is long overdue.
Nearby Szervita tér is known for its eclectic collage of architecture. At the center stands a so-called Marian Column with the Virgin crushing the snake that symbolizes the original sin. The Marian Column is ringed by a Baroque church (#6; built in 1732), Béla Lajta's pre-modern Rózsavölgyi-ház (#5; 1911), and a wonderful Art Nouveau building, the Török Bankház (#3; 1906). Note the enormous mosaic atop, depicting the Virgin, who is the patron saint of Hungary. Her throne is surrounded by historic figures such as Miklós Zrínyi, Ferenc Rákóczi, and István Széchenyi. The great steel-framed vertical windows tastefully counterpoint the rich mosaic tiles up top.
Following the 1782 Edict of Toleration by Joseph II, non-Catholic churches were also allowed to be built across the Habsburg Monarchy. A somber elegance imbues the main church of Budapest's Lutheran community on Deák tér. The building is an early work of Mihály Pollack, whose name came to be associated with the thriving Neoclassical architecture of Buda-Pest in the first half of the 19th century. From the outside, a simple pattern of rectangular and thermal windows and a band of triglyphs and metopes wrap the building (the columnar front is a later addition).
Inside, as with other Protestant churches, the great space plays off against the austere white walls and the church balcony. All attention is directed toward the priest and the high altar, which features a magnificent copy of Raphael's Transfiguration. The neighboring buildings also belong to the Lutheran congregation and include a museum and a high school, hence its moniker: Insula Lutherana.
The epicenter of downtown is Deák Ferenc tér and Erzsébet tér, popular meet-up spots for locals. The odd-looking hole in the ground is where Budapest's National Theater was supposed to stand before politics interfered; the area is now home to the Akvárium Klub concert venue. During the summer months, young people fill the park until the wee hours.
Locals and tourists tend to admire the Anker Palace, a radically eclectic yellow building that presides over Budapest’s city center by Deák Ferenc tér. Architect Ignác Alpár piled a motley collection of elements atop one another for this rental palace commissioned by Anker, one of the oldest Viennese life insurance companies. For example, he planted an outsized pedimented portico onto the facade, a Mesopotamian-inspired structure up top, granite Doric columns around the main entrance. They surely grab the attention.
Architecture historians from their ivory towers are usually less enthusiastic. They might tell you that the building looks kitsch, that it lacks proportions, and that it exemplifies the failure and complete misunderstanding of 19th-century revivalism. Let them think that. To me, this building embodies Budapest’s rapid rise during the period of Austria-Hungary: still a bit provincial and rough on the edges, but exuding unbridled ambition and confidence. Note that there’s an excellent English-language bookstore on the ground floor of the building – Atlantisz Könyvsziget.
Back on Váci utca: this northern section is more crowded and provides more shopping options. Mainly the big commercial chains such as Zara and H&M congregate here alongside touristy folklore stores. Things can get busy, especially around Christmas. The square at the end is named after Mihály Vörösmarty, one of the prominent Romantic poets of Hungary.
The sculpture group in the center of the square shows Vörösmarty perched on his throne and surrounded by various figures from Hungarian society, both young and old, some of them reading his poems. The work is by the Hungarian sculptor Ede Telcs (1908). After a quick glance, perhaps you won't be surprised to hear that Rodin’s Burghers of Calais was an inspiration for Telcs.
Váci utca and Vörösmarty tér end at Café Gerbeaud, an iconic café and pastry shop dating back to 1858. Inside, there are crystal chandeliers, marble-topped tables, and cherrywood paneling. More importantly: also delicious cakes. Although not cheap, Gerbeaud is still a benchmark, especially their Esterházy cake and Dobos torte. Note that everything is half-priced if you take your order to go. The subway stop outside Gerbeaud belongs to the Millennium Underground, the first subway line on the European continent; it is still operational and travels to Széchenyi Baths and the City Park.
Nearby Vigadó tér is among the most panoramic spots in Budapest. The Buda Castle sits elegantly on the hilltop across the river with a lovely view of the Chain Bridge. But Vigadó tér isn’t just known for its views and promenades. It has been a target of enemy fires many times over. During the Revolution of 1848, Habsburg cannons knocked down the building that stood here, which was later replaced by the performance hall you see today.
During WWII, the American and the British air forces destroyed many buildings along the Danube’s bank in 1944 and 1945. Hence all the modern buildings (mostly hotels). For example, the Marriott sprung up in 1969 in place of a bombed-down building. Those two triumphal arches soaring heroically from their piers in the Danube? They are part of the Chain Bridge, a major Budapest landmark and the first permanent connection to span the Danube between Buda and Pest. By 1830, the idea of linking Buda and Pest was pressing given that the city of Pest was rapidly growing and had become the commercial center of Hungary. There did exist a makeshift bridge but it was small and had to be dismantled during the winter months.
