188 Best Sights in Hungary

Erected in 2014, the Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation commemorates the Hungarian victims of the German Nazis in WWII. Germany, represented by an eagle, attacks Archangel Gabriel, Hungary's patron saint. Jewish and opposition leaders have criticized the statue as an attempt to absolve the Hungarian state and Hungarians of their collaboration with Nazi Germany and their complicity in the Holocaust. They have even created their own protest counter-memorial next to it: a collection of Holocaust original and symbolic memorabilia (shoes, suitcases, photos) and a statement in a range of languages asking people to also remember the victims of the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party (Nyilaskeresztes Párt), under whose reign in 1944-1945 thousands of civilians were murdered in Hungary and thousands more sent to concentration camps in Austria and Germany.

The Műcsarnok contemporary arts hall moved to its current location, a building designed and built specifically to house it, in 1896 as part of the Millennium Exhibition celebrations that changed Budapest’s park forever. Its stark neoclassical structure and Greek revival portico set this handsome building apart from its surroundings. Light pours in from the skylights to show off the fine marble work inside. After several incarnations, the space now functions as a Kunsthalle, an artist collective that hosts several cutting-edge temporary art exhibits throughout the year. The building also functions as the headquarters of the Institution of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.

Seating 3,000, Europe's largest synagogue was designed by Ludwig Förs and built between 1844 and 1859 in a Byzantine-Moorish style described as "consciously archaic Romantic-Eastern." Desecrated by German and Hungarian Nazis, it was painstakingly reconstructed with donations from all over the world; its doors reopened in the fall of 1996. While used for regular services during much of the year, it is generally not used in midwinter, as the space is too large to heat; between December and February, visiting hours are erratic (so call ahead).

In the courtyard behind the synagogue a weeping willow made of metal honors the victims of the Holocaust. Liszt and Saint-Saëns are among the great musicians who played the synagogue's grand organ. A museum upstairs displays items from Hungarian Jewish religious life.

A short walk from Vác’s main square, this 18th-century cathedral is an outstanding example of Hungarian neoclassicism. It was built between 1763 and 1777 by Archbishop Kristóf Migazzi to the designs of the Italian architect Isidor Carnevale; the most interesting features are the murals by the Austrian Franz Anton Maulbertsch, both on the dome and behind the altar. Exquisite frescoes decorate the walls inside. Due to break-ins, you can view the interior only through a locked gate, except during the twice-daily masses.

In 2022, the Museum of Ethnography moved from its awkward downtown home on Kossuth tér—originally built for the Supreme Court of Hungary—to a monumental building in the City Park. The new location is worth a glimpse for its architecture alone, featuring two eye-catching wings emerging from the ground and topped with roof gardens. The museum's permanent collection is expected to be finalized in spring 2024; until then, the highlight is the Ceramic Worlds exhibition, showing exquisite pottery from various regions of Hungary alongside those from Egypt, Iran, Vietnam, and other countries. It's also enjoyable to find your way around the enormous paper model of Budapest located in the main vestibule.

Nyugati Pályaudvar, constructed by the Eiffel Company, is considered the city’s most elegant train station. The station has been featured in a number of Hollywood productions over the years. To its right, what was once part of the station is perhaps the world's fanciest McDonald’s, with booths fit for kings. Nyugati is currently nearing the completion of an extensive refurbishment, but the Royal Waiting Room is worth seeing if it's open, maintained in the same splendor as when it was first presented to Emperor Franz Joseph at the turn of the 20th century.

This medieval synagogue is now a religious museum complete with stunning stained-glass windows, a stone mikvah (a ritual bath for women), and old Torahs on display. Built around 1300, the synagogue endured several incarnations over the centuries, including a stint as a hospital (in the 1400s) and a residential building (in the 1700s); the existing facade dates from 1734. The synagogue was once at the heart of the city's Jewish ghetto, and a plaque honors the 1,640 Jews of Sopron—85% of the city's total population—who were murdered by the Nazis.

This beautiful, decadent building, built in 1910, was once the fashionable Parisian Department Store. After sitting in disarray for decades, it has recently been renovated. It is now home to the Hungarian bookshop chain, Alexandra Könyvesház (they also carry books in English). Treating yourself to a cake and coffee in the ornate coffeehouse on the second floor is an opportunity not to be missed.

