# What to See in Budapest in Two or Three Days > What to see in Budapest: the Parliament, Fisherman's Bastion, the Chain Bridge, the Széchenyi and Gellért baths, Gellért Hill and ruin bars, plus when to go. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/shcho-podyvytysia-u-budapeshti/ - Language: en - Published: 2026-09-22 - Categories: Culture, Historic Sites, Museums, Tours, Hungary, Relaxation --- If you have two or three days for the city, the biggest decision about **what to see in Budapest** gets made before you even arrive: tickets for the guided tour inside the Parliament building sell out weeks ahead, and walking up on the day rarely works. The rest of the city, though, is surprisingly easy to cover, because the Danube splits it neatly in two and almost everything worth the trip stands along the water or above it. Budapest is really two former cities stitched together by bridges. Flat, grand Pest on the left bank and hilly old Buda on the right. Get that geography straight and the route more or less builds itself. ## The Parliament building: why you book the ticket early This is the country's most recognisable structure and one of the largest parliaments in the world, a neo-Gothic palace right on the edge of the Danube with a near-mirror reflection in the water. From the outside you look at it for free and for as long as you like, and the best angle is from the opposite Buda bank, especially at dusk when the façade is lit. Inside, though, entry is by guided tour only and by a ticket for a fixed time. The tour is short, about an hour, but it leads past the grand staircase under a gilded ceiling to the hall holding the Hungarian coronation regalia, guarded by soldiers in dress uniform. Tickets are sold online in advance, and in high season the nearest free slot can easily be several days out, so **book the tour straight away** once your dates are set. EU citizens pay less than everyone else, a small detail few people warn you about. ## Fisherman's Bastion and Buda: the city from above On the opposite Buda bank everything hinges on the castle hill. It is worth the climb for two things standing side by side. **Fisherman's Bastion** is a white, fairytale gallery of conical turrets, built around the turn of the twentieth century more as a viewing terrace than a fortification. Its seven towers stand for the seven tribes that once founded Hungary. From here you get that postcard view of Parliament across the river that Budapest is loved for. Walking along the lower terraces is free; there is a charge only to climb onto a couple of the upper balconies, and honestly, the view from below is almost the same. Next to it stands **Matthias Church** with its extraordinary tiled roof, and a little further along the hill runs Buda Castle with its museums and gallery. The whole Castle Hill is a UNESCO site. You can ride up on the old funicular from the Chain Bridge, but the queue for it is often longer than the walk itself, so in good weather it is simpler to go up on foot in about ten minutes. ## The Chain Bridge: why people start here The Chain Bridge (Széchenyi lánchíd) was the first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest, opened in 1849, and it is still the main symbol of the two halves as one. Stone lions at the piers, chain spans, lanterns. Crossing it on foot from bank to bank takes only a few minutes, and it is from here that you feel just how wide the Danube is. Walk from the Pest side to the Buda side at dusk to come out right beneath the floodlit castle. ## The Széchenyi and Gellért baths: the main local ritual Budapest sits on hot springs, and the thermal baths here are not a tourist gimmick but a civic habit going back to Roman times. The two most famous are completely different in character, and choosing between them is really choosing a mood. BathsCharacterBest for SzéchenyiHuge, a yellow neo-Baroque palace, lots of open-air pools under the sky, loud and busyAnyone after the famous photo of steam over hot water and the chess board in the pool GellértSmaller, Art Nouveau, mosaics and stained glass, the feel of an old bathing palaceAnyone who values the interior and a slightly calmer crowd **Széchenyi** sits in the city park on the Pest side and stays open late, and a few nights a month it hosts night parties with music (the "sparties"). **Gellért** sits at the foot of the hill of the same name on the Buda bank, inside an old hotel wing. Bring your own swimsuit and towel or rent them on site; you do not need a cap, but rubber sandals help. Prices shift by day of the week and time, so check the current rate and hours before you go. ## Gellért Hill: the best view without a ticket If the city has one free spot worth craning your neck for, it is Gellért Hill. The steep rise over the Danube is crowned by the Citadel and the Liberty Monument, a statue of a woman holding a palm frond that you can see from almost anywhere in town. The climb takes twenty to thirty minutes on foot up switchbacks through the park, and the top gives you the widest panorama of Budapest, both banks, the bridges and Parliament all at once. Come here for sunset. The Citadel itself has spent years under renovation, so check whether the summit is open before you set off, though that takes nothing away from the view from the open terraces. ## Ruin bars: the city's evening face A reason in its own right to stay into the evening is the ruin bars (romkocsma). The idea was born in the old Jewish quarter of Pest, in District VII: abandoned houses and courtyards slated for demolition were filled with mismatched flea-market furniture, string lights and graffiti, and turned into bars. The most famous, **Szimpla Kert**, is a genuine maze of rooms with an old Trabant parked in the courtyard in place of a table. By day it is surprisingly calm and you can just wander in to look around; by night it is loud and packed. The area around Kazinczy Street is full of these places, street food and small kitchens, so it makes a ready-made route for one evening on its own. ## How to get around? The centre is compact, and most of the above is within walking distance along both banks. For longer hops the transport works well: the metro (Line M1 is a monument in itself, the second-oldest in Europe), trams and buses all run on a single ticket. Tram **number 2** along the Pest embankment is effectively a sightseeing ride for the price of an ordinary fare, with a view of Parliament and the castle across the river. Buy tickets from machines or the app and always validate them on boarding; the inspectors here are real and fine you without any sentiment. From the airport the easiest way in is a bus plus the metro, or a direct shuttle. ## When to go? The short answer: for weather and views in spring and autumn, for the baths any time at all, winter included. SeasonWhat you getDownside April to JuneWarmth, greenery, long evenings, moderate pricesCrowded by late spring July to AugustSzéchenyi's open-air pools, festivals, terracesHeat up to 35°C, peak prices and crowds September to OctoberSoft light, golden hills, the most comfortable timeMore rain closer to November November to FebruaryCheaper, hot water in the frost, Christmas marketsGrey, cold, short days ## The honest downside Budapest has grown noticeably pricier and busier, and it is best to accept that upfront. The main spots by the castle and along the embankments are packed with tourists in summer, and some ruin bars and restaurants right in the centre have openly hiked prices for visitors, so it pays to read the bill carefully. On top of that the Buda side is hilly, and a walk that looks easy on the map sometimes turns into a climb you feel in your legs. None of this ruins the trip, but Budapest rewards those who booked the Parliament ticket ahead, made the effort up Gellért Hill and kept an evening free for the baths or a ruin bar. That, rather than ticking landmarks off a list, is really **what to see in Budapest** first.