A Complete 5-Day Plan for Hungary

This five-day trip suits first-timers to Hungary who want Budapest plus a slice of the Danube’s river towns without spending half the holiday in transit. The pace is easy, with one short hop on most days, and you’ll get around on Budapest’s metro and trams, the HÉV suburban train, regional buses and one mainline train back to the capital.

Days 1-2: Budapest from the hilltop down

Begin on the Buda side of Budapest, where the funicular or the stairs bring you up to Buda Castle. The palace complex was rebuilt more than once after sieges and the 1944 to 1945 battle, and wandering its courtyards and ramparts gives you the city’s layout at a glance: Buda’s hills on one bank, flat Pest on the other. Arrive at Fisherman’s Bastion before 9 a.m., when the turrets and arcades are nearly empty and the light falls straight onto the Parliament across the river. Later in the day the upper terrace charges a small fee, while the lower walkways stay free.

Day 2 is for soaking. Széchenyi Thermal Bath in City … read more 👉

This five-day trip suits first-timers to Hungary who want Budapest plus a slice of the Danube’s river towns without spending half the holiday in transit. The pace is easy, with one short hop on most days, and you’ll get around on Budapest’s metro and trams, the HÉV suburban train, regional buses and one mainline train back to the capital.

Days 1-2: Budapest from the hilltop down

Begin on the Buda side of Budapest, where the funicular or the stairs bring you up to Buda Castle. The palace complex was rebuilt more than once after sieges and the 1944 to 1945 battle, and wandering its courtyards and ramparts gives you the city’s layout at a glance: Buda’s hills on one bank, flat Pest on the other. Arrive at Fisherman’s Bastion before 9 a.m., when the turrets and arcades are nearly empty and the light falls straight onto the Parliament across the river. Later in the day the upper terrace charges a small fee, while the lower walkways stay free.

Day 2 is for soaking. Széchenyi Thermal Bath in City Park has three outdoor pools of warm mineral water surrounded by yellow neo-Baroque buildings, with old men playing chess on floating boards. Weekday mornings are the calmest. Bring flip-flops and a towel to skip the rental fees, and give it at least three hours.

Day 3: Szentendre and Visegrád

Take the HÉV north to Szentendre, about 40 minutes from Batthyány tér. The town was settled by Serbian refugees in the late 17th century, which explains the Orthodox spires above the rooftops; the Belgrade Cathedral has the richest interior. Spend the morning in the lanes and galleries, then hop on a regional bus up the river to Visegrád for the night. Once the tour buses leave, the riverside goes quiet, and the ruins of King Matthias’s Royal Palace are a short walk from most guesthouses.

Day 4: Danube Bend hike and Esztergom

Start the morning on foot in the Danube Bend. The path from Visegrád’s riverside up to the 13th-century Citadel climbs roughly 300 meters through forest, and the top looks straight down on the spot where the Danube swings from east to south between two ranges of wooded hills. It’s a 1.5-hour climb at a steady pace, steep in parts, so wear real shoes.

In the afternoon, the bus covers the 25 kilometers to Esztergom, seat of Hungary’s Catholic church for a thousand years. Its Basilica is the largest church in the country, and climbing to the dome walkway is worth the stairs for the view across the river into Slovakia. Walk across the Mária Valéria Bridge to Štúrovo on the far bank for dinner and you’ll have crossed a border on foot.

Day 5: Back to Budapest

The train back to Budapest takes about 1.5 hours, which still leaves you an afternoon for a last walk along the Pest embankment before you fly out.

If you have a spare afternoon on the river, take the train to Zebegény, a small village on the northern bank of the Danube Bend where the painter István Szőnyi’s house is now a quiet memorial museum.