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Our top 8 Things to Do in Budapest on a Budget
Our top 8 Things to Do in Budapest on a Budget
1. Budapest Zoo
The zoo is in the City Park behind Hero’s square. It’s a decent sized zoo for a city zoo and we were impressed with the diversity of animals they have there. All the buildings within the zoo complex are in different architectural styles, some traditional and some to represent the country the animals originate from. This gives it an old fashioned yet international vibe which I really liked.
Entrance cost us 3300ft (£7.83) each. They do offer a student price, but you need an International Student Identity Card (ISIC). I’ve had a quick look at the ISIC website, and it seems fairly straightforward to apply but does cost £12 which might not be worth it if you’re only going to use it once or twice.
2. River Cruise on the Danube
Our hop-on hop-off bus pass for the weekend also included a river cruise ticket. We were given a set timetable of departure times and told we can choose one and just turn up.
We decided to go in the evening in order to see the buildings along the waterfront lit up, having already seen them in the daylight from the castle district.
The boat had an outside seating area upstairs and an indoor seating area downstairs. The view was better upstairs but because it was so cold during our visit, we decided to stay warm and snug downstairs! During the river cruise we received a commentary telling us information about the waterfront buildings and the history of the river and its bridges. My favourite fact was that the government built lots of attractive modern buildings along the waterfront to hide the less glamorous dilapidated buildings behind, until their modernisation and development could take place. I particularly liked a building called The Whale, a shopping and cultural centre that looks like a whale!
Tickets for river cruises start at £7 on Viator if you want to buy them without the bus tour ticket.
3. Walking tour
As with most of our trips, we really enjoyed our walking tour. You just can’t beat being shown around a city by a knowledgeable local tour guide. Although, if you are travelling in the winter, like we did, my top tip is to remember to wrap up warm! Walking tours actually involve a lot of standing still and listening, during which time you can get rather cold!
One of my favourite things that we visited on our walking tour were the shoes lining the river side curb. These represent the Jewish people who were executed at the side of the Danube in WW2. This memorial was sad to see but I’m really glad that our guide took us there and we were able to learn the meaning behind the shoes.
Our walking tour was organised as part of our sightseeing bus ticket but there are several companies offering free walking tours. Usually, we just chosen one from google with good reviews and a start time that fits our schedule. Remember that a free walking tour isn’t quite free however, as they do ask for tips at the end and encourage you to pay what you think the tour was worth.
4. Royal Palace and Varkert Bazar
The Castle Complex is on the Buda side of the river and includes the castle gardens called Varkert Bazar. The gardens are at the bottom of the hill on which the Royal Palace sits, but don’t worry about having to walk up a steep hill or climb lots of stairs to get between the two because there is an outdoor escalator and an old-fashioned funicular!
The gardens are a great place to have a walk or picnic and enjoy the view across the river to the Pest side of the city. On our river tour we learnt that at one point the gardens were used for rock concerts! Since then it has been renovated and now provides a more peaceful atmosphere.
Access to the gardens and the complex is free, however, the castle complex also houses the Hungarian National Gallery and the Budapest Historical Museum which you can pay to visit. There is a cafe in the National Gallery entrance if you need a pick me up after the difficult escalator journey up there! When we visited there was also an outdoor bar with seating and lots of people milling about and taking in the view.
5. St Stephen’s Basilica
This beautiful Neo-Classical building is set back from the waterfront and has a pedestrian square out front. It’s named after the first king of Hungary and there is a hand within the basilica that is supposed to have been his. You can put 200ft through a slot to see the hand light up, which of course we did! It’s just a very old hand with some gold sparkly jewellery but it’s fun to think it might have belonged to the first king of Hungary.
It’s free to enter the Basilica, but when we visited the man at the door wouldn’t let us in unless we ‘voluntarily’ donated 200ft!
6. Parliament Building
This is, in my opinion, the most magnificent building in Budapest. It sits on the Pest waterfront and the best view of it is from the Buda side of the river. We also were able to see it lit up at night when we did the river cruise and I recommend taking an evening stroll to have the opportunity to see it like this, it’s really special!
The building is the same height as the Basilica building to signify the equal importance of the church and the government. They are also the tallest buildings in the city centre, as planning isn’t granted to build anything higher in order to protect the views and traditional architecture.
There are guided tours available if you want to learn more about the parliament building, which are run in several languages. Their website details the times of the tours for each language, and it costs 2100Ft for students. Although we ran out of time to attend one of the tours, our walking tour guide highly recommended them. It’s probably worth doing, if it’s as grand on the inside as it is on the outside!
7. Citadella
The Citadella is located on top of Gellert hill. It’s approximately a 30min walk up the hill to get to the top, but when you get there the views are absolutely worth it! You are able to get panoramic views of the city below. It is also one of the few spots where you can see how far the Buda side extends, as it is usually obscured from the city centre by Gellert hill and the castle district.
The Citadella complex, comprising a fortress and including the Liberty Statue, was closed for refurbishment during our visit but the surrounding park was still open, so we were still able to reach the Liberty Statue. We were told on our bus tour that the statue was originally built by the Red Army communists after they had liberated the city from the Nazi’s but that it had now become a symbol of liberation from the communists with several of the smaller communist statues having been removed.
It’s free to walk to the top of Gellert hill and admire the amazing views. We believe that tours were previously available when the Citadella complex was open, and if you do intend to visit it would be worth doing a quick Google search to see if it has reopened and if the tours are up and running again.
8. Castle Museum
When we went back to the Castle district in the daytime we took the opportunity to visit the castle museum and learn a bit more about the castle’s history. I love these kinds of museums, with all the old artefacts and information on how the building was used and run. I found out that the original castle is still there beneath the current building and you can even access the original chapel, which is now mostly underground! Will was less keen on the castle museum, especially as this one was mostly plaques to read and ruined sections of old walls.
I recommend popping in as it only cost us 1200ft (£2.85) each. However, if you’re less enthusiastic about either castles or museums and are tight for time this is perhaps an activity you could cut from your schedule; especially as we got lost in there and took a long time finding our way back out again!
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