Travel Guides
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Budapest
(Hungary)
Old world charm and cosmopolitan living on the banks of the Danube.
With its multifarious and often embittered history, incredible architecture and rich cultural heritage, Hungary's capital deserves its reputation as the 'Paris of Central 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.
At a Glance
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Orientation |
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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. |
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Getting Around: |
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Ferihegy international airport is 24km (15mi) southeast of Budapest. It is pointless getting a taxi unless in a real hurry, with several much cheaper options linking the airport and city. The buses provide a thriftier alternative, with the Airport Minibus offering an ultra convenient door to door service.
Budapest has an ageing but safe, inexpensive and efficient public transport system that won't have you waiting more than five to 10 minutes. If you plan to travel extensively by public transport pick up a copy of the invaluable Budapesti
Közlekedési Hálózata Térképe (Budapest Transport Network Map) available at most metro ticket booths. |
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Weather:
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Budapest has a temperate, transitional climate
- somewhere between the mild, rainy
weather of Transdanubia, protected by the
Alps to the west, and the harsh, variable climate
of the flat and open Great Plain to the east.
The Budapest spring arrives in early April and usually ends in showers. Summer can be
very hot and humid. It rains for most of November
and doesn't usually get cold until
mid-December. Winter is relatively short,
often cloudy and damp but sometimes brilliantly
sunny. What little snow the city gets
usually disappears after a few days.
January is the coldest month (with the
temperature averaging -2°C/28°F) and August
the hottest (21°C/70°F - although summers can get much hotter than this average). The number of hours of sunshine a year averages just over 2000,
among the highest in Europe; from April to
the end of September, you can expect the
sun to shine for about 10 hours a day.
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Content Source:
Lonely Planet
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