Budapest Guide
Várhegy and central Buda
Várhegy (Castle Hill), often referred to simply as the Vár, is Buda's most prominent feature. A 1500-metre-long plateau encrusted with bastions, mansions and a huge palace, it dominates both the Víziváros below and Pest, over the river, making this stretch of the river one of the grandest, loveliest urban waterfronts in Europe. The hill is studded with interesting museums, from the National Gallery and the Budapest History Museum in the Royal Palace to the Golden Eagle Pharmacy and the Telephone Museum.
The area is equally enjoyable just walking the streets and admiring such florid creations as the Mátyás Church and the Fishermen's Bastion, or exploring the World War II Hospital in the Rock and the surrounding nuclear bunkers and labyrinth of caves that lie beneath the hill.
Between the castle and the river, the Víziváros is something of a quiet residential backwater in the heart of Buda, with a distinctive atmosphere but few specific sights other than the Lánchíd and the Sikló funicular at the southern end, the Church of St Anne on Batthyány tér in the middle, and the Király Baths further up.
The area to the north of Várhegy has a variety of attractions in the backstreets off Margit körút: a lively market and the Millenaris Park, a major concert venue, exhibition centre and children's playground all in one. Further north, on the edge of the affluent Rószadomb district, is one of Budapest's Turkish remnants, Gül Baba's tomb.
The simplest and most novel approach to Várhegy is to ride up to the palace by the Sikló, a renovated nineteenth-century funicular that runs from Clark Ádám tér by the Lánchíd. From Pest, the most direct approach is to get bus #16 from Erzsébet tér across the Lánchíd to the lower terminal of the Sikló, or straight up to Várhegy. Walking from Batthyány tér via the steep flights of steps (lépcső) off Fő utca involves more effort, but the dramatic stairway up to the Fishermen's Bastion is worth the sweat. The red metro line and bus #16 will also get you to the Víziváros, while the southern Rószadomb is skirted by trams #4 and #6 between Pest and Moszkva tér.
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