Budapest

Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport is 30 minutes from the city center by the 100E airport bus to Deák Ferenc tér. Check into your hotel and walk immediately to the Chain Bridge (Széchenyi lánchíd) — the 1849 suspension bridge connecting Buda and Pest — and cross it at dusk for the definitive Budapest view: the floodlit Buda Castle and Matthias Church above the river on one side, the illuminated dome of the Parliament building on the other. Few cityscapes anywhere in Europe match this one. Walk along the Pest embankment (the Danube Korzó) as the city lights reflect on the river, then find a table in the Great Market Hall neighborhood or the inner fifth district for a first Hungarian dinner: goulash soup, veal paprikash, lángos (fried dough with sour cream and cheese), and a glass of Bull's Blood red wine from Eger.

Cross the Danube and ride the Castle Hill Funicular (Budavári Sikló) from the Chain Bridge to the top of Castle Hill — a 13th-century fortified hilltop plateau that constitutes the oldest inhabited part of Budapest and contains the greatest concentration of historic architecture in the city. The Matthias Church (Mátyás-templom), with its extraordinary polychrome roof tiles and neo-Gothic interior, is one of Hungary's finest buildings; it has hosted royal coronations, Ottoman mosques, and now magnificent masses and concerts. The Fishermen's Bastion next door is a neo-Romanesque terrace with seven turrets (representing the seven Magyar tribes that founded Hungary) and the most spectacular 180-degree view of Pest and the Danube in the city — particularly beautiful at sunrise when almost no one is there. Explore the underground labyrinth of caves that runs beneath Castle Hill, then lunch at Café Pierrot, Budapest's oldest café in a 13th-century building. Afternoon at the Hungarian National Gallery in the Royal Palace.

The Hungarian Parliament Building on the Pest bank of the Danube is one of the largest and most ornate parliament buildings in the world — a neo-Gothic confection of 691 rooms, 1,300 frescoes, and a central dome copied from the Pantheon. Interior tours run every hour and include the Hungarian Crown Jewels — the medieval Crown of Saint Stephen, the apostolic cross, and the coronation regalia that has been the symbol of Hungarian sovereignty since 1000 AD. After the parliament tour, walk south along the Danube to the Great Market Hall (Vásárcsarnok) — a beautiful 1897 iron market building with stalls of Hungarian paprika, embroidered tablecloths, Tokaji wine, and túrós rétes (cheese strudel). Lunch inside the market. Afternoon on Andrássy Avenue — Budapest's answer to the Champs-Élysées, a UNESCO-listed boulevard of neo-Renaissance palaces leading to Hero's Square — including the State Opera House (tours available daily, or better, attend a performance).

Budapest sits above 120 natural thermal springs, and the culture of communal bathing has been central to city life since Roman times — the Ottomans developed it further with the Veli Bej, Rudas, and Király baths still operating in their original 16th-century buildings. Széchenyi Thermal Bath, built in 1913 in neo-Baroque yellow-and-white splendor in City Park, is the largest thermal bath complex in Europe: outdoor pools, indoor pools, saunas, steam rooms, and the extraordinary experience of floating in 38°C water while chess players contemplate their games on floating boards. Couples' private cabin hire is available for a more intimate experience. The Gellért Thermal Bath (in the Art Nouveau Gellért Hotel on the Buda bank) is smaller and more architecturally extraordinary — its wave pool, marble columns, and mosaic floors are a design lover's dream. Spend the full day between baths, sauna, and the pools.

Budapest's 7th district was the Jewish Quarter of the old city — and before the Holocaust, home to the largest Jewish community in Central Europe. The Great Synagogue on Dohány Street is the largest synagogue in Europe (seating 3,000) and one of the world's most beautiful, with Moorish revival architecture, a remarkable museum, and a weeping willow memorial tree in the garden whose leaves bear the names of the 400,000 Hungarian Jews killed in the Shoah. After the Great Synagogue, explore the neighborhood's distinctive food and culture — the Karavan Street Food Park, the Szimpla Kert ruin bar (open since 2002, built inside a crumbling pre-war building with mismatched furniture, hanging bicycles, plants growing through the walls, and a clientele of everyone from backpackers to Budapest's creative class), and the extraordinary evening street life of the 7th district. Budapest's ruin bar scene is unique in the world — don't leave without experiencing at least one.

The Danube Bend (Dunakanyar), 40km north of Budapest, is where the river makes a dramatic turn between the Pilis and Börzsöny hills — one of the most beautiful landscapes in Central Europe and the historic heartland of the Kingdom of Hungary. Take the Mahart hydrofoil from Budapest's Vigadó Square dock (90 minutes to Visegrád) or drive the scenic road. Visegrád's hilltop citadel offers the greatest Danube panorama in Hungary; King Matthias Corvinus held one of the most brilliant Renaissance courts in Europe here in the 15th century. From Visegrád, drive 25km to Esztergom — the religious capital of Hungary since the year 1000 AD, with the largest church in Hungary (the Esztergom Basilica) dominating the city from its hilltop above the Danube. The interior, with its vast dome and marble columns, houses a treasury of medieval Hungarian art. Return to Budapest by early evening and dine at Costes (Budapest's first Michelin-starred restaurant) for a celebratory last evening out.

Budapest's airport is 30 minutes from the city center. A final morning should include a pastry at Gerbeaud — the grande dame café and confectionery on Vörösmarty tér, open since 1858, serving extraordinary cakes, Dobos torte, and coffee in a setting of Habsburg splendor. Walk through the Inner City one last time: the Vigadó concert hall on the Danube, the Váci Street pedestrian zone for last-minute Hungarian shopping (paprika, Tokaji wine, hand-painted eggs, and porcelain from the Herend manufactory, Hungary's equivalent of Meissen), and perhaps one final lángos from a street cart. Budapest surprises everyone who underestimates it — and most visitors leave already planning their return.