City Guide Budapest - Hotels, Sightseeing, Attractions, Information 

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Budapest Sightseeing Tour with Parliament House Visit
Combine a comprehensive tour of Budapest sightseeing with a fascinating guided tour of the city's spectacular Parliament House, Hungary's largest building. Your half-day tour includes entrance fees, hotel pickup and a local guide to point out all ...
Danube Bend Day Trip from Budapest
Take an excursion into Hungary's history on this popular Danube Bend full day trip. You'll visit the gorgeous old towns of Visegrad, Esztergom and Szentendre, includes a three-course lunch and a cruise on the River Danube a highlight of any trip to ...

With its multifarious and often embittered history, incredible architecture and rich cultural heritage, Hungary's capital deserves its reputation as the 'Paris of Eastern Europe'. It has a complex identity, somewhere between Western luxury and simple traditions.

The city straddles a gentle curve in the Danube. It has broad avenues, leafy parks and elaborate bathhouses. It also has a turn-of-the-century feel to it, for it was then - during the industrial boom and the capital's heyday - that most of the city was built.

There is more to Budapest than fish soup, paprika and Zsa Zsa Gabor. With its multifarious and often embittered history, incredible architecture and rich cultural heritage, Hungary's capital has the justly deserved sobriquet of `the Paris of Central Europe', set apart from other Hungarian and European cities by its beauty. The city straddles a gentle curve in the mighty Danube River, the Buda hills rising dramatically on the west bank while the Pest district marks the start of the Great Plain to the east.

The largest Hungarian city by a mile, Budapest is the heart, soul and memory of Hungary, with the Danube coursing through its veins. The city has a complex identity, currently facing something of a crisis with the allure of modern Western luxury in conflict with the simple traditions of its Eastern European roots and penchant for all things classical.

Orientation

Budapest is in north central Hungary, some 250km (155mi) southeast of Vienna. The focal point is the Danube River, which bisects the city into two distinct parts: Buda is mostly residential and built on the hills and high river terraces of the western side, and commercial Pest is on a large, sandy plain across to the east. It is a sprawling city, with the areas beyond the Nagykörút ('Big Ring Road') in Pest and west of Moskva tér in Buda mostly residential or industrial and (with the exception of the Buda Hills and City Park) of little interest to visitors. It is also a well laid-out city; you'll have done well if you get yourself lost. Ferihegy international airport is 24km (15mi) southeast of central Budapest.