Find places in Hungary

Must-Haves

• Hungarian Parliament Building (Kossuth Lajos tér)
  Guided tours lead through gilded halls to the Holy Crown in the country's great landmark.
• Matthias Church (Castle District)
  A gothic church with a dazzling tiled roof and painted interior beside the Bastion.
• Dohány Street Synagogue (Jewish Quarter)
  The largest synagogue in Europe, with a moving memorial garden and museum.
• St Stephen's Basilica (Lipótváros)
  Climb the dome for a panorama over Pest and the river.
• Shoes on the Danube Bank (Pest riverbank)
  A simple, haunting memorial to Jews shot on the riverbank in 1944 and 1945.

Must-Haves

• Buda Castle (Castle District)
  The royal palace on Castle Hill holds the National Gallery and sweeping Danube views.
• Fishermen's Bastion (Castle District)
  Fairy tale white towers with the classic view across the river to Parliament.
• Széchenyi Thermal Bath (City Park)
  Steaming outdoor pools in a yellow neo baroque palace, best on a cold morning.

Great for Date Night

• Rudas Thermal Bath (Döbrentei tér)
  An original Ottoman domed pool plus a rooftop hot tub with river views.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Lukács Thermal Bath (Frankel Leó út)
  A local favourite bath where regulars swim laps and soak away from the crowds.

Must-Haves

• Great Market Hall (Fővám tér)
  A grand iron market hall for paprika, salami, pickles and lángos upstairs.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Lehel Market (District XIII)
  A working market where locals shop for vegetables, meat and pickles.

Off the Beaten Path

• Szimpla Sunday Farmers Market (Jewish Quarter)
  The ruin bar turns into a farmers market on Sunday mornings.
• Ecseri Flea Market (District XIX)
  A sprawling flea market for vintage, antiques and communist era curios.

Fun for Everyone

• Budapest Christmas Fair (Vörösmarty tér)
  Wooden stalls, mulled wine and chimney cake from late November.

Fun for Everyone

• Margaret Island (Danube)
  A car free island of gardens, a musical fountain, running track and lido.
• City Park and Vajdahunyad Castle (Városliget)
  A big park with a fairy tale castle, boating lake in summer and an ice rink in winter.

Must-Haves

• Gellért Hill and the Citadella (Buda)
  The best sunset viewpoint over the bridges, Parliament and both halves of the city.

Off the Beaten Path

• Pál-völgyi Cave (District II)
  Guided walks through limestone caves beneath the Buda hills.

Must-Haves

• Szimpla Kert (Jewish Quarter)
  The original ruin bar, a maze of rooms filled with odd art, plants and old furniture.

Fun for Everyone

• Instant and Fogas (Jewish Quarter)
  A huge complex of bars and dance floors that stays lively until dawn.

Great for Date Night

• Mazel Tov (Jewish Quarter)
  A plant filled courtyard bar and restaurant serving Middle Eastern dishes.

Off the Beaten Path

• Doblo Wine and Bar (Jewish Quarter)
  A candlelit wine bar pouring Hungarian wines by the glass.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Élesztő (District IX)
  A craft beer ruin bar with dozens of Hungarian beers on tap.

Must-Haves

• New York Café (Erzsébetváros)
  Possibly the most opulent café in the world, all gilt, marble and frescoes.
• Gerbeaud (Vörösmarty tér)
  A historic coffee house famed for its cakes since the nineteenth century.

Great for Date Night

• Café Central (Belváros)
  A grand old literary café that feels calmer than its famous rivals.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Ruszwurm Confectionery (Castle District)
  A tiny Biedermeier pastry shop near Matthias Church, serving cakes for two centuries.

Off the Beaten Path

• Massolit Books and Café (Jewish Quarter)
  A secondhand bookshop with a quiet garden café.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Frici Papa (District VII)
  Hearty goulash, paprikash and stews at a simple, busy local eatery.