The Chain Bridge is named after its great champion, Count István Széchenyi, the enlightened aristocrat. In 1833, together with György Andrássy, Széchenyi wrote a detailed memorandum with specific proposals about bridge construction and financing solutions after a research trip across England. Led by William Tierney Clark, the Chain Bridge was designed by a group of engineers from England. This isn’t surprising: at the time Hungary had almost no industry to speak of whereas England was riding high on its capitalist success as the world’s leader in suspension bridge construction.
When the Chain Bridge was built (1840-1849), ancient Greece and Rome provided inspiration for all things art and architecture in Europe – Neoclassicism – hence the triumphal arch shape of the stone pillars. The Chain Bridge survived the Revolution of 1848 but it did not escape the events of WWII: as with Budapest’s other bridges, German soldiers blew up the Chain Bridge in 1945 to slow the advancing Soviet army (it was rebuilt by 1949). Recently renovated and pedestrianized – and no longer with a toll since 1918 – it’s a great time to walk across the Chain Bridge! István Széchenyi's bronze statue proudly stands in the park where the bridge sets off.
With prime views onto the Danube, the Chain Bridge, and the Castle Hill, downtown's Gresham Palace stands on what is arguably the most valuable piece of real estate in Budapest. Originally built for the British Gresham Life Assurance Company, an army of Hungary's top craftsmen worked on this Art Nouveau landmark.
The decorative details – glass mosaics, immense ironworks, tectonic wall reliefs – are impossible to take in in full. A pair of outsize peacocks, a popular motif of the Art Nouveau, appear above the front door. Currently home to Hungary’s fanciest hotel, a Four Seasons, this building, too, embodies Budapest's golden age around the turn of the 20th century. Anyone is free to go inside and glimpse the astonishing lobby complete with a glass roof and glazed Zsolnay ceramic wall panels.
Named after the first King of Hungary, the canonized Stephen (975-1038), the Saint Stephen's Basilica is the biggest church of Budapest and one of the great examples of 19th century Revival architecture in Europe. When Miklós Ybl, also in charge of the Budapest Opera House, took over the design plans in 1868 he found inspiration in the Italian Renaissance. The entrance portal and the monumental interior spaces bring to mind the 15th-century Basilica of Sant’Andrea in Mantua, the semicircular colonnade on the back side resembles the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, while the grand dome harks back to Michelangelo’s Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
The front facade features statues of two of the four Church fathers, Pope Gregory on the left, Saint Jerome on the right (the other two, Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine, are on the sides). The Basilica’s tympanum up top contains a sculpture group with the Virgin and the Child at its center surrounded by Hungarian saints, notably King Stephen and his son, Emeric, to the left.
The inside is comparably grand and best known for the sanctuary that holds the remains of Stephen’s right hand and for the wonderful painting by Gyula Benczúr showing the moment when Stephen offers the Holy Crown of Hungary to the Virgin. Note that there’s a small admission to go inside the church and that it is also possible to visit the dome, which provides stunning 360-degree views (highly recommended).
Budapest’s fine dining restaurants, many with a Michelin star, cluster around the center of downtown. But it is also possible to find solid meals at lower price points. My favorite place for a traditional Hungarian meal is Café Kör in Sas utca. Keep a special eye out for the daily soups, the paprikash with egg dumplings, and the oversized veal schnitzel. I also like their vegetable stews, főzelék, which are usually eaten as a main course with a side of meatballs.
If you enjoy modern architecture, visit the main building of George Soros's Central European University on Nádor utca designed by the Irish star architects, O'Donnell + Tuomey. Old and new delicately blend into the 1820s street view (feel free to go inside). Despite months of protests in 2017, the government chased the university out of Hungary, which has since moved its operations and teaching staff to Vienna. The building's future is uncertain.
Nearby Liberty Square is known for its grand Revival buildings and head-spinning collection of memorials. Similar to the Gresham Palace, they signify the greatest period of Budapest in the second half of the 19th century and up to WWI when the city was the capital Austria-Hungary together with Vienna. Here stand the Hungarian Central Bank and the former building of the Budapest Stock Exchange, for example. Today, still, this is a financial district.
In 2014, a controversial WWII memorial appeared on Liberty Square; the composition shows the allegorical figure of Hungary at its center being attacked by a ferocious eagle who leaves broken ruins in its wake. The symbolic message: Nazi Germany, which occupied Hungary in March 1944, is only to blame for the Holocaust in Hungary. The facts are of course more complicated. Distraught local civilians made a protest memorial right before it.
