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Budapest

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Budapest
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Budapest Travel Guide

  • About Budapest
Draped along the banks of the Danube, with the Buda Hills as a backdrop, the natural beauties of Budapest are bountiful. But crowned with grand fin-de-siècle and art nouveau architecture, it holds itself as one of Europe’s most striking cities.Savouring caffeine and creamy kipfels in its majestic traditional coffee houses merely sets the tone for a city that revels in the high culture of world-class galleries, classical music and literary theatre.Soak in its magnificent spas, buoyed by mineral waters from the surrounding thermal springs, unwind in its natural hot sulphur baths or relax with a massage beneath art nouveau grandeur.What stands today as the Hungarian capital, originally rose as three separate cities: Buda and Pest, on either side of the Danube, plus Óbuda to the north. The three united in 1873, and while Óbuda may live in the shadow of its more famous neighbours, it was the site of the city’s original Roman settlement, where the ruins of an amphitheatre, tombstones and statues still sit.Unanimity in name hasn’t meant uniformity in character, and the division of the Danube has left Buda and Pest with very different personalities.In Buda, visitors climb winding streets up to the Castle District to enjoy a wealth of history. Little remains of Buda Castle itself, though the Renaissance-style Royal Palace, Matthias Church and the Fisherman’s Bastion all intrigue nearby.Pest is where all the action takes place. Its impressive fin-de-siècle architecture and wide boulevards challenged Vienna as the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s key city. It is home to the parliament building, numerous art galleries and more opera, concerts and ballet performances than there are days of the week.The best restaurants are this side of the river too and it’s here that the nightlife wrestles with until the early hours as well. For a unique drink try a Ruin Pub, Budapest’s network of bars in disused buildings that include former tenement houses, factory buildings and community centres.Hungarian itself may be impenetrably foreign, but even if you don’t speak a word you’ll soon feel at home in Budapest.
  • Budapest History
The modern touristic pull of thermal spas and gastronomic brilliance is what drew Budapest’s first settlers too.Evidence of Hungary’s early hunter-gatherers show they lived along the gradient of what would later become Gellért Hill, and down both sides of the mighty River Danube.With a wealth of animals to eat and warming natural springs, these settlements soon swelled in size under the expansion of the Celts in the third century BC.Before long though, this became a Roman-dominated area. They saw the land’s topographical advantages and built up the ancient city of Aquincum, which became the capital city of Pannonia Inferior. You can see its remains today in Óbuda.The Romans found themselves fleeing the city when the Huns invaded in the second century AD. Further attacks and wars hindered any significant development in terms of Budapest itself, as the Avars and Charlemagne tribes passed through, scattering settlements.The Magyars arrived in around 896, and following the Bulgarian army’s victory over the Holy Roman Empire, two military fortresses were erected: one in Buda and a second in Pest.Budapest’s first Golden Age coincided with the reign of Renaissance King Matyás (1458-90), before a second one was symbolised by the 1896 millennium celebration in City Park.The city’s Silver Age came during the 20th-century inter-war period, when the likes of Evelyn Waugh and the Prince of Wales frequented Budapest’s spas and casinos.Balanced against the good times, however, are plenty of bad periods. The Hungarians’ defeat against the Turkish in 1526 stung, and the Hapsburg rule deprived Hungary of its autonomy until 1867.Devastation in WWII was followed by Soviet control, which oversaw the brutal crushing of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956, and was only lifted in 1989.After a chaotic period of post-communist adjustment, Hungary joined the EU in 2004 and Budapest emerged as a buzzing 21st-century metropolis.
  • Did you know?
Completed in 1859, Dohány Street Synagogue is Europe’s largest synagogue. Modern Budapest was officially born in 1873, when Buda, Óbuda and Pest were joined. Budapest’s subway system opened in 1896 and is the second oldest in the world.
  • Weather in Budapest
Enjoying a mild, central European climate, Budapest is a year-round destination, though it heaves with tourists in July and August. The most pleasant time of year to visit is May to June and September, when temperatures remain warm but visitor numbers and hotel prices are significantly reduced. Although flights prices may be a little more expensive, the winter months can offer that magical dusting of snow upon the grandiose buildings, which can make this magnificent city even more magical.

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