Great for Date Night

• Rosenstein (District VIII)
  A family run restaurant known for Hungarian Jewish home cooking.
• Costes Downtown (District V)
  A celebrated fine dining kitchen turning Hungarian ingredients into tasting menus.
• Stand Restaurant (District V)
  Refined Hungarian classics from one of the country's best known chef teams.

Fun for Everyone

• Bors GasztroBár (Kazinczy utca)
  A tiny counter with inventive soups and baguettes and a long queue for good reason.

Must-Haves

• Sziget Festival (Óbuda Island)
  One of Europe's biggest music festivals, held on an island in the Danube each August.

Fun for Everyone

• St Stephen's Day (Citywide)
  Fireworks over the Danube and a craft fair on Buda Castle every 20 August.

Great for Date Night

• Budapest Wine Festival (Buda Castle)
  Winemakers from across Hungary pour in the castle courtyards each September.

Off the Beaten Path

• Budapest Spring Festival (Citywide)
  Concerts, dance and theatre across the city each spring.

Great for Date Night

• Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace (Széchenyi tér)
  An art nouveau palace hotel facing the Chain Bridge.
• Aria Hotel Budapest (District V)
  A music themed boutique hotel by the Basilica with a rooftop bar.

Must-Haves

• Hungarian Open Air Museum (Skanzen)
  Whole villages of farmhouses, churches and workshops rebuilt from every region.
• Margit Kovács Ceramic Collection (Old town)
  Playful, moving ceramic figures by one of Hungary's best loved artists.
• Royal Palace of Visegrád (Visegrád)
  Renaissance palace ruins with a restored courtyard fountain.

Off the Beaten Path

• Szamos Marzipan Museum (Old town)
  Marzipan sculptures, including a parliament, and a café with excellent cakes.
• Blagoveštenska Church (Fő tér)
  A Serbian Orthodox church on the main square with a rich iconostasis.

Fun for Everyone

• Church Hill viewpoint (Templom tér)
  A short climb to the best view over the town's roofs and spires.
• Visegrád Citadel (Visegrád)
  A hilltop fortress with the finest view over the Danube Bend.

Off the Beaten Path

• Visegrád Bobsled (Visegrád)
  A summer toboggan run down a forested hillside.

Fun for Everyone

• Szentendre Main Square (Fő tér)
  Craft shops, galleries and painted houses around a small baroque square.

Off the Beaten Path

• Dobogókő (Pilis hills)
  A high point in the Pilis hills with walking trails and views of the Bend.
• Nagymaros (Danube north bank)
  A quiet village by ferry from Visegrád, a base for Börzsöny hikes.

Fun for Everyone

• Visegrád Palace Games (Visegrád)
  Jousting and medieval costume at the royal palace each July.

Must-Haves

• Tihany Abbey (Tihany)
  A Benedictine abbey founded in 1055 on a hilltop above the lake.
• Festetics Palace (Keszthely)
  A vast baroque palace with a famous library and carriage museum.

Must-Haves

• Tihany Inner Lake trail (Tihany)
  A walk past a crater lake, lavender and old hermit caves on the peninsula.

Off the Beaten Path

• Káli Basin (Balaton Uplands)
  A quiet valley of stone villages, rock fields and small farm restaurants.
• Szigliget Castle (Szigliget)
  A castle ruin on a hill above a pretty lakeside village.

Fun for Everyone

• Badacsony vineyards (Badacsony)
  Wine terraces on the slopes of an extinct volcano with lake views.

Must-Haves

• Hévíz Thermal Lake (Hévíz)
  Swim in a warm natural lake among water lilies, all year round.

