Essential
Museums & culture· Lipótváros
Hungarian Parliament Building
The neo-Gothic giant on the Danube, finished in 1904 with a central dome and nearly 700 rooms. Guided tours climb the grand staircase and stop beside the Holy Crown of Hungary.
Collection · Budapest
Budapest landmarks
13 placesFreeUpdated November 5, 2026
From Gothic Matthias Church to neo-Gothic Parliament, via the Opera, Andrássy Avenue, Heroes' Square and the fairy-tale Vajdahunyad Castle.
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Places in this collection
13 places
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- Essential
Museums & culture· Castle District
Buda Castle
The former royal palace crowns the hill above the Danube and houses the Hungarian National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum. Its courtyards and terraces are free to wander.
Museums & culture· Castle District
Matthias Church
A Gothic church with a glazed-tile roof where Hungary's last kings were crowned. Inside, every wall and pillar is painted with Hungarian folk patterns.
- Essential
Viewpoint· Castle District
Fisherman's Bastion
Seven fairy-tale turrets built in the 1890s beside Matthias Church. Its arches frame the whole of Pest, with Parliament lined up right across the river.
- Essential
Special place· Danube
Széchenyi Chain Bridge
The first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest, opened in 1849 and guarded by four stone lions. Walk it at dusk with the floodlit castle ahead of you.
- Essential
Museums & culture· Lipótváros
St Stephen's Basilica
Budapest's largest church, its dome built to exactly the same 96-metre height as Parliament's. It keeps St Stephen's mummified right hand and has a panoramic walkway up top.
- Essential
Museums & culture· Jewish Quarter
Dohány Street Synagogue
Europe's largest synagogue, a Moorish Revival hall flanked by two onion-domed towers. The compound includes the Jewish Museum and a garden with a metal weeping willow honouring Holocaust victims.
Museums & culture· Terézváros
Hungarian State Opera
An 1884 neo-Renaissance palace on Andrássy Avenue with a gilded, frescoed auditorium. See it on a guided tour or, better still, with a ticket to a performance.
Special place· Terézváros
Andrássy Avenue
A 2.5 km UNESCO-listed boulevard of mansions running from downtown to Heroes' Square. Beneath it runs the M1, continental Europe's oldest underground line.
Museums & culture· City Park
Heroes' Square
A vast square at the gates of City Park, centred on a column topped by the Archangel Gabriel and lined with statues of Magyar chieftains and Hungarian kings.
Museums & culture· City Park
Vajdahunyad Castle
A make-believe castle on the City Park lake that stitches together copies of Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque buildings from across Hungary, built for the 1896 millennium fair.
- Essential
Shopping· Ferencváros
Great Market Hall
An 1897 iron hall under a Zsolnay-tiled roof by Liberty Bridge. Paprika, salami and pickles fill the ground floor; the upstairs gallery has lángos stalls and embroidery.
- Essential
Special place· Lipótváros
Shoes on the Danube Bank
Sixty pairs of iron shoes left at the river's edge near Parliament. They remember the Jews shot here by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944 and 1945.
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Before you go
How to see Budapest's landmarks
Ride the yellow line
The M1 metro runs right under Andrássy Avenue from Vörösmarty tér to Heroes' Square. Its 1896 stations are sights in themselves: hop off at Opera, then carry on to Hősök tere.
Shoot Parliament from Buda
The classic Parliament photo is taken from the opposite bank, from Batthyány Square or the Buda embankment near the M2 metro.
Save the riverside for after dark
Parliament, the castle and the Chain Bridge are floodlit at dusk. An after-dinner walk along the Pest embankment takes in all three.
Checked on November 4, 2026. Opening hours and tickets can change, so check each place’s website before you go.
