This guide follows six places on both banks of the Danube: the Citadella on Gellért Hill, the old Tabán parish church of St Catherine of Alexandria, the Petőfi statue on the Pest embankment, Buda Castle, the Fisherman's Bastion and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. Together they tell the story of Budapest from the Ottoman wars to 1848, 1945 and 1956, and they line up into one long walk with the best river views in the city.
The Citadella on Gellért Hill
The Citadella is the long, low fortress on top of Gellért Hill. It was built after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 on the orders of the Austrian commander Julius Jacob von Haynau, to plans by Emmanuel Zitta and Ferenc Kasselik, and was finished in 1854. Hungarian forced labourers did the building work. Its guns pointed at both halves of the city, so for Hungarians it was a sign of Austrian control rather than of defence. Austrian troops left in 1897 and the city took over the site soon after.
At the eastern end stands the Liberty Statue, a bronze woman holding up a palm leaf, by Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl, put up in 1947. It was made to honour the Soviet soldiers who drove out the German army, and its inscription thanked the liberating Soviet heroes. After 1989 the text was changed to honour everyone who gave their life for Hungary's independence, freedom and prosperity, the Russian words were removed, and two of the Soviet figures at the base were taken to Memento Park. After years of renovation the Citadella reopened in April 2026.
- The view from the walls: the Danube, its bridges, the Parliament and Castle Hill all at once.
- The two smaller figures that remain at the base of the Liberty Statue.
St Catherine of Alexandria Church in the Tabán
At the foot of Gellért Hill, on the Buda side of the Elisabeth Bridge, stands the yellow Baroque parish church of the Tabán, dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria. The parish was founded in the 17th century by Franciscans from Bosnia, and the church was rebuilt in Baroque style between 1728 and 1777 and repaired several times since. It is one of the last reminders of the old Tabán, a crowded quarter of Serbs, Greeks, Germans, Croats, Slovaks and Roma that was cleared in the 1930s. The empty slopes around the church are now a park.
- The two-towered facade and the open green slopes behind it, where the streets of the old quarter once stood.
The Petőfi statue
Sándor Petőfi (1823–1849) is Hungary's national poet. On 15 March 1848 he read his National Song to the crowds in Pest, and that day is still Hungary's national holiday. He was last seen at the Battle of Segesvár in July 1849, aged 26, and his body was never found. His larger-than-life statue by Miklós Izsó and Adolf Huszár stands on Petőfi Square, near the Pest end of the Elisabeth Bridge. On 23 October 1956 the student demonstration that started the Hungarian Revolution set out from this square.
- Every year around 15 March the statue is decorated with flowers and ribbons in the national colours, red, white and green.
Buda Castle
Buda Castle is the huge royal palace that fills the southern end of Castle Hill. King Béla IV built the first royal residence here in the 13th century, after the Mongol invasion, and the oldest parts of the present building go back to the 14th century. The Baroque palace was built between 1749 and 1769 to plans by Jean Nicolas Jadot and later changed by Nicolò Pacassi, then greatly enlarged around 1900.
In the siege of Budapest in the winter of 1944–45 the palace was reduced to ruins. It was rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s with simpler facades, and many interiors were lost. Today it houses the Hungarian National Gallery, the Budapest History Museum and the National Széchényi Library, and the government's Hauszmann programme is restoring parts of it until 2030. The Castle Quarter is part of the Budapest UNESCO World Heritage Site. Buda Castle is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The Turul, a mythical bird of the Magyars with spread wings, by Gyula Donáth (1905), on its pillar above the Danube.
- The Matthias Fountain by Alajos Stróbl in the western courtyard, showing King Matthias as a hunter; it is also a stop on our route.
The Fisherman's Bastion
The white towers and terraces of the Fisherman's Bastion were never meant for war. They were designed by Frigyes Schulek, the architect who restored the neighbouring Matthias Church, and built in Neo-Romanesque style between 1895 and 1902 as a viewing terrace. Its seven towers stand for the seven Magyar chieftains who led the tribes into the Carpathian Basin. The name probably comes from the fishermen's guild that defended this stretch of the medieval wall, or from Fishtown, the old fishermen's quarter below the hill. The bastion is a stop on our scavenger hunt.
- The bronze equestrian statue of King Stephen I by Alajos Stróbl, unveiled in 1906, between the bastion and Matthias Church.
- The arches of the upper terrace, which frame the Parliament on the opposite bank.
The Széchenyi Chain Bridge
The Chain Bridge was the first permanent bridge across the Danube in Hungary. Count István Széchenyi pushed for it, the English engineer William Tierney Clark designed it, and the Scottish engineer Adam Clark supervised the building. It opened on 20 November 1849. On 18 January 1945 the retreating German army blew it up, leaving only the towers, and it reopened in 1949. After a renovation from 2021 to 2023 it is closed to cars. The bridge is a stop on our scavenger hunt.
- The four stone lions by János Marschalkó, put in place in 1852. A popular story says they have no tongues; they do, you just cannot see them from below.
- Clark Ádám Square on the Buda side, named after the engineer, with the lower station of the Castle Hill funicular.
How to see them in one walk
Start on the Pest side at the Petőfi statue and cross the Elisabeth Bridge. On the Buda side, visit the Tabán church and then climb the paths of Gellért Hill to the Citadella and the Liberty Statue. Come back down to the Tabán and walk north along the foot of Castle Hill, past the Castle Garden Bazaar, then climb up to Buda Castle and the Matthias Fountain. Walk along the hilltop to Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion, and finish by going down to Clark Ádám Square and crossing the Chain Bridge back to Pest. The hills are steep, so wear good shoes; the funicular is an easy way up to the castle if you want to save your legs.
See Budapest with World City Trail
Our Budapest scavenger hunt turns the city centre into a game you play on your phone. The route runs from the Hungarian Parliament through Liberty Square, St Stephen's Basilica, Elizabeth Square and the Zero Kilometre Stone, then crosses to Buda for the Castle Garden Bazaar, Buda Castle, the Matthias Fountain, the Fisherman's Bastion and Matthias Church. Buda Castle, the Fisherman's Bastion and the Chain Bridge from this guide are all stops. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Budapest, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Budapest scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Budapest →
Play the outdoor escape game in Budapest →
Facts checked in October 2026.