Things to do in Hungary

25 things to do in Hungary

Listed in full below. The running order is set by votes and loads with the page.

• Soak in the Széchenyi Thermal Bath

  One of Europe's largest public thermal bath complexes, set in a grand neo-baroque building in Budapest's City Park. Soak in the steaming outdoor pools in winter while chess players float boards on the water.

  Budapest

• Explore the Buda Castle District

  Wander the cobblestone streets of this UNESCO World Heritage hilltop quarter, home to the Royal Palace, Matthias Church, and Fisherman's Bastion with sweeping views over the Danube and Pest.

  Budapest

• Walk across the Chain Bridge at night

  Cross the iconic 1849 suspension bridge illuminated against the dark Danube, with Buda Castle glowing on one side and the Hungarian Parliament reflected on the other.

  Budapest

• Visit the Hungarian Parliament Building

  Tour the ornate neo-Gothic parliament on the Danube bank—the largest building in Hungary—featuring the Holy Crown of Hungary, grand staircases, and a frescoed dome interior.

  Budapest

• Ruin-pub crawl on Kazinczy Street

  Hop between the bohemian bars of the Jewish Quarter—Szimpla Kert, Instant, Ellátó—built inside crumbling pre-war apartments with mismatched furniture, art installations, and live DJs.

  Budapest

• Taste lángos at the Great Market Hall

  Buy a freshly fried lángos—crispy dough slathered with sour cream and grated cheese—inside Budapest's cavernous 1897 iron-and-brick market hall on Vámház körút.

  Budapest

• Cruise the Danube Bend

  Take a boat or drive along the dramatic curve of the Danube north of Budapest, stopping at the riverside towns of Visegrád, Esztergom, and Szentendre for castle ruins and baroque charm.

  Visegrád

• Tour the Esztergom Basilica

  Hungary's largest church and the seat of the Catholic Church in Hungary, perched on a cliff above the Danube at the Slovak border with a 72-metre dome and vast altarpiece.

  Esztergom

• Wander the open-air ethnographic museum of Szentendre

  Explore Skanzen, a sprawling village museum with relocated folk buildings, craft workshops, and regional farmsteads showcasing centuries of rural Hungarian life.

  Szentendre

• Drink Tokaji Aszú in the Tokaj wine region

  Sip the legendary sweet 'wine of kings' in centuries-old cellars carved into volcanic hills in northeastern Hungary, a UNESCO-listed cultural landscape of vineyards and villages.

  Tokaj

• Explore the Cave Bath of Miskolctapolca

  Bathe inside a natural cave system with warm thermal water flowing through illuminated stalactite chambers—a unique experience found nowhere else in Europe.

  Miskolctapolca

• Visit Hortobágy National Park

  Walk or ride a horse-drawn carriage across Europe's largest semi-natural grassland, a UNESCO World Heritage puszta where csikós herders perform traditional horse shows with nine-whip cracking.

  Hortobágy

• Eat goulash at a traditional csárda

  Savour a steaming bowl of gulyás—the original herdsman's soup with beef, paprika, and potato—in a thatched-roof csárda inn on the Great Hungarian Plain.

  Puszta

• Relax at Lake Hévíz

  Float in the world's largest biologically active natural thermal lake, where warm water gushes from deep underground and lily pads drift among steam in winter.

  Hévíz

• Party at Lake Balaton's southern shore

  Join the summer festival scene in Siófok—Hungary's 'party capital'—where beach clubs, open-air stages, and lakeside terraces light up from June to August.

  Siófok

• Hike in the Bükk Mountains

  Trek through beech forests, limestone plateaus, and Hungary's highest peak (Kékestető area nearby) in Bükk National Park, home to over 1,100 caves and rare raptors.

  Bükk Mountains

• Discover the Aggtelek stalactite caves

  Descend into the Baradla Cave, a 25-km UNESCO-listed cavern system filled with towering stalactites, echoing galleries, and underground concerts in the concert hall chamber.

  Aggtelek

• Visit the Pecs early Christian Mausoleum

  See 4th-century early Christian burial chambers decorated with vivid frescoes of biblical scenes, a remarkable UNESCO site beneath the modern streets of this southern city.

  Pécs

• Stroll Pécs's Zsolnay Cultural Quarter

  Explore the revitalised porcelain factory campus filled with Zsolnay ceramic art, artisan workshops, galleries, cafés, and the eerie Eosin-glazed rooftops that shimmer green and purple.

  Pécs

• Visit Eger Castle and its minaret

  Climb to the fortress where a small Hungarian garrison held off 40,000 Ottomans in 1552, then visit one of Europe's northernmost surviving Ottoman minarets in the town below.

  Eger

• Sip Egri Bikavér in the Valley of Beautiful Women

  Wander the cave-cellars carved into tufa hillsides on Eger's outskirts, tasting Bull's Blood red blend and local whites directly from the winemakers who live above them.

  Eger

• Cycle around Tihany Peninsula

  Pedal the hilly loop of this scenic Balaton peninsula past lavender fields, a Benedictine abbey overlooking the lake, echoing 'inner lake,' and basalt columns plunging into the water.

  Tihany

• Visit Hollókő village

  Step into a preserved 17th-century Palóc village of whitewashed wooden houses and a medieval castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site that comes alive during Easter folk festivals.

  Hollókő

• Climb Gellért Hill for panoramic views

  Ascend the steep limestone hill crowned by the Citadella fortress and the Liberty Statue for a 360-degree panorama of Budapest's bridges, spires, and the winding Danube below.

  Budapest

• Admire the Dohány Street Synagogue

  Visit the largest synagogue in Europe, a Moorish-Revival masterpiece built in 1859 with ornate interiors, the Tree of Life Holocaust memorial, and the adjacent Jewish cemetery.

  Budapest