A little off the beaten path and about a ten-minute cab ride from the park, this spa is popular with locals who don't want to contend with visitors at Széchenyi and features indoor and outdoor thermal baths, full-length lap pools, a Finnish sauna, and hot and cold plunge pools, as well as some massage and medical treatments. For families, there is even a pool for small children and another for babies. For the older crowd, the connecting indoor-outdoor leisure pool welcomes patrons with a swim-up water bar. Just remember to bring a bank card or top up your entry card, as they don’t accept cash inside the facilities.

Also known as the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, though it was promoted to basilica rank after Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1991, this is one of Europe’s most magnificent churches with foundations dating back 1,000 years. At the beginning of the 19th century, Mihály Pollack directed the transformation of the exterior, changing it from Baroque to Neoclassical; its interior remained Gothic. Near the end of the 19th century, Bishop Nándor Dulánszky decided to restore the cathedral to its original, Árpád-period style—the result is a four-spired monument that has an utterly breathtaking interior frescoed from floor to ceiling in shimmering golds, silvers, and blues. It's so light and colorful that it feels brand-new. Climb the lookout tower for a beautiful view over Pécs, including the nearby city walls.

Founded in 1954 as the national museum of 19th- and 20th-century Hungarian literature, this lovely venue—named after Hungary's most famous poet of the 1848 revolution, Sándor Petőfi—is well worth a visit regardless of what you know (or don't know) about the local literary scene. There's limited English-language information—and only in the permanent exhibition, not the temporary ones—but the audiovisual readings of Petőfi's poems are still soul-stirring. Besides, even if the exhibits are best suited to Hungarian speakers, the setting is the ravishing neoclassical Károlyi Palota (Károly Palace), which has some grand staircases and stunning rooms filled with period furniture—all free to visit with a museum ticket. And behind the palace is the lovely, flower-filled Károlyi Kert (Károly Garden), a pleasant spot for a post-exhibition amble.

When entering the palace, look down at the "cobblestone" floor, as closer inspection reveals it's actually made of wood. The owner got fed up with being awakened by horses hooves.

Kecskemét is Hungary’s fruit capital, and it’s worth experiencing the region’s riches firsthand by visiting the bustling indoor and covered market, around 2 km (1 mile) from the city center. Depending on the season, you can indulge in freshly plucked apples, cherries, and the famous Kecskemét apricots. Provided there is no sudden spring freeze, apricot season is around June through August. The market is surrounded by cafés and food stalls, so it makes a good option for a combined shopping and lunch excursion.

Pozsonyi út has a special place in the Újlipótváros neighborhood. In reaction to developers' plans in the 1990s to turn the district into a shopping mall hub, residents decided to work together to independently turn Pozsonyi into their own premier shopping street. The surprising success of that grassroots initiative resulted in a retail street that doesn't feel like a commercial zone, but a thriving center of local businesses. Support local businesses and the neighborhood's resolve as you wander cute shops and boutiques and stop at great spots for coffee and lunch.

Robert Capa was a Hungarian photographer whose images of war made him one of the greatest photojournalists of the 20th century. Born in 1913 in Budapest, Friedmann Endre Ernő took on the more American-sounding Robert Capa alias when he was working in Paris. In 1936, he was sent to cover the Spanish Civil War and it was here that he shot one of his most famous photos, "Death of a Loyalist Militia Man, Spain, 1936." Capa is particularly well-known for his photos of World War II and the D-Day landings in Normandy, and for being a cofounder of Magnum Photos in Paris. In 1954, Capa was photographing for Life in Thái Bình, Vietnam, when he stepped on a land mine and was killed. This photography center named for Capa and housed on the second floor of a lovely old downtown villa honors his incredible legacy as an exhibition space that focuses primarily on press and documentary photography, and supports the preservation of Hungarian press photography. There is also a small permanent collection featuring Capa’s work. The local exhibitions are always extremely well curated and there are occasional but prestigious international exhibitions here throughout the year.

Probably dating from the second century AD, Óbuda's Roman military amphitheater once held some 16,000 people and, at 144 yards in diameter, was one of Europe's largest. A block of dwellings called the Round House was later built by the Romans above the amphitheater; massive stone walls found in the Round House's cellar were actually parts of the amphitheater. Below the amphitheater are the cells where prisoners and lions were held while awaiting confrontation.

