Budapest

Budapest only became a single city in 1873, when hilly Buda and ancient Óbuda on the west bank of the Danube merged with flat, commercial Pest on the east bank. The river is not a backdrop on the edge of town; it cuts right through the middle, framed by the domes of Buda Castle and the spires of the Hungarian Parliament, with yellow trams rattling along both embankments.

Beneath the streets runs a fault line pumping mineral-rich hot water into more than a hundred springs. You can soak under a 16th-century Ottoman dome in the morning, climb the newly reopened Citadella on Gellért Hill in the afternoon, and spend the evening in a courtyard ruin bar inside the old Jewish Quarter. Read our first-timer briefing first to avoid currency traps and ticket fines.

Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD) lies 16 km south-east of the centre. Express bus 100E runs round the clock to Deák Ferenc tér on a dedicated airport ticket (tap a bank card on the onboard reader), while bus 200E links the terminal to Kőbánya-Kispest station on metro line M3 using standard BKK fares. International trains from Vienna, Prague and Munich arrive at Keleti or Nyugati station. Full instructions are in our transport guide.

Budapest's 23 districts are numbered in Roman numerals. Most visitors stay on the Pest side in District V (by the river and Basilica), District VI (along Andrássy Avenue), District VII (the Jewish Quarter) or the calmer Palace District in VIII; District I on the Buda bank suits travellers who want quiet evenings under the castle. We compare the best areas in where to stay in Budapest.

Start with the Parliament and Danube promenade, Buda Castle, Fisherman's Bastion and St Stephen's Basilica, then add at least one of the historic thermal baths and a walk up Andrássy Avenue to City Park. Our things to do guide ranks the highlights and points out what to skip.

Hungarian cooking goes well beyond tourist-menu goulash: kettle-cooked beef soup (gulyás), slow-braised pörkölt with nokedli dumplings, chicken paprikás, sour cherry soup and crisp market lángos, paired with dry volcanic whites from Somló and sweet Tokaji Aszú. Where to eat and how to shop at the Fővám tér hall are in our food and market guide.

Roman legionaries at Aquincum, medieval Hungarian kings on Castle Hill, 150 years of Ottoman rule, the Dual Monarchy burst of 1896 and the trauma of 1944 and 1956 all left visible layers across the city. You can trace that history from the synagogues of District VII and the House of Terror on Andrássy út to the porcelain roofs of Hungarian Art Nouveau.