Europe Travel Guides

Points of interest

Gellért Baths

The city's most famous thermal spa is the Gellért Baths below Gellért Hill. Soaking in this Art Nouveau palace has been likened to taking a bath in a cathedral. The pools here maintain a constant temperature of 44°C (111°F).

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Military History Museum

Loaded with weaponry from before the Turkish conquest, the Museum of Military History also does a good job with uniforms, medals, flags and battle-themed fine art. Exhibits focus on the 1848-49 War of Independence and the Hungarian Royal Army under Admiral Miklós Horthy (1918-43) and has all you could want to know about Hungary's rich military history.

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Terror Háza

This museum, housed in the same building that served as headquarters of the dreaded ÁVH secret police, purports to focus on the crimes and atrocities committed by both Hungary's fascist and Stalinist regimes, but the latter, particularly the years after WWII leading up to the 1956 Uprising, gets the lion's share of the exhibition space.

The tank in the central courtyard is a jarring introduction, and the wall displaying many of the victims' photos speaks volumes. But even more harrowing are the reconstructed prison cells and the final Perpetrators' Gallery, featuring photographs of the turncoats, spies, torturers and 'cogs-in-the-wheel', many of them still alive, who allowed or caused these atrocities to take place.

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Royal Palace

The Royal Palace has been burned, bombed, razed, rebuilt and redesigned at least six times over the past seven centuries. It's now an 18th- and early 20th-century amalgam reconstructed after the last war. Take a majestic walk through Ferdinand Gate, under Mace Tower, to the Turkish cemetery or relax in the palace gardens behind the Budapest History Museum.

The palace houses the impressive Hungarian National Gallery (with a huge Hungarian art section), the Széchenyi National Library and the Budapest History Museum.

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Hungarian State Opera House

The neo-Renaissance Hungarian State Opera House, among the city's most beautiful buildings, was designed by Miklós Ybl in 1884. If you cannot attend a concert or an opera, join one of the guided tours, which usually includes a brief musical performance. Tickets are available from the souvenir shop on the eastern side of the building facing Hajós utca.

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Gödör Klub

A large underground club (with a glass ceiling revealing the square above) provides the venue for truly eclectic live music performances - from world beat to The Doors covers to jazz - played to a local crowd of all ages.

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Kalamajka Táncház

This gleaming cultural centre in the Northern Inner Town hosts the incomparable Kalamajka Táncház. The Kalamajka band play authentic folk music every Saturday evening to an appreciative dancing crowd that fill the floor till late in the night.

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Klub Vittula

Probably the best place to get drunk and dance in Budapest at the moment, with cutting-edge DJs and cheap Slovakian blond (beer, that is). Really gets going after Cinderella's coach has turned into a pumpkin.

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Pozsonyi Kisvendéglő

Visit this neighbourhood restaurant on the corner of Pozsonyi út offering the ultimate local experience: gargantuan portions of standard Hungarian favourites, rock-bottom prices and a cast of local characters. There's a bank of tables on the pavement in summer and simple, set weekday menus for next to nothing.

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Mokka

It's 'ethno-cuisine' here, with a mishmash of dishes; you'll need a map to read the menu. But we love the space and the great African decor, plus there's a good wine list. The three-course set menu, including wine, is very good value.

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Menza

This upmarket Hungarian restaurant on Budapest's most lively square takes its name from the Hungarian word for a drab school canteen - though it is anything but. Book a table; it's fabulously stylish and always packed with diners who come for the simple but perfectly cooked Hungarian classics with a modern spin. Weekday two-course set lunches are very cheap.

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Events

Budapest is a cultural mecca and has a long tradition of celebrating its chequered history; each of the four seasons has its own festivals. Budapesti Búcsú (June) is a fervent rock and pop festival held at several open-air venues around Budapest and celebrates the last Russian soldiers' departure from Hungary in 1991. September's International Wine and Champagne Festival is held in the Castle District. By far the capital's largest (200 events at 60 venues) and most important cultural festival is the Budapest Spring Festival, occurring in March at venues throughout the city.

If the classics are not your thing, join the frenzied throng the 'Sziget' Music Festival. Held on the site of an old disused shipyard on Óbuda Island, this is where you'll find central Europe's highest concentration of moshing and doofing. Hungary's premier sporting event is the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix, held in mid-August each year.

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