Things to do in Hungary: 27 experiences worth the trip

3 hoursBook ahead

Soak in outdoor thermal pools framed by yellow neo-baroque wings, steaming even in winter.

Half a day with one museumFree

Walk free through Buda's hilltop quarter, from the Royal Palace terraces to medieval lanes, Matthias Church and the Fisherman's Bastion.

30 minutesFree

Cross the first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest, now car-free, with the lit Royal Palace ahead of you.

45-minute tour, plus securityTimed entry

Climb the main staircase of Hungary's largest building to the domed hall where the Holy Crown of Hungary is displayed.

An eveningFree

Drink cheap in a maze of rooms and courtyards furnished with salvaged chairs, old bathtubs and a Trabant.

1 hourFree

Eat lángos at the counters above a working market of paprika, salami and pickles, under a roof of Zsolnay tiles.

A full dayBook ahead

Watch the Danube swing through a sharp curve between wooded hills, from a hilltop citadel north of Budapest.

2 hours with the domeNo booking needed

Climb almost 400 steps up the dome of Hungary's largest church, on Castle Hill above the Danube with Slovakia on the far bank.

Half a dayNo booking needed

Walk through small villages of farmhouses, churches, mills and workshops moved from every region of historic Hungary.

A full day from Budapest, better with a nightBook ahead

Taste aszú, a sweet wine of raisin-like grapes picked one by one, in the old cellars of a volcanic UNESCO-listed landscape.

2 to 3 hoursNo booking needed

Swim through limestone tunnels and grottoes in warm thermal water, inside natural cave passages rather than a hall.

A full dayNo booking needed

Ride a carriage into the largest semi-natural grassland in Europe, still grazed by grey cattle, racka sheep and horses.

Half a day with the horse showBook ahead

Eat the herdsmen's soup of beef, paprika and potatoes at a country inn with the Great Plain all around you.

3 hoursNo booking needed

Swim out from a bathhouse on stilts over the water lilies of the largest swimmable thermal lake in Europe.

A night or a weekendFree

Join tens of thousands of summer holidaymakers on a strip of bars, clubs and hotels behind the beaches of Lake Balaton.

Half a day to a full dayNo booking needed

Follow the Szalajka Valley upstream past trout ponds to a stepped waterfall and the springs above it.

1 hour underground, half a day with the tripNo booking needed

Walk through chambers of stalactites and stalagmites in a cave that runs under the hills and on into Slovakia.

1 to 1.5 hoursNo booking needed

Go down under a cathedral square into 4th-century Roman burial chambers, several painted with biblical scenes and early Christian symbols.

2 to 3 hoursNo booking needed

Walk the grounds of the porcelain factory behind the iridescent eosin glaze and the roof tiles on buildings across Hungary.

2 to 3 hoursNo booking needed

Walk the castle where, in 1552, a small Hungarian garrison under István Dobó held off an Ottoman army many times its size.

An afternoonNo booking needed

Sit at a barrel in one of about 200 small cellars cut into soft tufa and order Bull's Blood by the decilitre.

Half a dayNo booking needed

Ride a short, steep loop past an inner lake and lavender fields on a peninsula that almost cuts Lake Balaton in two.

Half a dayNo booking needed

Walk among whitewashed houses with wooden porches, then climb to the castle ruins for the view over the village.

1.5 to 2 hours on footFree

Climb the hill that rises straight out of the Danube and see the city and its bridges laid out along the river.

1.5 hoursBook ahead

Visit the largest synagogue in Europe and the memorial garden behind it, where a metal weeping willow is engraved with the names of victims.

1 hourBook ahead

Sail out in the last light and come back with the Parliament, Buda Castle and the Chain Bridge all lit up together.

1.5 hoursGo alone or with a tour

Frame the best view of the Parliament through the arcades of a white terrace with seven towers for the seven Magyar tribes.