Tour of Budapest, Hungary

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Buda Castle, Royal Palace (Kiralyi Palota), dominates the Budapest skyline. It is the historical castle of the Hungarian kings in Budapest. In the past, it was also named the Royal Palace.

Buda Castle was built on the southern tip of Castle Hill, next to the old Castle District, which is famous for its medieval, Baroque and 19th century houses and public buildings. Buda Castle is part of the Budapest World Heritage Site, declared in 1987.

It is situated on the west side of the River Danube, with the Budapest Chain Bridge leading across to the east side of the city, where most of the tourist attractions are situated.

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Matthias Church, Matyas-templom, is situated about 0.7 miles northwest of Buda Castle.

Matthias Church was originally built in Romanesque style in 1015. The current building was constructed in the late Gothic style in the second half of the 14th century. It was extensively restored in the late 19th century. This is the second largest church of medieval Buda and the sixth largest church of medieval Hungarian Kingdom.

King Bela III and his wife, Anne of Chatillon are buried within, and three other kings were crowned here. There are plenty of interesting stone monuments and relics to see, plus a rich treasury of ecclesiastical vestments, coronation robes and thrones, and gold ware.

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The Hungarian Parliament Building is situated about 1 mile northeast of Buda Castle, across the River Danube.

This is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, one of Europe's oldest legislative buildings, a notable landmark of Hungary and a popular tourist destination of Budapest.

It lies in Kossuth Lajos Square, across the River Danube, a short distance north of Buda Castle.

It is currently the largest building in Hungary, and the second largest Parliament in Europe.

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The Hungarian Crown Jewels, stored in the Hungarian Parliament Building, contain the Holy Crown of Hungary, also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen.

This is the only crown known today with the "holy" attribute. Since the twelfth century, this has been the crown of Hungarian kings.

The crowns place of origin, and time origin, are unknown.

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Vigado Concert Hall is located on the east side of the Danube, directly across the river and a short distance south of Buda Castle.

This building, designed by Frigyes Feszl in 1859, was built to replace another concert hall on the same site (which was destroyed by fire in the 1848 War of Independence).

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St Stephen's Basilica is situated about 0.9 miles east of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube.

This is an ecclesiastic basilica named in honour of Stephen, the first King of Hungary (c 975–1038), whose mummified fist is housed in the reliquary.

Along with the Hungarian Parliament Building, it is the tallest building of Budapest (96 m). It was completed in 1905 after 54 years of construction.

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The Hungarian State Opera House is situated about 1.1 miles northeast of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube.

This is a neo-Renaissance opera house designed by Miklos Ybl, a major figure of 19th century Hungarian architecture. The construction that lasted from 1875 to 1884, was funded by the city of Budapest and by Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary.

The Hungarian Royal Opera House (as it was known then) opened to the public September 27th 1884.

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Heroes Square is situated about 2.6 miles northeast of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube.

One of the major squares of Budapest. It lies at the end of Andrassy Avenue, next to City Park, to the northeast of the city centre.

It is surrounded by two important buildings, the Museum of Fine Arts on the left, and the Palace of Art on the right.

The monument was built for the 1896 Millennium celebrations, to celebrate the 1000th anniversary that its ancestors found a place to settle down in the Carpathian Basin. Every part of the monument plays tribute to determining parts of Hungary's history.

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The Museum of Fine Arts is situated about 2.6 miles northeast of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube.

The museum is situated in Heroes Square, facing the Palace of Art. It was built by the plans of Albert Schickedanz and Fulop Herzog in an eclectic-neoclassical style, between 1900 and 1906.

The museum's collection is made up of international art (other than Hungarian), including all periods of European art, and comprises more than 100,000 pieces. The institution celebrated its centenary in 2006.

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Vajdahunyad Castle , or Vajdahunyad vara, is situated about 2.6 miles northeast of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube, in City Park, by Heroes Square.

This castle was built between 1896 and 1908, designed by Ignac Alpar. It is a copy in part of a castle in Transylvania, Romania, that is also called Vajdahunyad.

Originally, it was made from cardboard and wood for the millennial exhibition in 1896, but became so popular, it was rebuilt from stone and brick.

Today it houses the Agricultural Museum.

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The Szechenyi Medicinal Bath is situated about 2.6 miles northeast of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube, in City Park.

This is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Its water is supplied by two thermal springs, their temperature is 74°F/23°C and 77°F/25°C, respectively.

The bath was built in 1913 in Neo-baroque style. It is also a station of the yellow M1 (Millennium Underground) line of the Budapest Metro.

The bath was named after Istvan Szachenyi.

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The Great Synagogue is situated about 1.5 miles east of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube in Dohany Street, 7th district.

Also known as Dohany Street Synagogue or Tabakgasse Synagogue, it is the largest synagogue in Europe, the second largest in the world, after the Temple Emanu-El in New York City. It seats 3,000 people, a centre of Neolog Judaism.

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The Hungarian National Museum, Nemzeti Muzeum, is situated about 1.8 miles southeast of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube.

The museum is said to have been founded in 1802 when Count Ferenc Szechenyi set up the National Szechenyi Library.

This would then be followed a year later by the donating of a mineral collection by Szechenyi’s wife. This led to the creation of the Hungarian National Museum as being a natural history museum, and not only a library.

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The Museum of Applied Arts, Iparmuveszeti Muzeum, is situated about 2 miles southeast of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube.

This is an Art Nouveau building built between 1893 and 1896 to the plans of Odon Lechner and Gyula Partos. It is one of the most characteristic and most representative forms of Lechner's Hungarian architectural style.

It is located near the southern end of the Grand Boulevard in Ferencvaros, in the southeast of the city centre.

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The New York Palace is situated about 2.5 miles east of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube.

This is a luxury hotel on the Grand Boulevard of Budapest's Erzsebet korut part, in the 7th district.

Built by an insurance company as a company hall, its Cafe in the ground floor, named New York Cafe, was a longtime center for Hungarian literature and poetry, almost from its opening October 23rd 1894 to its closure in 2001, so it could be reconstruct into a luxury hotel, as it is now.

The New York Cafe was also reopened May 5th 2006, in its original pomp.

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Saint Elizabeth Church, St. Erzsebet Church, is situated about 2.5 miles east of Buda Castle, on the east side of the River Danube, a short distance east of the New York Palace.

The Church was built in honour of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, July 7th 1207 – November 17th 1231), a German Catholic saint.

According to tradition, she was born in the castle of Sarospatak, Hungary, on July 7th 1207. She was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Andechs-Merania. At the age of four, she was brought to the court of the rulers of Thuringia in Central Germany, to become a future bride who would reinforce political alliances between the countries.

Elizabeth was married at the age of fourteen, widowed at twenty, relinquished her wealth to the poor, built hospitals, and became a symbol of Christian charity in Germany and elsewhere after her death at the age of twenty-four.

There is a statue of Saint Elizabeth in front of the church.

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For more information on Budapest, visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest.