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Budapest, Hungary

Things to do in Budapest

Everything in the Atlas for Budapest: places to see and things to do, in one list.

Széchenyi Baths

Eighteen pools fed from a well 1,246 m down. The outdoor pools stay at 38°C, which is why the photographs of people playing chess in the steam are all taken in winter.

Baths · 2–3 hours

Fisherman's Bastion

Seven neo-Romanesque turrets for the seven Magyar tribes, built in 1902 purely as a viewing terrace. The upper levels charge; the lower ones are free and nearly as good.

Viewpoint · 1 hour

Great Market Hall

Three floors under a Zsolnay tiled roof: paprika and salami on the ground, cooked food and a great deal of embroidery above.

Market · 1–2 hours

House of Terror

The headquarters of first the Arrow Cross and then the state security police, kept as a museum of both occupations. The basement cells are as they were found.

Museum · 2 hours

An outdoor thermal bath in winter

38°C water, snow on the stone, and old men playing chess on floating boards. Go early; go on a weekday.

On the water · moderate

A ruin bar, before it fills

Derelict courtyard buildings filled with salvaged furniture; Szimpla was the first and is still worth an early evening.

Music & performance · low

This page exists because Budapest has at least 3 of them in the Atlas. Destinations with fewer do not have a page for this, on purpose — a facet with one or two entries is a heading with a list under it that you could have read in full on the page you came from. Back to Budapest.