This beautiful Moorish Revival-style building, designed by architect Otto Wagner, dates to 1872 and was once one of Budapest's most prominent synagogues. In 1941, it served as a deportation site for 16,000 Jews sent to southern Poland, and later in the war hosted services while part of the Jewish Ghetto. The building saw an extensive renovation in 2021 and it functions as a cultural center as well as a center of religious observance, welcoming all branches of Judaism. Regular tours and exhibitions allow you to experience the restoration in detail, while classical music concerts are held every week.

Check the calendar of events to plan a visit around a concert.

Dating from 1874, Budapest’s oldest Jewish cemetery is technically part of the huge Kerespesi Cemetery but is separated by a tall stone wall. These serene grounds are the resting place of aristocratic Jewish Hungarian families and prestigious individuals, with a section dedicated to victims of the Holocaust. Stonemasonry by Hungary’s premier architects of the day provide exquisite examples of the conversation between popular artistic movements, such as Szecesszió (Hungarian Art Nouveau), and Jewish cultural history and identity. The cemetery doors are often closed to keep away the neighborhood's unsavory types, but if you knock on the gate, the guard will let you in.

This splendid baroque house was the birthplace of Ignác Semmelweis (1818–65), the Hungarian physician who proved the contagiousness of puerperal (childbed) fever, saving countless lives, and who became known—sadly, only after his death—as the "savior of mothers." It's now a museum that traces the history of healing and medicine, which sounds a bit niche but is actually fairly fascinating (and a little gross at times, particularly the graphic wax anatomical models and the shrunken heads). Look out for the reconstructed, 19th-century "Holy Ghost Pharmacy," with its charming glass cabinets full of apothecary jars. The main exhibition is up the stairs (there's no elevator) and has plenty of English-language information; the temporary exhibitions are downstairs (and accessible) but most of the information is in Hungarian.

Wander the riverside, just north of the chain bridge, and a simple but powerful memorial presents itself: 60 pairs of 1940s-style men's, women's, and children's shoes cast in iron standing along the riverbank. Shoes on the Danube Bank, designed by film director Can Togay and sculptor Gyula Pauer, was erected in 2005 to honor the memory of the countless and nameless victims of the Hungarian Arrow Cross party massacres. It is estimated that between 1944 and 1945 as many as 20,000 Hungarian Jews were taken from the Budapest ghettos by the "Nyilas," lined up on riverbank spots close to this one, sometimes several people deep, and shot at point-blank range. This haunting tribute to this horrific time in history is appropriately not far from Hungarian Parliament.

Situated 13 km (8 miles) west of Villány—though still within the famous Villány-Siklós wine region—this enormous 13th-century castle is well worth a half-day detour. First mentioned in 1294, when it was the property of the Soklyosi family, the castle now stands at the southernmost point of Hungary, just 10 km (6 miles) from the Croatian border. A ticket gets you into all the castle's exhibitions, including the prison and torture chamber, the medieval weapons exhibition, and the wine museum.

It may play second fiddle to the Chain Bridge, but this pretty cantilevered river crossing is lit beautifully at night and makes for a pleasant stroll across the river during the day. It was designed for the Millennium World Exhibition in 1896 and rebuilt after being blown up in the Second World War. Keep an eye out for the interesting details, like the mythological birds perched atop it.

The sprawling Liberty Square has represented the pursuit of liberty for Hungarians since its days as the site of a massive troop barracks and the execution of Prime Minister Lajos Batthyány following the failed revolution against the Habsburg Dynasty in 1848. The square is dominated by Exchange Palace, the former stock exchange building, immortalized as Harrison Ford's hideout in Blade Runner 2049. Across from it is a solemn-looking neoclassical shrine, the Nemzeti Bank (The Hungarian National Bank). The bank's Postal Savings Bank branch, adjacent to the main building but visible from behind Szabadság tér on Hold utca, is another exuberant Art Nouveau masterpiece of architect Ödön Lechner, built in 1901 with colorful majolica mosaics, characteristically curvaceous windows, and pointed towers ending in swirling gold flourishes.

In the square's center remains a gold hammer and sickle atop a white stone obelisk, one of the few monuments to the Russian "liberation" of Budapest in 1945 that has not been banished to Memento Park. There were mutterings that it, too, would be pulled down, which prompted a Russian diplomatic protest; the monument, after all, marks a gravesite of fallen Soviet troops, but also a reminder of how close the city was to falling into Nazi hands.

