Sights

Castle Hill
The Castle District on Castle Hill is the premier destination for visitors and contains many of Budapest's most important monuments and museums, not to mention grand views of Pest across the snaking Danube. The walled area consists of two distinct parts: the Old Town where commoners lived in the Middle Ages, and the Royal Palace. Stroll around the medieval streets of the Old Town and take in the odd museum. A brief tour in one of the horse-drawn hackney cabs is worthwhile. The Old Town is filled with attractively painted houses, decorative churches and the famous Fishermen's Bastion.

Fishermen's Bastion
Completed in 1905 on the site of a former fish market - this is where the name comes from. It has never served a defensive purpose: it is an excellent lookout place. The floodlit row of bastions offer a panoramic view onto the other bank of the Danube. The cityscape opening up from there, including the Fishermen's Bastion, has been part of UNESCO's World Heritage since 1988. The crypt of the ancient St. Michael Cemetery Chapel (the first written record dates from 1443) was opened to the public in 1997.

City Park
City Park, or Városliget, in Pest's northeastern reaches, makes a welcome break from the built-up inner-city area and incorporates many of Budapest's drawcards. The entrance to City Park is Hosök tere (Heroes' Square), which has the nation's most solemn monument - an empty coffin representing one of the unknown insurgents from the 1956 Uprising - beneath a stone tile. The inspirational Millenary Monument, a 36m (120ft) pillar backed by colonnades, defines the square. The Angel Gabriel tops the pillar, offering King Stephen the Hungarian crown. To the north of the square is the Museum of Fine Arts, which houses the city's outstanding foreign works (especially the Old Masters collection), while to the south is the ornate Palace of Art. Inside the City Park is the City Zoo, with its beautiful Secessionist elephant house. In the middle of the park is the stunning Vajdahunyad Castle on the island in the lake, which becomes a picturesque setting for ice-skating in the winter. Outside the church opposite the castle, Ják Chapel, is a statue of a hooded scribe outside named Anonymous after an unknown chronicler who wrote a history of the early Magyars. Writers today touch his pen for inspiration. The surrounding streets on the south eastern corner of City Park are loaded with gorgeous buildings, residences and embassies.

Gellért Hill
Another hill, another climb: however the panoramic views of the Royal Palace, the Danube and its bridges are well worth the effort. At the top of Gellért Hill is the Citadella, a fortress of sorts, and the Independence Monument, Budapest's unofficial symbol. With every hill climb comes the rewarding stroll down the other side, in this case to the pleasant Jubilee Park, an ideal spot for a picnic. Below Gellért Hill lies a gush of hot springs; not surprisingly, there are more public baths in the locale.

Király Baths
Budapest rests on a network of warm thermal and cool mineral springs. As a result, communal bathhouses, pools and spas are a house speciality. They are truly relaxing and are the perfect salve after a day spent exploring the city on weary feet; for many visitors the bathhouses rate among the city's greatest delights. They're clean, safe and cheap. Some are architectural attractions in their own right; in between Margaret Island and the Castle District, along the Danube on the Buda bank, are the Király baths. It has four pools, the main one with a fantastic skylit dome dating back to 1570.

Opera House
In the heart of Pest, on Andrássy út, is the Opera House. Seeing a performance is almost secondary to seeing its lavish interior. A night out at the Opera House is authentically Budapest, an absolute must. Tours of the neo-Renaissance building are also available if you can't make a gig. Given the number of festivals in Budapest, including the Budafest Summer Opera & Ballet Festival, there is almost a year-round performance schedule.

Royal Palace
The Royal Palace has been burned, bombed, razed, rebuilt and redesigned at least half a dozen times over the past seven centuries. What you see today clinging to the southern end of Castle Hill is an 18th- and early 20th-century amalgam reconstructed after the last war. It houses, among other things, the impressive Hungarian National Gallery (which has a huge section devoted to Hungarian art), the Széchenyi National Library and the Budapest History Museum. Take a relaxing break in the palace gardens at the rear of the museum. Ferdinand Gate, under the conical Mace Tower, will bring you to a set of steps. These descend to a historic Turkish cemetery dating from the decisive Independence battle for Buda of 1686.

Trinity Square
This square is the current centrepiece of the Castle District featuring a monumental Holy Trinity statue, the discreetly reserved old Buda City Hall, and the world famous Matthias Church. The best restaurants and shops in the area are also nearby.

Matthias Church
The church bears the name of its biggest Maecenas, King Matthias, who married twice in this shrine. The cathedral is almost as old as the Royal Palace and has been the venue of several coronation ceremonies. Every king and époque left its mark on the building until the Turks occupied Buda in 1541 and converted the temple into a mosque, whitewashing - and thus preserving - its medieval frescos. Matthias Church gained its current form at the turn of the century when a lot of smaller buildings attached to it earlier were pulled down and the church was reconstructed in characteristic neo-Gothic style. In addition to the usual biblical scenes, its frescos tell of the most important events in Hungary's history. The magnificent acoustics make it a popular concert venue.