What is the Budapest self-guided walking tour?
The Budapest self-guided walking tour is a walk you set the pace of yourself, with audio narration on your phone where a guide would otherwise walk. Reckon with about 3 hours: 64 minutes of that is walking, the route measures 4.7 km, and there are 11 stops where you stand still and listen. Nothing is timed and nobody has to be met.
On the Pest bank the narration opens with the Parliament, 268 metres long, inaugurated in 1896 for Hungary's millennium and finished only in 1904, and with the Holy Crown kept inside it since 2000. At St Stephen's Basilica it turns to the Holy Right, the mummified hand of the first Hungarian king, and to the dome that had to be built twice. On the Chain Bridge you hear that it was designed by one Clark and built by another, no relation, and in the castle courtyard the Fountain of King Matthias tells the tale of Beautiful Ilonka, who fell in love with the king without knowing who he was.
- Durationabout 3 hours
- Walkingabout 64 min · 4.7 km
- Stops11
- LanguagesEnglish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
What the walk involves
Listen
Each stop brings the history of the place, its legends and the detail you would otherwise miss. The same words sit on the screen if you would rather read them.
Cross to Buda
The route adds up to 4.7 km, of which 64 minutes are on foot, bridge and hill and all. Google Maps points the way between stops.
Pause on the riverbank
Take a coffee by the Danube, give an hour to a gallery, then take the walk up again later or on another day.
Eat and browse
Tips for places to eat and shop near the route come with the stops. The first stop and the order are yours to change in the app.
See the route and attractions →
How it works
- Book online Choose the number of people. Your booking reference arrives by email straight away.
- Get the app Download the World City Trail app from the App Store or Google Play and enter your booking reference.
- Walk when you like Start whenever you are ready, walk at your own pace and pause any time. No guide, no fixed schedule.
Who the walk is for
A first time in Budapest
One walk puts Pest, the bridge and Castle Hill in order and explains what you are standing in front of.
Anyone who avoids groups
Nobody to follow and no roll call: you stay as long as a view holds you and move on when you decide to.
A single free day
3 hours reaches from the Parliament to the top of Castle Hill, so the evening is free for a bath house or a dinner by the river.
Good to know
- Bring a charged smartphone with mobile data; a power bank helps.
- No entry tickets needed: everything happens outside the buildings. Going inside is optional and paid separately.
- Family friendly; children must be accompanied by an adult.
- Not suitable for wheelchair users and difficult with strollers.
- Groups of up to 5 work best; larger groups split up, one ticket per person.
- Every purchase helps support stray cats and dogs in Greece.
The walk stop by stop: the Parliament, the Chain Bridge, Buda Castle, Matthias Church
11 stops · about 64 min walking · start: Hungarian Parliament Building · finish: Matthias Church
The first stop is the Hungarian Parliament Building on the Pest bank. Liberty Square, St Stephen's Basilica and Elizabeth Square follow, and then the Széchenyi Chain Bridge takes you over the Danube to the Zero Kilometre Stone. The Castle Garden Bazaar leads up to Buda Castle and to the Fountain of King Matthias in its courtyard, after which Castle Hill carries you along to Fisherman's Bastion and to Matthias Church, where the walk ends. Everything is narrated outdoors, so none of the stops needs a ticket, and you can open the walk elsewhere on the route by changing the order in the app.
Open the route map ↗
1Hungarian Parliament BuildingStart
Imre Steindl's neo-Gothic Parliament on the Danube was begun in 1885, inaugurated in 1896, the year Hungary celebrated its millennium, and completed in 1904. It is the largest building in Hungary, 268 metres long and 96 metres high, and the Holy Crown of Hungary has been displayed inside since 2000.
2Liberty Square
Szabadság tér was laid out around 1900 on the site of a former Austrian barracks. Around it stand the Hungarian National Bank and the former Stock Exchange Palace, both by Ignác Alpár and completed in 1905, a Soviet memorial to Red Army soldiers who died in 1944–1945 and a statue of Ronald Reagan, unveiled in 2011.
Read the full story →
3St Stephen's Basilica
Budapest's great basilica was built from 1851 to 1905 by three architects in turn, József Hild, Miklós Ybl and József Kauser, after the first dome collapsed in 1868. Its dome is 96 metres high, the same as the Parliament, and a chapel holds the Holy Right, the mummified right hand of St Stephen, Hungary's first king.