Fun for Everyone

• Tapolca Lake Cave (Tapolca)
  Row a small boat through flooded caves beneath the town.
• Balatonfüred Tagore Promenade (Balatonfüred)
  A tree lined lakeside walk with cafés and sailing boats.
• Szántód to Tihany ferry (Szántód)
  A short car ferry crossing with great views of the peninsula.
• Balaton cycling route (Lakeshore)
  A mostly flat cycle path around the lake past beaches and vineyards.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Fried fish and lángos stands (Siófok)
  Classic summer beach food at stands along the strands.

Fun for Everyone

• Petőfi Promenade (Siófok)
  The heart of Siófok's summer nightlife with bars and beach clubs.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Liliomkert Market (Káptalantóti)
  A weekend farmers and flea market loved by Budapest food lovers.

Must-Haves

• Eger Castle (Old town)
  The fortress that held off the Ottoman army in 1552, with museums and casemates.
• Eger Turkish Bath (Fürdő utca)
  A restored Ottoman bath with modern thermal pools.

Fun for Everyone

• Eger Thermal Bath (Archbishop's Garden)
  Outdoor thermal and swimming pools in a shady park, good for families.

Off the Beaten Path

• Lipizzaner stud farm (Szilvásvárad)
  The home of the state Lipizzaner horses, with a museum and riding shows.

Must-Haves

• Eger Minaret (Old town)
  The northernmost Ottoman minaret in Europe, with a narrow climb to the top.
• Eger Basilica (Old town)
  A neoclassical basilica with short organ concerts on many days.

Off the Beaten Path

• Lyceum and camera obscura (Eszterházy tér)
  A historic library ceiling and a working camera obscura projecting the town.
• Tokaj wine region (Tokaj)
  A UNESCO listed landscape famous for sweet Aszú wine, a good next stop.

Fun for Everyone

• Dobó István Square (Old town)
  The baroque heart of town, with the Minorite Church and the siege hero's statue.

Must-Haves

• Valley of the Beautiful Women (Szépasszony völgy)
  A horseshoe of rock cut wine cellars pouring Bull's Blood by the glass.

Great for Date Night

• Macok Bistro and Wine Bar (Below the castle)
  A bistro with seasonal food and an excellent Eger wine list.

Off the Beaten Path

• Egerszalók salt hill (Egerszalók)
  White travertine terraces from a hot spring just outside Eger.
• Bükk National Park (Bükk hills)
  Limestone peaks, caves and beech forest trails north of town.

Fun for Everyone

• Szalajka Valley (Szilvásvárad)
  A forest railway, trout streams and a veil waterfall in the Bükk hills.

Must-Haves

• Cella Septichora Visitor Centre (Dóm tér)
  Painted early Christian tombs from Roman Sopianae, listed by UNESCO.
• Mosque Church of Pasha Qasim (Széchenyi tér)
  A sixteenth century mosque turned church, the symbol of the city.
• Pécs Cathedral (Dóm tér)
  A four towered cathedral with a richly painted interior.

Fun for Everyone

• Zsolnay Cultural Quarter (Felsővámház utca)
  A former ceramics factory turned museums, planetarium and family spaces.

Off the Beaten Path

• Csontváry Museum (Káptalan utca)
  Visionary landscapes by the painter Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka.

Fun for Everyone

• Pécs TV Tower (Misina hill)
  A viewing deck over the city and the plains to the south.

Off the Beaten Path

• Mecsek hills (Above Pécs)
  Forest trails, a lookout tower and a small zoo above the city.

Low Cost and Authentic

• Pécs Market Hall (Bajcsy-Zsilinszky utca)
  A busy local market for produce, paprika and pastries.

Off the Beaten Path

• Villány wine street (Villány)
  A single street of cellars pouring the south's celebrated reds.

Off the Beaten Path

• Siklós Castle (Siklós)
  A well preserved castle near Villány with museum displays.

Fun for Everyone

• Harkány Thermal Bath (Harkány)
  A big spa with sulphurous thermal pools, popular with families.

Must-Haves

• Busójárás carnival (Mohács)
  Masked carnival before Lent, a UNESCO listed tradition in nearby Mohács.