Budapest Travel Forum

Hello!

Although we know Budapest has a lot of things to see, we only have 7 hours to stay in. So we would be grateful if somebody could tell us the most important things to do/see in Budapest in 7 hours starting from Nepliget Hst,5.

Thank you.

Stating the obvious Budapest is 2 towns rolled into one! Buda one side and Pest the other linked by several bridges.

My recommendation would be:

Gellert Hotel baths [art deco] -even if you don't swim pop your nose round to see the tiffany glass. Then Fishermans Bastian followed by ? St Mathildas church [not sure of name but right by] - A quick coffee/hot chocolate at the infamous Runzworm [not sure of spelling] and a slice of their scrummy gateaux - a quick walk over the chain bridge to the Houses of Parliament [free guided tour on production of passport] - ask the policeman to point you where you get the timed ticket, then down the main shopping street [stopping off for another coffee/cake at another coffee house [famous but I can't remember the name] and then on to the indoor market - not large and interesting enough - and then you're back to opposite your start at Gellert Baths

If you have more time walk down Andrassy Street where towards the zoo and the Szenchki baths where you will be tempted by yet more scrummy coffee houses - all slightly different in decor, cakes and coffees! Enjoy - I think Budapest has the edge over Vienna for coffee houses both in ambience, price, quality and selection

I'd do this:

- take tbe metro (line M3, direction Ujpest-Kozpont) to Kalvin ter (4 stops)
- take a look at the National Museum (from the outside only, considering you only have 7 hours)
- walk to the Danube, check what's going on at the Grand Market Hall, cross the bridge for a gaze at Gellert Baths (this should take about one and a half hour altogether), but I'd leave out the climb to the Citadel, since you get a similar view later on from the Fishermens' Bastion
- return to the Pest side, stroll all along Vaci utca, (include Ferenciek tere too) Vorosmarty ter and along the Danube on Dunakorzo, covering most sights in central Pest and you can have a coffee or something in Gerbeaud at Vorosmarty ter or Jegbufe at Ferenciek tere - this all should take another one hour, now we are up to 2.5 hours
- now it's high time to go up to the Castle - you can either walk through the Chain Bridge and then take the funicular up the hill, or catch bus 16 in front of the Academy building on Roosevelt ter and take it all the way up to the castle
- once up there, start south to the Royal Palace, walk around it, also check the Sandor-palota (Alexander Palace), and then keep walking north to Matthias Church and Fishermens' Bastion; after these, walk around the castle via Becsi kapu ter, Kapisztran ter and the walk on the western side of the castle - these will take you another 1.5-2 hours, so we are up to 4-4.5 hours now
- so quickly catch the 16 bus heading for Deak Ferenc ter - once down at Deak ter, make your way across the square towards St Stephen's Basilica - after a quick look inside (or a longer climb up to the roof of it), stroll along Andrassy Avenue to Oktogon (this should take about 45 minutes, so we are now talking about 4h45-5h15 spent
- now, check how much time you have left
- if you have enough spare time, keep walking along Andrassy ut and see the villas - but if you are short on time, just hop on the Millennium Underground Railway underneath, heading for Mexikoi ut. Get off at Hosok tere (4th stop).
- check out Heroes' Square with the Museum of Fine Arts and the Art Hall, then walk across the bridge behind the statues and see Vajdahunyad Castle, then make your way towards Szechenyi Baths (Szechenyi furdo) - 5h-5h30 spent
- find the Millennium Underground Railway station and take it back in direction Vorosmarty ter to Oktogon (5 stops)
- if you have enough time, walk along Grand Circle Boulevard (Nagykorut, here: Terez korut) towards Western Station; you can do minimal shopping in Westend mall, but remember: you need about 20-30 minutes for a convenient return to Nepliget by metro M3!
- if you don't want to do shopping, hop on tram 4 in direction Fehervari ut or tram 6 in direction Moricz zsigmond korter to see other parts of Grand Circle too; get off at Ferenc korut M stop (7th stop); you can get on at Oktogon too!
- at Ferenc korut, get on metro M3 in direction Kobanya-Kispest for 3 stops to reach Nepliget.

I know it's very tight, but this way you can include basically all sights of the city (center).

Wow, forget the Western Station (Nyugati palyaudvar) part, it's not gonna work, check it out on a postcard maybe.
Actually if you run out of time, from Szechenyi furdo it's quicker to walk out to Hungaria korut, hop on tram 1 or 1A in direction Lagymanyosi hid or Nepliget. This way you can get from Szechenyi furdo to Nepliget in 45 minutes, though the route isn't nice.

Thank you. I will take note of it.