Mary_Fran

Have you visited this exhibit of Soviet-era statues salvaged from Budapest after 1989. It sounds interesting to me, but it's half hour or so out of the center, apparently on somewhat erratic buses, so I'm wondering if it would be disappointing. I'd appreciate learning your opinions.

tomboy

We didn't go to it in our 3-1/2 days in Budapest because we enjoyed the rest of the city too much. If we had stayed 2 more days, we would have, just to have seen it. But I pictured it as a "downer", and there are more than enough "upper" sights to see that we didn't want to waste our time on a relic from the (depressing) past.

lizzy911

I went with my mom in August 2003.

Pros: Excellent place for souveniers, not incredibly crowded, good photo ops, interesting relics of an era I never really knew

Cons: It was soooo hot the day we went (around 100 F), we got in a big fight because of the heat and hard time understanding the bussing, was a bit of a long and not that interesting journey

Overall, it fit what I like to do: be outside and get a feeling for history, but I would skip it if my time was limited or if it is really hot.

JudyC

I visited the park this past January, by tram then changed to bus (there was one direct bus daily from Deak Ter, the tourist info has the timetable, but not the right timing for me).

As mentioned by previous post, it is interesting as part of the history; but it is in much smaller scale than what I have thought- about couple dozens sculptures in a small park on a hill. If you have enough time (I spent 7 nights in Budapest), certainly it would be worth a visit as part of Hungary history.

Mary_Fran

It sounds kind of like this would be one of those things we might do if we run out of anything else to do. I appreciate your honest opinions.

Debs

Mary Fran-I agree with the last 2 posters-if you have the time to visit, then by all means go. It is a distance from the heart of the city, and quite honestly, it'll probably take you longer to get there than it will to visit the park, however, if you are looking for something out of the ordinary, it's well worth the effort. You'll be amazed just how BIG these statues really are!

The local bus stops very near the park-maybe a minute or two walk away, but plan your visit to allow time when you leave to get to the bus stop, as they're infrequent and there really isn't too much else in the area to occupy your time if you're miss the bus and need to wait for the next one.

wj1

We went to Statue Park as part of a walking tour called the Hammer & Sickle Tour with absolutetours.com. We did it as sort of a fluke and we really enjoyed it. Best of all, they escort you to the Park on the bus so you don't have to worry about the details. In addition, they explained some of the details about the statues which gave us a fuller understanding. I highly recommend it.

alyssamma

Mary Fran,

If you go to my website at http://pictures.mathewsweb.net and click on "Vacations" in the upper left panel and then "Hungary/Romania" in the lower left panel, you can see pictures of the statues.

The statues are about 2/3 of the way down.

As one of the other posters said, they are really huge. Some of the pictures have people in them so you can get a sense of the scale.

That being said, it is a cool and interesting diversion, but nothing to feel sorry about if you miss.

Kevin

tedgale

In my 2 visits to Budapest, I have not visited the site and found my days were full enough without trekking out to it.

My spouse, who sorta commuted to Budapest last year, visited the Park and found it small and unremarkable.

It's off my list for future visits -- too much first-rate stuff to do instead...

Don't miss the great art gallery, originally endowed by the Esterhazys, in Heroes' Square: SEVEN major El Grecos -- can you imagine?

enriquef

If you like history and would like to know how was Budapest in communist times, go there. Huge statues, monuments, gigantic boots of Stalin and a film about agents in communist times. there is a direct bus from the center it worth to go by, it takes less time and is comfortable.