4Elizabeth Square
Erzsébet tér, named after Queen Elisabeth, known as Sisi, is one of the largest green spaces in central Pest. Its Danubius Fountain, designed by Miklós Ybl, shows the Danube as a river god above three women who stand for its tributaries, the Tisza, Drava and Sava. A functionalist former bus station from 1949 also stands on the square.
Read the full story →
5Széchenyi Chain Bridge
Opened in 1849, the Chain Bridge was the first permanent bridge across the Danube between Buda and Pest. It was initiated by Count István Széchenyi, designed by the English engineer William Tierney Clark and built under the Scot Adam Clark. Legend says its stone lions have no tongues, but the tongues are simply not visible from below.
6Zero Kilometre Stone
This 3-metre limestone zero, a sculpture by Miklós Borsos unveiled in 1975, stands in Clark Ádám Square at the Buda end of the Chain Bridge. It marks Hungary's Kilometre Zero, the point from which road distances from the capital are measured.
Read the full story →
7Castle Garden Bazaar
Miklós Ybl, architect of the Hungarian State Opera, designed this neo-Renaissance complex of arcades, staircases and pavilions at the foot of Buda Castle, built between 1875 and 1883. After decades of decay it was restored and reopened in 2014, with terraced gardens and a covered escalator up towards the castle.
8Buda Castle
The royal palace on Castle Hill has been destroyed and rebuilt several times since the Middle Ages, most recently after heavy damage in the Second World War. Its long wings now house the Hungarian National Gallery, the Budapest History Museum and the National Széchényi Library, and a bronze Turul, the mythical bird of the Hungarians, watches over the gate.
9Fountain of King Matthias
In a courtyard of Buda Castle, Alajos Stróbl's bronze fountain of 1904 shows King Matthias as a hunter with his hunting party and dogs. It illustrates the tale of Beautiful Ilonka, a girl who fell in love with the king without knowing who he was, and tossing a coin into it is said to bring you back to Budapest.
10Fisherman's Bastion
Frigyes Schulek built this neo-Romanesque terrace between 1895 and 1902, with seven towers for the seven Magyar tribes. According to tradition it is named after the fishermen's guild that defended this stretch of the walls in the Middle Ages. In front of it stands an equestrian statue of St Stephen, and its arcades look out over the Danube and Pest.
11Matthias ChurchFinish
The Gothic Church of Our Lady of Buda is popularly named after King Matthias, who married here. After the Ottomans took Buda in 1541 it became a mosque, and in 1867 Franz Joseph and Elisabeth were crowned King and Queen of Hungary here. Frigyes Schulek restored it in the late 19th century, with a colourful roof of Zsolnay tiles.
Read the full story →
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Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Italy –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Frauke– Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Der Rundgang war wirklich sehr schön, allerdings sollte unbedingt 1 Stopp untergebracht werden. Der erste Stopp, den wir nur durch Zufall gesehen haben, sollte die Gedenkstätte für die Opfer der deutschen Besatzung sein.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Abbiamo fatto la guida con Caterina, è stata un’esperienza divertente ed istruttiva. Non servono pantaloncini o biglietti dell’autobus perché si va a piedi per il centro di Buda e non si entra dentro le chiese. Caterina parla un ottimo italiano e avere una guida ungherese da una marcia in più su tutte le curiosità del posto, comprese quelle linguistiche! Davvero un’esperienza da fare. Grazie!
Philippon– France –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Parcours très intéressant, des explications historiques très intéressantes. Je recommande
alison– United Kingdom –
Collected on GetYourGuide
There wasn’t a lot of content and the directions to each check point were sketchy. We went round and round in circles and got frustrated. It did however allow us to see areas we would have otherwise missed.
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Kostet zum Glück nicht viel. Zum Teil langweile Stops. Erklärung per Audio nicht wirklich flüssig. Besser wäre eine schnellere Sprache und interessante Sehenswürdigkeiten. Kann man aber für den Preis mitnehmen.
Cristel Cespedosa– Belgium –
Collected on GetYourGuide
slay
Netherlands –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Superleuk, je kan goed op je eigen tempo de hotspots van de stad verkennen. Leuke dingen op de route en leuke info in de app. Aanrader!
Germany –
Collected on GetYourGuide
Super individuelle Stadtführung mit viel Information rund um die Stadt im allgemeinen und die jeweiligen Stationen.