Must-see attractions in Castle District

  • Szechenyi Chain Bridge and Castle Hill.

    Castle Hill

    Castle District

    Castle Hill is a kilometre-long limestone plateau towering 170m above the Danube. It contains some of Budapest’s most important medieval monuments and…

  • Castle Museum

    Castle District

    The Castle Museum, part of the multibranched Budapest History Museum, explores the city's 2000-year history over four floors. Restored palace rooms dating…

  • Royal Palace by night, Budapest

    Royal Palace

    Castle District

    The former Royal Palace has been razed and rebuilt at least half a dozen times over the past seven centuries. Béla IV established a royal residence here…

  • National Gallery

    Hungarian National Gallery

    Castle District

    The Hungarian National Gallery is an overwhelming collection spread across four floors and four wings of the palace that traces Hungarian art from the…

  • House of Houdini

    Castle District

    Dedicated to the famous Hungarian-born magician and escape artist Harry Houdini, who was born Erik Weisz in Budapest's district VII in 1874, this small…

  • Fishermen's Bastions, Castle Hill.

    Fishermen’s Bastion

    Castle District

    The bastion, a neo-Gothic masquerade that looks medieval and offers some of the best views in Budapest, was built as a viewing platform in 1905 by Frigyes…

  • Mathias church Budapest

    Matthias Church

    Castle District

    Parts of Matthias Church date back 500 years, notably the carvings above the southern entrance, but essentially the church (named after King Matthias…

  • Matthias Fountain

    Castle District

    Facing the Royal Palace’s large courtyard to the northwest is the Romantic-style Matthias Fountain, portraying the young king Matthias Corvinus in hunting…

  • Buda Tower

    Castle District

    The big steeple on the south side of Kapisztrán tér, opposite the Museum of Military History and visible for kilometres to the west of Castle Hill, is the…

  • Invisible Exhibition

    Castle District

    This is a very unique interactive hour-long 'tour' of different settings (for instance, crossing the road, taking a bus) in total darkness, led by a blind…

  • Batthyány tér

    Castle District

    The centre of Víziváros, Batthyány tér is the best place to take pictures of the photogenic Parliament building across the Danube. In the square's centre…

  • Panoptikum

    Castle District

    This 1200m-long cave system, located some 16m (and 45 steps) under the Castle District, contains a motley collection of displays in its joined-up…

  • Golden Eagle Pharmacy Museum

    Castle District

    Just north of Dísz tér, on the site of Budapest’s first pharmacy (1681), this small, entertaining museum contains a mock-up of an alchemist’s laboratory,…

  • Hospital in the Rock Nuclear Bunker Museum

    Castle District

    Part of the Castle Hill caves network, this subterranean hospital was used extensively during the WWII siege of Budapest and during the 1956 Uprising. It…

  • Nagy Imre tér

    Castle District

    On the northern side of Nagy Imre tér is the former Military Court of Justice, where the eponymous Nagy and others were tried and sentenced to death in…

  • Former Capuchin Church

    Castle District

    Used as a mosque during the Turkish occupation, this church recycled Islamic-style, ogee-arched doors and windows on the southern side when it was rebuilt…

  • Museum of Applied Hungarian Folk Art

    Castle District

    This small museum focuses on folk art from around Hungary. There are impressive collections of fine textiles and embroidery, wood and bone carvings,…

  • Eugene of Savoy Statue

    Castle District

    To the southeast of the Habsburg Steps entrance, just in front of the Royal Palace, stands a statue of Eugene of Savoy, the Habsburg prince who wiped out…

  • Turul Statue

    Castle District

    To the east of the Habsburg Steps entrance to the palace is a bronze statue from 1905 of the Turul, a hawklike totemic bird that supposedly impregnated…

  • Vienna Gate

    Castle District

    This medieval entrance to the Old Town was rebuilt in 1936 to mark the 250th anniversary of the castle being taken back from the Turks. The gate is not…

  • 0km Stone

    Castle District

    What looks like an elongated concrete doughnut hidden in the bushes off Clark Ádám tér is the 0km stone. All Hungarian roads to and from the capital are…

  • Medieval Jewish Prayer House

    Castle District

    With sections dating from the late 14th century, this tiny house of worship contains documents and items linked to the Jewish community of Buda, as well…

  • Millennium Park

    Castle District

    Millennium Park is an attractive landscaped complex comprising fountains, ponds, little bridges, a theatre, a playground and a gallery containing the…

  • Church of St Anne

    Castle District

    The twin-towered baroque Church of St Anne (1740) has one of the most eye-catching interiors of any church in Budapest, including a magnificent late-18th…

  • Museum of Military History

    Castle District

    Loaded with swords and pistols and cannon, this museum also does a good job with uniforms, medals, flags and battle-themed fine art, with excellent text…

  • National Széchenyi Library

    Castle District

    The copyright National Széchenyi Library contains codices and manuscripts, a large collection of foreign newspapers and a copy of everything published in…

  • Ábrahám Ganz Foundry Museum

    Castle District

    This museum – a lot more interesting than it sounds – is housed in the Ganz Machine Works foundry, which was in use until the 1960s manufacturing the …

  • Music History Museum

    Castle District

    Housed in an 18th-century palace with a lovely courtyard, this wonderful little museum traces the development of music in Hungary from the 18th century to…

  • Clark Ádám tér

    Castle District

    Clark Ádám tér, the square named after the 19th-century Scottish engineer Adam Clark (1811–66) who supervised the building of the Szécheny Chain Bridge …

  • Sándor Palace

    Castle District

    This imposing neoclassical palace dates back to 1806 and now serves as the official residence of Hungary's president (János Áder who was re-elected to a…

  • Városmajor Church

    Castle District

    Love it or hate it, this 1933 church is an excellent example of Bauhaus architecture, and its concrete tower is certainly eye-catching.

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