Walking
Tours
Absolute
Tours (telephone number: 3021 18861) offers a selection of daily
walking tours, for which reservations are not usually necessary.
These take from 2 to 5 hours and cover Budapest’s major sights,
the Hammer and Sickle sights including 1956 fighting
areas and Statue Park, Jewish Budapest and more.
Most tours depart from the steps of the church on Károly
körút, Déak tér.
The
Original Budapest Walks offers a number of tours in English,
which take place from April to October. The Highlights of Pest tour
includes the Chain bridge, Danube Promeade and
St Stephen’s. Times and departure points
of other tours are published online.
Chosen Tours
(telephone number: (01) 355 2202) provides a 1-and-a-half to 2-hour
guided tour (Sunday-Friday) of Jewish Budapest. The departure point
is in front of the Dohány Synagogue, Dohány
út, although the tour includes a hotel pick-up service and
booking is advisable.
Bus Tours
Budatours
(telephone number: (01) 353 0558) is one of many bus tour operators
in the city. City tours typically last for 2 hours and depart from
Casino Gresham, V Roosevelt tér.
Chosen Tours, XII Pagony utca 40 (telephone number:
(01) 355 2202), offers a 2 to 3 hour air-conditioned bus tour, ‘Budapest
Through Jewish Eyes’. The tour departs from in front
of the Dohány Zsinagóga, Dohány
út.
Ibusz
(telephone number: (01) 485 2700) offers different bus and boat
tours taking 4 hours to one day. They depart from the Erzsebet
tér bus station, near Deák tér, although
there is also a hotel pickup service 30 minutes before the tours.
A pamphlet entitled ‘Budapest Sightseeing’,
is available from Ibusz offices, Tourist Information and most hotels.
Boat Tours
Legenda (telephone
number: (01) 266 4190) offers a 1 hour boat tour with an optional
1 hour walking tour of Margaret Island. Tours (day or evening, including
2 drinks) depart from Piers six and seven, in front of the Marriott
Hotel, from April to September.
Ibusz
(telephone number: (01) 318 1139) runs tours along the River Danube,
past Parliament, the Academy of Sciences and around Margaret Island.
The 90-minute trip includes lunch on the Danube.
Boats depart from the Vigadó tér pier Thursday
to Sunday from June to September. The company also provides a Folklore
Evening tour of the illuminated capital.
MAHART
(telephone number: (01) 484 4013) offers cruises on the Danube,
besides their regular service between Budapest and Vienna. Tours
take approximately 2 hours. Boats depart from the Belgrád
rakpart terminal.
Excursions
for Half a Day
Szentendre
Several waves of 19th-century Serbian refugees defined the character
of this historic town on the Danube Bend, 19km
(12 miles) from Budapest, with its incense-filled hilltop churches.
A group of artists found the Serb-abandoned Szentendre
during the 1920s, liked what they saw and formed a colony there.
Serbian churches include Blagovestenska Church,
which looks on to the town’s main square, as well as the spectacular
Belgrade Cathedral, next to the Museum
of Serbian Church Art (entrance is on Pátriáka
utca). The Margit Kovács Museum, Vastagh
Gy utca 1, displays the works of Hungary’s best-known ceramist,
while the Barcsay Collection, Dumtsa Jeno utca 10, exhibits the
abstract paintings of one of the founders of the artistic colony.
The important Hungarian
Open-Air Ethnographical Museum (Szabadtéri Néprajzi
Múzeum), Svtaravodai út (telephone number: (26) 502
500), charts Hungarian village life over three centuries. The
village museum (skanzen) includes houses, mills and towers
from all over Hungary. Guided tours in English are available. Hourly
buses travel the 3km (2 miles) from Szentendre’s HÉV
train terminal at Szabadságforrás út
to the museum, taking 20 minutes in the morning and 40 minutes (a
different route) in the afternoon.
Szentendre
also has a new modern arts centre, a renovated 19th-century sawmill,
Muveszet Malom (Art Mill), Bogdanyi utca 32 (telephone
number: (26) 301 701). The exhibition hall displays graphics, paintings,
sculptures and pieces of applied arts from local artists and artists
connected to Szentendre. Once the investment project
is complete, the building will be one of the most important art
centres of Eastern-Central-Europe.
Tourinform
has offices in Szentendre, Dumtsa Jeno utca 22 (telephone number:
(26) 317 966), and provide a free map and tourist information on
request. HÉV trains take 45 minutes from Batthyány
tér station to Szentendre. There are also 2 boats a day,
operated by MAHART
(telephone number: (01) 484 4013). Buses also run from Volánbusz
take 30 minutes.
For a Whole
Day
Lake Balaton
The Lake Balaton region, romantically known as the Hungarian
Sea, is possibly the most popular tourist attraction of
Central and Western Europe. Its water is only waist height, except
for the Tihany Well in the north, where it reaches
its deepest point of 13m (43ft). Activities centre on the water
and include sailing, windsurfing and fishing for eels or fogas –
the perch-pike unique to Lake Balaton, best enjoyed with wine from
the nearby Badacsony Hills.
The Tihany Peninsula, declared a national park
in 1952, is one of the quietest spots in the region. The Baroque
Abbey Church, standing on the hill in Tihany village, once
housed the first written relic of Hungarian – King András
I’s deed for the foundation of the church that originally
stood on this site. The major resort in the north is Balatonfüred,
known since Roman times for the curative power of its waters. The
lakeside resort of Keszthely has a relaxed atmosphere and the large
Baroque Festetics Palace, situated in lovely grounds.
Tourinform has offices in Balantonfüred,
Petofi Sandor utca 8 (telephone number: (87) 580 480), and provides
further information. Approximately 120km (75 miles) southwest of
Budapest, Balatonfüred can be reached by train from Déli
pályaudvar in Budapest or by bus from Budapest’s Erzsébet
tér. Useful information is published online (website: www.balaton.net).
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