The route that gives Budapest its three faces simultaneously: the Austro-Hungarian imperial city (the Parliament building, the Hungarian National Museum, the Andrássy Avenue that the UNESCO listing calls the Paris of the East and that is the Paris of the East in the specific sense that the architect who designed it had just come from Paris), the Communist city (the Terror House on Andrássy Avenue — the same building that served as the Arrow Cross headquarters in 1944 and the ÁVH secret police headquarters from 1945-1956, the specific 20th-century horror made visible in a single address), and the post-Communist creative city (the Szimpla Kert ruin bar, the Budapest food market at dawn, and the Hungarian natural wine revolution that the local producers are three years ahead of the export market in understanding). Seven days give all three and the thermal bath and the Danube Bend. Two days give the Széchenyi and the Chain Bridge and the impression that Budapest is very beautiful and somehow also very cheap, which it is, but it is also those other things.
Reading time: 10 minutes | Last updated: 2026
Before You Leave
Getting there: Fly London-Budapest (Ryanair, Wizz Air, British Airways, easyJet — 2.5 hours, from £25 one way). Budapest is Schengen — UK citizens visa-free 90 days.
Currency: Hungarian Forint (HUF). 1 GBP ≈ 490 HUF (2025). Budapest is excellent value — the mid-range dinner: HUF 4,000-8,000 / £8.16-16.33 per person with the wine.
The Route
Pest (3 nights) → Buda (2 nights) → Danube Bend day trips + return Pest (2 nights)
DAYS 1-3 — Pest
Day 1: The Parliament and the Terror House
8am — The Parliament:
The Hungarian Parliament (the 1902 Gothic Revival building on the Danube — the largest parliament building in Europe at the time of construction, the Holy Crown of St Stephen (the Hungarian royal coronation crown, the 11th-century crown that survived the Ottoman occupation, the Habsburg appropriation, the Nazi removal, and the Soviet period) visible in the central domed hall):
Guided tour (mandatory for the interior): HUF 8,000 / £16.33 for the English tour. Book at jegymester.hu.
The Terror House:
The Terror House (Terror Háza, Andrássy Avenue 60 — the museum in the building that served as headquarters for the Arrow Cross (the Hungarian Nazi party) from 1944-45 and for the ÁVH (the Hungarian secret police) from 1945-1956):
The basement (the prison cells where both regimes held political prisoners — the cells visible in the museum’s lower level, the torture equipment documentation, the specific Hungarian 20th century at its most concentrated weight): HUF 4,000 / £8.16.
Day 2: The Great Market Hall and the Jewish Quarter
7am — The Nagy Vásárcsarnok:
The Great Market Hall (the 1897 cast-iron market on the Fővám tér — the stalls at the lower level (the Hungarian produce: the paprika (the Hungarian red pepper in powders from édesnemes (sweet) to erős (hot)), the salami (the Pick Szeged and the Herz Budapest — the Hungarian salami tradition, the téliszalámi (winter salami) with the specific white mould casing), the lángos (the fried dough with the sour cream and the cheese — the Hungarian street food at the market stall): HUF 600-1,000 / £1.22-2.04.
The Dohány Street Synagogue:
The Dohány Street Synagogue (the largest synagogue in Europe — the 3,000-seat Moorish Revival building (1859), the Holocaust memorial in the garden (the Imre Varga weeping willow tree, the leaves bearing the names of the Hungarian Jewish victims), the Hungarian Jewish Museum within the complex): HUF 5,000 / £10.20.
Day 3: The Széchenyi Thermal Bath
7am — Széchenyi:
The Széchenyi Thermal Bath (the 1913 neo-Baroque bath in the City Park — the outdoor thermal pools at 36-38°C before the crowd (the pool fills from 9am)):
HUF 9,500 / £19.39 for the day ticket.
The chess players at 9am: the specific Széchenyi image — the retired Budapest men playing chess on the floating boards in the outdoor thermal pool. Available to join; bring the patience.
DAYS 4-5 — Buda
Day 4: Buda Castle District
7am — The Fishermen’s Bastion:
The Fishermen’s Bastion (Halászbástya — the 1902 neo-Romanesque terrace on the Buda hill, the seven towers representing the seven Magyar tribes, the Danube and the Parliament visible from the terrace):
At 7am: the bastion with zero other people, the Danube visible in the morning light, the Parliament’s dome visible on the opposite bank.
Entry to the upper terrace: HUF 1,200 / £2.45.
The Matthias Church:
The Matthias Church (Mátyás-templom — the 14th-century Gothic church on the castle hill, the Hungarian kings crowned here, the specific Gothic-Moorish hybrid interior (the restored 19th-century polychrome wall decoration) that the renovation produced): HUF 2,200 / £4.49.
Day 5: The Cave Hospital and the Gellért
The Cave Hospital:
The Cave Hospital in the Rock (Sziklakórház — the hospital built inside the natural cave system beneath the Buda Castle Hill, used as the military hospital during WWII and as the secret nuclear bunker during the Cold War, the medical equipment from 1944-1956 visible in the rooms in the condition of the period): HUF 5,000 / £10.20.
The Gellért Thermal Bath:
The Gellért (the 1918 Art Nouveau thermal bath in the Gellért Hotel — the specific Budapest thermal experience at the premium architecture level): HUF 11,000 / £22.45 for the day ticket.
DAYS 6-7 — The Danube Bend
The Danube Bend Day Trip:
The Danube Bend (Dunakanyar — the 30km section of the Danube where the river turns abruptly south at the Visegrád hills, the specific Hungarian landscape the Habsburg court used as the summer escape from Vienna):
The Visegrád Castle:
The Visegrád (the medieval royal capital of Hungary above the Danube bend — the Visegrád Citadel on the 326-metre hill, the Hungarian royal crown kept here for 300 years, the Danube visible below from the walls): HUF 2,000 / £4.08.
The Esztergom Basilica:
The Esztergom (the Hungarian cathedral city — the Esztergom Basilica (the largest church in Hungary, the 1856 neoclassical building on the hilltop above the Danube, the treasury (the Vitéz chalice, the 15th-century Hungarian goldsmithing visible in the single object that survived the Ottoman period))):
HUF 1,000 / £2.04 entry.
Getting to the Bend:
Train from Budapest Keleti to Esztergom (1.5 hours, HUF 1,700 / £3.47) then bus to Visegrád (30 minutes, HUF 600 / £1.22) and return by the Mahart boat on the Danube (seasonal April-October, HUF 3,000 / £6.12 to Budapest Vigadó): the specific Danube Bend river return that gives the bend from the water level.
What It Costs
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (UK-Budapest) | £25-100 | £50-200 |
| 7 nights accommodation | £105-280 | £280-700 |
| Food (7 days) | £30-85 | £85-220 |
| Thermal baths (Széchenyi + Gellért) | £42 | £42 |
| Terror House + Parliament | £24 | £24 |
| Danube Bend day trip | £12-20 | £12-20 |
| Total | £238-551 | £503-1,206 |