As if in counterbalance, a memorial statue of Ronald Reagan---one of five that Reagan commissioned himself in his will---was erected in the summer of 2011, standing just left of the Soviet liberation monument. Next to it, at Szabadság tér 12, Stars and Stripes flying out in front and with a high-security presence, stands the United States Embassy. One of the square's most popular stories is how Cardinal József Mindszenty, fearing religious persecution, lived here as a guest of the U.S. government for 15 years during communism. On the south side of the square another monument appeared amid controversy in 2014. The Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation is a state-commissioned statue that commemorates the Hungarian victims of the German Nazis in WWII. Germany, represented by a vicious eagle, is attacking the peaceful form of the Archangel Gabriel, Hungary's patron saint. Jewish and opposition leaders have criticized the statue as an attempt to absolve the Hungarian state and Hungarians of their collaboration with Nazi Germany and complicity in the Holocaust. The latest addition is on the other side of the Soviet obelisk, a statue of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush erected by the Hungarian government in October 2020 to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe. A political location from its historical beginnings, but a center of leisure life in the city, too, Szabadság tér is also simply a great place to walk or take a break from sightseeing, with a lovely café in its center. During major football championships, like the World Cup, it is turned into an outdoor screening area and is packed to the gills with locals. It also regularly hosts various culinary and seasonal festivals.

This pretty manor house, situated 13 km (8 miles) southeast of Sopron, is the family seat of the Széchenyi family. Mostly completed in the neoclassical style but heavily rebuilt after World War II, the property is now home to the Széchenyi Museum, which tells the family's story through reconstructed rooms and period furnishings. The star of the show is Count István Széchenyi, known as the "Greatest Hungarian" for his achievements as a politician, writer, reformer, and generous patron: his money helped establish the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and build the Chain Bridge in Budapest. You'll find an immodest number of István portraits throughout the property, as well as interactive exhibits on some of his projects.

Information within each room is scarce for non-Hungarian speakers, so be sure to pick up an English-language brochure on your way in.

Győr's main square, ringed by historic buildings, hotels, restaurants, and bars, is the life and soul of the town. It's the setting for most of the city's major cultural events, including the famous “Baroque Marriage,” a traditional August ceremony where baroque music is played and participants dress up in ornate wedding outfits and perform. While in the square, check out the attractive, twin-turreted Loyolai Szent Ignác bencés templom (Benedictine Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola) and the nearby Mária-oszlop (Mary's Column), built in 1686 to commemorate the recapturing of the city from the Turks. It depicts the Virgin wearing the Hungarian crown and holding the infant Jesus in her arms.

Built in 1790, this charming baroque wine-press house features a thatched roof, gabled wall, six semicircular arcades, and an arched and pillared balcony running the length of the four raftered upstairs rooms. It was here that Sándor Kisfaludy, a writer from Budapest, met hometown girl Róza Szegedy—the start of a fairy-tale love story. While previously a museum, the interior is currently closed to the public.

This giant, multilevel monument halfway up the hill adds to the general fairy-tale feel on the Buda side of the river. The figure is St. Gellért, Hungary's first missionary, whose preaching didn't sit very well with the locals. Legend has it he was thrown off the hill on this very spot in 1046. The monument is best viewed from the Pest side of the river, or you can walk up the hillside path from Erzsébet híd for a close-up view.

This beautiful Inner Town street runs south from Fő tér to Orsolya tér, where there's an interesting fountain showing Jesus using his crucifix to pierce a snake with an apple. As you walk down the street, you will come across an eclectic mix of architecture coexisting in a surprisingly harmonious fashion. The Erdődy-palota (Erdody Palace) at No. 16 is Sopron’s richest rococo building. Two doors down, at No. 12, stands the Eggenberg Ház (Eggenberg House), where the widow of Prince Johann Eggenberg held Protestant services during the harshest days of the Counter-Reformation and beyond. Today, it's home to the Macskakő Múzeum, an interactive children's museum about the everyday lives of people living in ancient times. But the street takes its name from Szent György templom (St. George’s Church), a 14th-century Catholic church so sensitively “baroqued” some 300 years later that its interior is still as soft as whipped cream.