The article linked above has more details, all I will say here is that almost the entire Jewish population of Hungary was killed in the Holocaust, more than half a million people, with active support from the local police. However, notably, most Jewish people of Budapest survived the Holocaust, which is why Budapest remains the largest Ashkenazi city in continental Europe today with a community of about 100,000 people. Their survival was thanks to the Soviet troops that liberated the Jewish ghetto in January 1945, before deportations to Auschwitz could begin.
This explains the obelisk on Liberty Square raised to Soviet troops. Given the tragic legacy of the Communist period (1947-1989) in Hungary, many people are confused about this Soviet monument in the center of the city. But it is a fact that Soviet troops saved more than a hundred thousand Budapest Jews from the deportations. It is also true that Soviet soldiers committed horrific crimes and raped thousands of local women following this liberation.
Of course, after WWII, during the Communist dictatorship in the 1950s, locals viewed this monument more negatively. Ironically, the American Embassy of Budapest overlooks this Soviet memorial. As a counterpoint, there are a couple of statues of American presidents – Ronald Reagan behind the obelisk and George H. W. Bush to its right – and one of Harry Hill Bandholtz, a Major General who was stationed in Budapest after WWI and protected the National Museum from being looted by the Romanian army.
Steps from Liberty Square on Hold utca hides Hungary's seminal Art Nouveau building, the Postal Savings Bank (Postatakarékpénztár). Architect Ödön Lechner fused the international elements of the Art Nouveau – curvilinear shapes, colorful details taken from the natural world – with Hungarian folk art motifs. The striking green roof, made also by Zsolnay, is best appreciated from the rooftop bar of Hotel President across the street. Unfortunately the inside, which belongs to the Hungarian Treasury, can't be visited.
After its 1867 formation, Austria-Hungary had two capitals, Vienna and Budapest, and each of these was the seat of a central parliament building erected in the second half of the 19th century.
People are often surprised by the size of the Hungarian Parliament building. Why does a country with ten million people need such an enormous thing? When this Parliament building was built in the late 19th century, the Hungarian Kingdom was three times its current size and included all of today’s Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, and parts of the Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, and Austria. The coats of arms of all counties that belonged to Hungary appear across the frieze of the building.
This monumental Gothic style for the Parliament was chosen by Gyula Andrássy, the former Prime Minister, who wished that the Hungarian Parliament resemble the Palace of Westminster of A.W.N. Pugin and Charles Barry. This, he believed, would lend legitimacy to the Parliament in the eyes of the public. Built between 1885 and 1904, the building contains 691 rooms, making it the biggest in Hungary.
Initially, the symmetrical building had two chambers, an upper chamber, to the right, with members of the high aristocracy and church leaders, and a lower chamber, to the left, with elected members. Today, Hungary no longer has an aristocracy and the upper chamber functions as a museum.
The Parliament provides its own guided tours, which take about 45 minutes and also include the great dome under which is stored the Holy Crown of Hungary. You can buy tickets online or at the ticket office located in an underground area of the Parliament. Behind the building, on the Danube's bank, is the famous Shoes Memorial to Budapest's victims of the Holocaust.
Opposite the Parliament past the tram tracks is a somber memorial to the peace treaty of Trianon. If you spend time with a local person in Hungary, soon the topic of Trianon will be broached and the person will likely grumble about the fact that Hungary was treated unfairly after WWI, when two thirds of its territories were lost to the neighboring countries.
The treaty was indeed unfair and it ignored President Wilson’s espoused principle of nation states in that more than a million Hungarian people fell outside the new borders of Hungary, especially those in Transylvania who became part of the enlarged state of Romania.
More than a hundred years later, Trianon still evokes strong feelings and is viewed as a national tragedy by most people. This memorial, which was inaugurated in 2020, consists of a pathway that descends below ground and culminates in an eternal flame that symbolizes the reduced country of Hungary. Along the path, the names of more than 12,000 settlements are carved into the walls – every village and town that was part of the Hungarian Kingdom before its 1920 collapse.
Lined with more than 35 antique stores and art galleries, Falk Miksa utca near the Parliament has been the center for antiques since the 1990s. Some places specialize in porcelain, silver, and glassware, others sell prints, paintings, yet others do textiles and furniture. 18th-century decorative swords are what you’re after? Not a problem.
Most stores are relatively pricey but tchotchkes and knick-knacks are also aplenty. The street was named after Miksa Falk (1828-1908), a prominent Jewish-Hungarian journalist who tutored Queen Sisi in Hungarian language. Note that most of the antique stores are closed on Sunday (and close at 2 p.m. on Saturday)!
Downtown terminates at the end of Falk Miksa, but Újlipótváros, a lively residential neighborhood located on the other side of the Grand Boulevard, is also worth discovering.
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