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Old world charm and cosmopolitan living on the banks of the Danube.
With its multifarious and often embittered history, incredible architecture and rich cultural heritage, Hungary's capital deserves its reputation as the 'Paris of Central Europe'. It has a complex identity, somewhere between Western luxury and simple traditions.
The city straddles a gentle curve in the Danube. It has broad avenues, leafy parks and elaborate bathhouses. It also has a turn-of-the-century feel to it, for it was then - during the industrial boom and the capital's heyday - that most of the city was built.
Budapest is in north-central Hungary, some 250km (155mi) southeast of Vienna. The focal point is the Danube River, which bisects the city into two distinct parts: Buda is mostly residential and built on the hills and high river terraces of the western side, and commercial Pest is on a large, sandy plain across to the east. It is a sprawling city, with the areas beyond the Nagykörút ('Big Ring Road') in Pest and west of Moskva tér in Buda mostly residential or industrial and (with the exception of the Buda Hills and City Park) of little interest to visitors. It is also a well laid-out city; you'll have done well if you get yourself lost. Ferihegy international airport is 24km (15mi) southeast of central Budapest.
